What Are Catholics All About?

Sometimes when I read the vitriol of anti-Catholic (or anti-Christian) sentiment on the blogosphere, I find myself wondering, “Have they ever met an authentic, prayerful, Jesus-loving Catholic? Do they know what we’re all about?”  I wonder if they knew what we were striving for, what we have set our hearts on, they might realize that we’re a lot like them. With C.S. Lewis, they might discover that, “When all is said about the divisions of Christendom, there remains, by God’s mercy, an enormous common ground.”

This year our parish community sought to answer that very question, “What are we all about as Catholics?” What are the “majors” that we’re majoring in? What are the guiding values of our Catholic faith and family? I thought you might be interested what this Catholic parish has identified as its most defining principles:

1.     Seeking Jesus

We, the members of Saint Paul the Apostle Parish, baptized and confirmed in faith, pursue an ongoing, personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  This relationship is strengthened by the Word of God, the Sacraments of the Church, and a consistent lifestyle of prayer, study and action. We love Jesus, seek the will of God in all things and rely on the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We celebrate the Sunday Eucharist as the summit and source of our Christian journey.  We seek Jesus and embrace all of these guiding values out of our commitment to the Catholic Church and her teachings.

2.    Building Relationships

We are all about relationship. Our relationship with God guides, informs and overflows into our relationships with others. As God pursues a deep, personal relationship with us, we intentionally pursue loving relationships with those around us so that the presence of God can be known and a civilization of love can be built.

We work to build up the Body of Christ, the Church, through humble and positive interactions with others.  We know our weaknesses and thus can identify with those who are struggling.  We seek reconciliation and understanding.  We welcome constructive criticism and use it to improve ourselves and the parish community.  We seek open, honest and transparent communication, going to the proper sources when there is a question or a concern.  We are open to dialogue and seek to correct misinformation in a spirit of truth and love.

3.     Sharing the Gospel

We know the overarching story of God and can articulate that basic message of the Gospel to others.  We have reflected on our own stories of faith and actively participate in evangelization by relating our story to others in a natural and pastorally sensitive way.  Finally, we can identify how our story and God’s story intersect to advance the mission of God in the world today.

4.    Embracing Mission 

We personally embrace our call to love God, love others and make disciples.  The Church doesn’t have a mission, the Church is mission (Mt 28:18-20). This mission is evangelization. Embracing evangelization as the deepest identity of the Church, we understand that all of us are evangelists and are called to seek the lost as Jesus did. As intentional disciples of Christ, we actively participate in evangelization by helping others to know, love and serve the Lord.

5.    Praying Always

We are people of prayer. We embrace deep, personal, transformative prayer as the foundation of our life in the Spirit and our service to others in the name of Christ. We are comfortable praying for and with others. Attuned to those who are hurting or struggling, we pray for one another, for our parish community and for the world at large.

 

6.    Studying Faithfully 

We are committed to study and lifelong formation through exploration of the Scriptures, Sacred Tradition, and the Church’s theology, history and spirituality, to help us on our journey of discipleship.

7.    Acting for the Kingdom

We are not only people of prayer, but people of action. Our community is committed to using our gifts to share the Gospel, to make disciples, to serve the needy, to work for justice and to build up the kingdom of God.

8.    Fostering Unity

We are one body in Christ. Our community understands the importance of fostering healthy relationships within the parish community and beyond.  We realize that we are all connected and that the Gospel is intimately personal but not private. Knowing that our unity in Christ is a powerful witness to the Good News, we love one another and commit ourselves to united service to the world.

9.    Connecting to the Community

We are faithful to the Sunday (or Saturday night) gathering of the Eucharist at St. Paul the Apostle Parish realizing that God has called us to this community. We recognize the importance of our presence together and joyfully offer our gifts to advance our mission as a parish.

10. Giving Generously 

We support the parish by giving generously of our time, talent and treasure to build up the parish, the local Body of Christ.  We seek to utilize our gifts to support the life of the parish and to serve the wider needs of our community.

I'm curious about the reactions of both my Protestant and Catholic brothers and sisters. How do these foundational values stack up with yours? What happened to your heart as you read through these values? Did you find yourself feeling closer or farther away? Do you see a great unity in the essential tenants and directions? Do you sense the uniting threads of the body of Christ? I think St. Augustine said it well:

“In the essentials – unity.
In the non-essentials – liberty.
In all things – charity.”

*Many thanks to Fr. Tony Herold, our friend, priest and pastoral leader, and to my friends and colleagues at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church. I am honored to stand with you in the kingdom-building work!

The Whole Christ

St. Augustine is hailed by both Protestants and Catholics as one of the greatest and most consequential fathers of the early church.  His struggles with sin and eventual conversion to Christ, cited in his great autobiographical work, The Confessions, is as powerful today as it was in the summer of 386.[1]  When reading Augustine, we often find him embroiled in some of the great theological debates of his time – against the Arians, the Donatists, the Manichaeans, the Pelagians. 

When we read his sermons, however, we see an altogether different side of Augustine, more personal, more psychological.  Scholars encourage us to pay close attention to the preaching of Augustine because there “we come to listen to the voice of his soul.”[2]  So if St. Augustine preached a message and reiterated it tirelessly would you listen to it?

In his sermons we find Augustine proclaiming a particular message over and over again – the idea of the “Whole Christ.”

All men are one man in Christ, and the unity of Christians constitutes but one man.  Let us rejoice and give thanks.  Not only are we to become Christians, but we are to become Christ.  My brothers, do you understand the grace of God that is given us?  Wonder, rejoice, for we are Christ!  If He is the Head, and we are the members, then together He and we are the whole man.

When by faith Christ begins to abide in the inner man, and when by prayer He takes possession of the faithful soul, He becomes the whole Christ, Head and body, and of the many He becomes one.[3]

Augustine stresses the point that we together, all baptized followers of Jesus, brought together under one Head, we are the whole Christ.  The whole Christ is not the Savior alone but the Head plus the members, Christ united with the Church, all gathered together in unity – one soul, one man, one person, one Christ.  Thus Augustine built on the foundation of St. Paul (1 Cor 12) and elaborated on the doctrine commonly called the “Mystical Body of Christ.”  And what did Augustine make of the divisions, the biases, and the slander of the early church?

When the Head and the members are despised, then the Whole Christ is despised, for the Whole Christ, Head and body is that just man against whom deceitful lips speak.[4]

Think about it.  Pause for a moment and reflect.  What does this mean for us as Protestants and Catholics today?  What does it mean for Young Life leaders ministering to Protestant kids and Catholic kids?  What does it mean for us to consider the many members of the one body?  What does it mean for us to truly embrace the whole Christ?

Now the body is not made up of one part but of many.

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!”

And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!”

Now you are the body of Christ,

and each one of you is a part of it.[5]

---

[1]             The famous account of Augustine’s conversion can be found in The Confessions, Book VIII.

[2]             Emile Mersch, The Whole Christ: The Historical Development of the Doctrine of the Mystical Body in Scripture and Tradition, Eugene, OR: WIPF & Stock Publishers, 2011, 413.

[3]             Augustine of Hippo, In Ps. 39, enarratio 2a, P. L., Vol. 36, 219; In Ps. 127, P. L., Vol. 37, 1686; In Ps. 90, sermo 2, P. L., Vol. 37, 1159.

[4]             Augustine of Hippo, In Joh., 21, P. L., Vol. 35, 1568.

[5]             1 Cor 12: 14, 21, 27.