Perhaps the most often asked question I get these days is “Why have so many people stopped going to Church?” And its probably because it is so true, as those of us who remember the days when most Sunday or Holy Days Masses were filled, upstairs and down and confession lines stretched to the back of the Church. While nowadays it seems that a new Church closes every few months and the Church in some parts of New England seems to resemble a going out of business sale.
One way to answer this question is with denial. But putting your head in the sand never gets you anything but a lot of sand in your hair and in your eyes. For the dismal percentage of Catholics who attend Mass each Sunday, go to confession at least once a month, or observe the Church’s moral tenets is undeniable.
So, why don’t people go to Church and what are the effective pastoral responses? In this very brief talk, let me suggest three reasons: lack of belief, selfishness and fickleness, and three antidotes. as well.
1. Sometimes people just don’t believe.
For some people, the good news is just too good to be true. That Jesus died for me, that my sins can really be forgiven, and that God wants me to love him like he loved me. It’s all too much to believe!
It’s hard for us to believe, just as when you’re lost, it’s hard to picture the road home. And when I have burdened God with all my sins and all my betrayals, it’s hard to imagine that he is really in the mood to forgive me. It’s easier to think myself as lost and just to stay that way.
But the most effective antidote to this lack of belief, is a Priest who believes, with humility, gentleness and care. I think of a great Worcester Priest, now retired, who is ever the champion of the Church: who in his writings, his teachings and his life he has always been a faithful son of the Church. But never with arrogance or condescension. Always with kindness, patience and humility…and always with unswerving belief. That’s the kind of Priest that brings them back to the Church.
2. The second thing that keeps people from God is that they’re selfish.
In this they’re just the opposite of who God is. They’re in it for themselves. I don’t go to Mass because I’m too tired to get up on Sunday morning...it’s my day and I deserve to sleep in. They don’t go to confession because my sins are no one’s business but my own, and they don’t feed the poor because it's my money and my life and it's no one else’s business. It’s all about me.
But the antidote to selfishness, is the Priest who is selfless, who loves unto death, and who gives himself for his people without any thought of return. You know a priest like that, whose schedule would kill a man half his age, but who tirelessly and patiently goes about doing what must be done, because it is the right thing to do. The kind of man who demonstrates by his life that mercy begets mercy and compassion merits the mercy of God. That’s the kind of Priest that brings them back to the Church.
3. The final thing that keeps folks from God is fickleness.
One minute we’re faithful, the next we’re faithless; one minute we love Christ with our whole heart and soul, and the next we’re concerned with nothing so much as selfish pleasure and grabbing for all the gusto we can get.
But the antidote to fickleness is the Priest who is faithful. Who by his life teaches that God is not yes and no, on and off, hot and cold. But that God is the incessant yes to love, a faithful and perduring love, the Alpha and Omega, who was and who is and who ever will be. And who calls us to be the same.
I think of a priest I know who has become the mister fixit of one of a diocese not so far from here. Whenever there’s a big problem he’s the one the Bishop sends in. And its not because he’s the best administrator or even the most brilliant teacher or the most pious member of the presbyterate. It’s because he’s faithful, steady and solid as a rock. That’s the kind of Priest that brings them back to the Church.
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And that’s why I am so grateful to Bishop McManus for making me a Seminary Rector in these last chapters of my Priesthood, and it's why I so love this wonderful work! Because what we need more than anything else is Priests: Priests who believe, Unselfish Priests, and Priests who are faithful to Christ and to his Church and to his Holy People.
And back in that Holy House to which I will return in just a little while, we have one hundred and thirty eight young men who are trying to become such a Priest, for you and your grandchildren and for children yet unborn. Pray for these good men that the Risen Christ might form them after his own heart in goodness, faithfulness and love.
Thank you.
And back in that Holy House to which I will return in just a little while, we have one hundred and thirty eight young men who are trying to become such a Priest, for you and your grandchildren and for children yet unborn. Pray for these good men that the Risen Christ might form them after his own heart in goodness, faithfulness and love.
Thank you.
