Rebuild My Church

I suppose that anyone who has ever heard the story of St. Francis in the chapel of San Damiano becomes susceptible, sooner or later, to a similar awakening. From the Crucifix in the broken down chapel Our Lord repeats to St. Francis three times…"Francis go and repair my house. You see it is all falling down." At first the direct vision terrified him, but eventually the message penetrated his heart and he went into ecstasy, says St. Bonaventure. After a period in which he physically repaired many run down local chapels, the Holy Spirit made him realize that his mission was to the universal church: this is what St. Francis later explained to his friars.

My awakening came recently while joyfully exploring a survey post entitled 'What is the Religious Climate in Your Country?'. Mostly, some very faithful Christian stalwarts reported on religious realities outside of the U.S.A. Even some generous nonbelievers lent their comments in a kindly sharing of their observations. What was different about this survey was that its 'value' was in the narrative comments; not in some dry statistical summation of which we have all seen ad nauseum. I hope that Jennifer F. over at 'et-tu?' develops the survey responses into future posts, and for that reason I will try to restrict my remarks, for now, to the issue that moved me the most: the Church in decline.

I guess I should begin by describing my reaction so that you can gauge my response as 'on' or 'off' target.

I felt a sense of angst, a true existential dread; as nearly every response (when taken as a whole) pointed to a tide of secularization that has swept over what many would have described as, Christian nations. As I said, most of the responders were the faithful stalwarts who were 'holding the line', so to speak. Yet from my perspective, they described myriads of Christians who were dropping like flies into the clutches of Secularization and Relativism. America herself is certainly not immune from this force, particularly my region of the nation. I live in a State that, on paper, is largely Catholic and predominantly Christian, but far too often that is very difficult to discern. Again, none of this is news for those who have been following trends but I was completely dumbfounded by my own visceral reaction: and thus my 'awakening'.

I don't expect that many others felt a similar response, nor do I maintain that they should have. After a few days of praying about it, I sensed that it was merely a personal revelation, but a revelation that deserves consideration and action. One of the ways I will respond is to reflect and blog about it in a systematic manner. Today I am creating a 'label or category' of posts titled 'Rebuild My Church'.

One of the goals of this ongoing reflection (with your help) is to give new impetus into ways that we can gently confront this oncoming tide. I sense we need to explore and pray about our fears that we experience in witnessing (or not) to Christ. Some areas of concern are:

• What are the true costs and rewards, both temporally and spiritually?
• How is the Secular culture affecting us in our daily lives: do we change it or does it change us?
• How does a Christian know where the boundaries are of authentic evangelization, without trammeling over the 'free will' that God has given to all of his children?
• How do the Christian faithful stand up for their own beliefs and practices in a pluralistic society, without having them become so diluted in meaning and purpose, as to become 'worthless salt'.

Considering the Church's struggle in our own times we must consider practical solutions through listening and discerning what the Holy Spirit is saying. The Spirit is our guide. The first step may be in realizing that this Spirit is calling us here and now to 'move the mission' of the Church. I guess I would call that my 'awakening'.