Having just moved NEM to Georgetown, TX, I am in the throws of getting faculties to serve in the Diocese of Austin, TX. As a permanent Deacon, I am still incardinated in the diocese of Raleigh, NC. This means that I not only have to keep up my Safe Child Environment certifications in Raleigh, but now also in Austin. Thus, I have been reflecting on the checks and balances in place that not only protect the people in our Church, but also train those serving in the Church to look for various signs of abuse.
I came to a conclusion the other day that has resonated not only within me but also those I have shared it with.
The Church needs to roll out the New Evangelization
like it did the Safe Child Environment Protocols!
Why, you might ask? Because of the vast results in this area — universally!
Let’s look at just a few of the main elements that has allowed this to be universally implemented:
- In just a few short years (relatively speaking) this initiative was implemented in every parish around the country.
- It doesn’t matter what area of parish life you are involved with, everyone who serves has had to go through the training – No exceptions – Not even for the Clergy.
- Every Diocese, as well as parish, has made it THE priority “that must get done” and they have invested money and other resources to make that happen.
- This was a brand new initiative, everyone in leadership went through the difficult and painful task of learning what to do and how to do it. Then they passed it on down the line.
The rabbit hole that we will let go!
The next logical question in the pursuit of truth would be to ask “WHY?” Why was this initiative able to reach every parish so quickly and why didn’t the Church put its full measure of effort into the New Evangelization? I’m sure each of us could come up with a few good answers, but let’s leave those questions for our Bishops to examine and determine what to do with the answers. For this blog, we would be better served to look at some key ideas of implementation that will help us improve what we are already doing.
Taking the numbers above, let’s brainstorm some ideas concerning these elements.
1. The force and weight of the episcopacy was behind this initiative and rightly so. The Church was in the middle of a huge crisis due to the abuse scandal and the subsequent cover up by the Bishops. They needed to regain the trust of not only their own parishioners, but also the world.
Application: Are we not in an even greater crisis of faith today? We are bleeding membership in great numbers. Add the increase of people who have stopped coming, due to Covid 19, and we are hemorrhaging everywhere. Yet the faithful, meaning those who have been evangelized and grown into mature discipleship, remain. Why? Because they have faith in Christ, they live in the life and power of the Holy Spirit, their faith is not dependent upon men but Christ, and because their faith is personal.
The more I look around, the more I see everyone talking about the need to evangelize yet I still see so very little preaching or teaching on the Holy Spirit. I know that there are many in all levels in the Church that won’t touch the Baptism of the Holy Spirit with a ten foot pole, but what about living in the life of the Spirit? Isn’t that why Jesus left? So that we could receive the Holy Spirit and all that that entails?
Every year our homilies dutifully follow the Lectionary and very little is said from the pulpit about the need for parishioners to enter into life with and live by the power of the Holy Spirit. Can we say that this initiative established by God the Father and God the Son has penetrated every level of diocesan and parish life?
2. Every level of parish life now has to have this training. Can we say that training in evangelization (and even more importantly, being evangelized) has been established on every level? You may think that the Clergy have had this training, yet there are many Seminaries today that focus very little on being evangelized and training on how to evangelize.
3. Can we say that an equal emphasis has been placed on Evangelization as that of the Safe Child Environment initiative? We hear a lot of talk about the New Evangelization and it’s need, but I don’t see Diocesesan nor Parish structures and measurements changing to measure our efforts to evangelize. If we say something has to change but never measure to see if it has, then we aren’t really trying to change. I don’t see a universal voice reaching every pulpit that instructs each person in the pew of the universal need to be evangelized… and to be trained to evangelize.
4. Many people cite the lack of knowledge as the reason why – “we simply don’t know how to do it.” I could agree with that, but that didn’t stop us from learning how to do the safe child environment initiative and we had never done that before. At least with the evangelization initiative, we have a biblical example of how to do it. No, there has to be a reason why evangelization has not rolled out universally. Maybe it is time to start asking tougher questions and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to us the real reasons why.
We certainly won’t be able to come to conclusions here. Might I offer one question to get us thinking about these issues? It goes back to the Holy Spirit.
Could it be that we are afraid of implementing the New Evangelization fully because it would place the Holy Spirit (God) in control of our lives and the Church instead of us?
Meet you in the silence of prayer!
drp
Ralph, I still think this is the fastest way to mobilize teachers to start programs, train others and move the whole program ahead. The Bishop’s support is crucial.
https://www.hprweb.com/2020/10/deacons-as-apostles-for-the-new-evangelization/
Dcn. Stephen, thank you for the comment and the good article. The area where I believe we lack the most is the vision and intention by which we preach/teach for the need to live in and build the Kingdom of God on earth. There is a great disconnect between what the average Mass attender sees as their role in the Church and what it should be. We are not mobilized like we were for the safe child environment initiative. This was my emphasis in this blog. What would the Church look like if it were?
We need to be mobilized, but preaching alone does not seem to do it. Good preaching needs to be paired with concrete opportunities to be set on fire by the Holy Spirit. My experience is that a pastor who demands more than Sunday Mass can effectively draw an entire congregation into LSS or Alpha and then build discipleship programs to follow that. However that type of leadership is not the norm.
After vetting speakers for men’s conferences for years, I ve come to understand that while all diocese have “Safe Environment “ policies and procedures in place. However, no two are the same. When I look at the New Evangelization I see very much the same thing. Each group seems to has common similarities but vary according to which “guru” they are following. I believe that fact is is the problem itself. Man proposes and God disposes.
Dcn. Ralph,
You’re onto something here. Let us be filled with the Holy Spirit, seeking directive and boldly, yet patiently we will plant the seeds, water the seeds, and even pick the ripe, delicious fruit of the Master’s vineyard. We will praise, rejoice and celebrate the victories! We will be patient with the weeds that grow with the flowers and continue forward with praise and thanksgiving. 🙂 Thank you for being the voice crying out in the wilderness!
Deacon Ralph,
Well this sure is right on the mark! I have no idea what it will take for the leadership in the Church to adopt your policy suggestion here. Cause if they don’t have enough reasons with the loss of members and finances, I don’t know what will motivate them. Perhaps we’re on the cusp of the Second Coming of Christ. But, will He find any faith on the earth upon His return?
Mark Nehrbas
Dcn Ralph,
I love the way how you compare the roll out of “the safe child environment” with the “roll out of the new evangilization”. It made me think of the scripture Matt. 9:35-38. I pray the Lord will raise up more people like you who will become the labororers in the vinyard. Someone once said “knowledge with no application is no knowledge at all”. I pray for holy boldness and courage to carry out in the week ahead what I hear from the readings, and from the pulpit on the weekends. I am bless most of the time to have a priest who will give personal applications of the readings and challenge us to go forth and proclaim the gospel. I take that literally and share with at least one person, what I learned or how I have applied, or will apply Sunday’s readings and what I have heard from the pulpit. Thank you for what you are doing. May God continue to bless you as you continue to “make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel” (Eph. 6:19).