This guest post was written by Chris Patterson, a good friend, longstanding Young Life leader, and practicing attorney in Kansas City, MO:
Several years ago, I had a wonderful conversation with the Catholic
mother of one of my Young Life kids. “I
appreciate what Young Life is doing for my daughter,” she said. “The Catholic Church does a good job of helping
us have a relationship with the Church. But Young Life does a good job of
helping kids have a relationship with Jesus.”
As a Protestant at the time, I appreciated her words. In fact, I had a
bit of an honest arrogance about how well our ministry does at helping kids personally
know Jesus! I even found her
statement to be true of various Protestant denominations. My two thoughts were: “What
good is it to have a relationship with the church if you don’t have a
relationship with Jesus?” and “There are a lot of Catholics and
Protestants who don’t have a clue as to what it means to have a ‘personal
relationship with Jesus’.”
Then I became Catholic. Things always look different from the inside. In
the Catholic Church I found wonderful Christians with strong, personal
relationships with Jesus. I also found some who looked confused when I
mentioned the concept.
During my journey to Catholicism, I read the Catechism of the Catholic
Church. (BTW, if you ever want to REALLY
KNOW what Catholics believe, in depth and beauty, the CCC is well worth
reading). Divided into four parts, Part Four, on Prayer, begins:
"Great is the
mystery of the faith!" The Church professes this mystery in the Apostles'
Creed (Part One) and celebrates it in the sacramental liturgy (Part
Two), so that the life of the faithful may be conformed to Christ in the
Holy Spirit to the glory of God the Father (Part Three). This mystery,
then, requires that the faithful believe in it, that they celebrate it, and
that they live from it in a vital and personal
relationship with the living and
true God. That relationship is prayer.[1]
I was delighted! And excited!
The Catechism of the Catholic Church was telling me that Catholic stuff –
what we believe, the way we worship and the life we live in Christ – MUST flow
out of a living relationship with Him! Sounded pretty Young
Life-ish to me!
At the same time, I saw how the Catholic Church helped me understand faith,
gave me access to sacramental power to worship well, and helped me to live and
love like Jesus. All of that flowed out of relationship with Jesus, but it also
made a relationship with Jesus possible!
I started to understand that I needed a personal relationship with the
Body as well as the Head!
Even though the Catechism clearly teaches us about relationship with
God, why
does the concept sometimes seem to be a well-kept secret in the Catholic
Church?
The answer is complex. But, I know this: We Catholics need to learn…
1) to talk to
Catholics (kids and adults) about relationship
with Christ,
2) in language and
ways that they can understand,
3) through
relationships with each other,
4) recognizing that
we need to earn the right to be heard.
Young Life does this well, and can help us learn. In doing so, we all
will grow in our relationship with the Body, as well as the Head.
