Religious orders could sell assets to support dioceses and parishes

Each time we leave Mass we are told to “go in peace” Our mission is “to love and serve the Lord”. What does this mean for each of us?

The recent final document of the Synod last November tells us what it is to be a Catholic “each according to their diverse roles – within the family and other states of life; in the workplace and in their professions; engaged civilly, politically, socially or ecologically; in the development of a culture inspired by the Gospel, including the evangelisation of the digital environment – walk the paths of the world and proclaim the Gospel where they live, sustained by the gifts of the Spirit”.

It is a very clear statement of the call to evangelisation. Yet it sometimes seems to me that we can think of evangelisation as the work of others; while we can help materially, we really do not know how to evangelise. That is not our role.

Enabled

The Synod document, however, tells us how we are enabled to do this, what God through His Church does for us, and what we as Catholics ask of our Church. It says that each baptised person “asks to be nourished by the bread of the Word and the Eucharist, as well as by the familial bonds of the community. They ask that their commitment be recognised for what it is: Church action in light of the Gospel, and not merely a personal choice. Lastly, they ask the community to accompany those who, through their witness, have been drawn to the Gospel”.

At this year’s annual St Brigid’s Day lecture in Down and Connor, I heard our Bishop, Alan McGuckian, put to us a very simple question which, he said, had been put to him. He described a friend, a committed Catholic, active in her parish, who found herself accompanying another mother whom she had met at the school gate. The other lady’s story involved domestic violence, debt, and the mental health issues which can accompany these things. Bishop Alan said that his friend was supporting this lady well “and I have no doubt that it was a response to the Holy Spirit”. Yet, he said, she started asking herself, “Why am I not inviting her to come to our Church?”

Saying it was a very good question, Bishop Alan asked us another question “I wonder how many of us are convinced that the best thing we could do for someone in trouble is to bring them to our parish, to our Church?”

Simply sitting in the church listening to others pray can bring unanticipated peace and the strength to carry on”

It is a very interesting question, for what could help anyone more than being held by God, coming closer to His son, Jesus Christ as part of a loving, inclusive, caring community, inspired by the Holy Spirit. Other things would follow, yet perhaps the most important thing which such a person in distress can know is the peace that can come so unexpectedly from the loving Lord, and the comfort that should be part of belonging to the community of the Church.

I am sure that everyone has experienced as I have, times when things have been so difficult, whether through bereavement or otherwise, that prayer has seemed impossible, yet simply sitting in the church listening to others pray can bring unanticipated peace and the strength to carry on. It is extraordinary; the gift undoubtedly of the Holy Spirit. If the heart is at peace, knowing that God is there, all things can seem possible, even those which, otherwise, seemed overwhelmingly awful and insoluble.

Inviting

This is what we can bring people to if we think, when trying to help others, that part of that helping should involve inviting people who have no connection with our Church or who have lost that connection, simply to come to church with us. To do this is an act of faith and love and hope.

Bishop Alan also told us about the words of an English priest, Fr Stephen Wang, talking about youth ministry who said, “The goal is not to put on a good show, or to increase the numbers who turn up to your events. That is a kind of spiritual vampirism where you seek out young people because you want them to give your community new life. No, the goal is to touch their hearts, to enlighten their minds, to help them know the love of Jesus Christ and to find their home in the community of the church. The goal is to save souls. There will be a thousand different ways of doing this. But it is always the same spirit working for the same purpose.”

So maybe this is something that each of us should think about during Lent. What could we do to help others know the love of Jesus Christ and to find their home in the community of the Church?

There can be no doubt that there is now an almost overwhelming need to act, to evangelise”

There are many ways to help others come to the Lord, but probably most of them involve the Holy Spirit speaking through ordinary people in a way which enlightens the mind of others. This can happen through simple interactions between individuals, and through activities in parishes.

Many of these activities will need resources, and parishes can find raising money simply to maintain clergy and church a challenge. Many of the laity make great contributions, but more is needed.

Religious orders have played a very significant and very positive role in the life of the Church for hundreds of years. Yet now things are changing, and many of them suffer from reducing numbers and are looking for a new role, a new charism. It is well known that they often have large capital resources. Could they help the local Church, which operates now in such a secular society, by making a deliberate decision to fund diocesan and parish activities, selling some of their capital assets to enable others to carry on the work which they themselves did in bringing people to God? As the Code of Canon Law says: “Taking into account local conditions, institutes are to strive to give, as it were, a collective witness of charity and poverty and are to contribute according to their ability something from their own goods to provide for the needs of the Church and the support of the poor.”

There can be no doubt that there is now an almost overwhelming need to act, to evangelise, and to help people to come to know and love God with all that that entails. It is a challenge for all of us.