Since the Church Fathers have called us to a “New Evangelization”, it is important to and helpful to examine the current parish paradigm because it has become very clear that the way parishes’ function does not accomplish the heart of this call to evangelize.

Yes it is true that we are doing some very good work in taking care of the poor and we are fighting for justice but in the end, we are not leading people to encounter the risen Christ and, therefore, not gaining new members. We go through the motions of confirming a new class of Confirmandi only to witness their mass exodus from the Church shortly after the Sacrament is given. What are parishes to do with this paradigm?

If we are going to be effective in creating authentic disciples, we are going to have to do the hard and costly work of examining our parishes and recognize what is not achieving the goal of making disciples (Matt. 28).  Through a series of discussions in this blog on the function of parish life, I hope that we can begin to think outside of the box and create a new parish paradigm that actually evangelizes and trains up individuals to be a part of active body of Christ.

Our post Second Vatican Council culture saw much of what we profess to believe discarded. Our Bishops are restoring to our teaching the critical topics such as the reality and consequences of sin in our lives.  While they are attempting to define what material should be instructed to individuals by a certain age, the desire to learn and the model for what a disciple of Christ looks like is not being addressed.  Of course we have the saints that provide this but we are not breaking down their example into steps that can be achieved.  Most people balk at the idea of being a saint and therefore never really aspire to become one.  They live out their existence, hoping that in the end their efforts were good enough for Jesus to bring them home.  They are still trying to earn their salvation.

We are spending a lot of time teaching our children stories about Jesus and Bible characters but we are not teaching them how to encounter Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit. Without that encounter, they will have little to no desire to learn more about Him. This occurs once they find other activities that are more meaningful to them than Jesus.  As they get older, they see little to no desire to follow the teachings of the faith because they lack tangible meaning.

Despite the Bishop’s heroic efforts in defining what should be taught by what age, the truth before us, in our current adult generations, is that THEY are still living out a journey paradigm not an academic one.  I suggest we re-evaluate our current academic paradigm and look toward a journey-based paradigm.

You can read more about the USCCB’s efforts towards New Evangelization – here.

In part two of this blog, we will go deeper into this journey-based paradigm.