This Sunday, September 16
th, the Church of the United States celebrates Catechetical Sunday– “Enlisting Witnesses For Jesus Christ.” Catechetical Sunday is an opportunity to reflect on the role that each person plays by virtue of Baptism, in handing on the faith and being a witness to the Gospel. The ministry of the Word is a fundamental element of evangelization through all its stages, because it involves the proclamation of Jesus Christ, the eternal Word of God.
"The word of God nourishes both evangelizers and those who are being evangelized so that each one may continue to grow in his or her Christian life" (National Directory for Catechesis [NDC] [Washington, DC: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2005], no. 17).
“We are living in a secularized society which continues to squeeze Christianity to the margins, or completely out of engagement with Jesus Christ and the Church. We are losing baptized Catholics at an alarming rate. According to Pew Research, nearly one-in-four Hispanic adults (24%) are now former Catholics and most of them are “nones”, a term used for people with no religious affiliation.
Many parents are saddened to report that their children are leaving the Church after preparing for and celebrating initiation sacraments, and after years of Catholic School or parish religion classes. Figures for Baptisms, Church weddings and weekly Mass attendance are down. Those who self-identify as atheists or agnostics (“Nones”) now make up roughly 23% of the U.S. adult population.
Adults, especially young adults, are more likely to say they are not religiously affiliated than in past generations. (Michael Lipka. A closer look at America’s rapidly growing religious ‘nones’. . . , Pew Research Center; 5/5/2017). Also growing in numbers are those who are baptized, and in junior or senior high school, who are increasingly stopping to self-identify as Christians and grouping themselves among the “Nones”.
At the same time, we are blessed with an incredibly generous cohort of faithful who are sacramentally graced to give Gospel witness in their homes, schools and workplace, if only they were invited, trained and supported in their outreach as missionary disciples. It will take the whole Church’s witness and engagement of the “Nones”, inside and outside the walls of the church and across society, to reach out, accompany them, and share the joy of the gospel with them. May the joy of our life in Christ be so remarkable that even the “Nones” are moved to ask what is the secret behind this joy and claim it for themselves” - Bishop Robert Barron, Chairman Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis USCCB.
We are blessed that in our parish, in response to the challenges of today, we introduced a New Family Faith Formation Process that, in a very real and authentic way, extends support to parents in their role as the first and foremost educators of their children’s faith. To the coordinator- Laura Austin, her assistants- Shelly Sornig and Jackie Arsenault, RCIA-C coordinators – Deacon Steve Arnold and Georgeanne Donnelly, and a dedicated group of catechists and other volunteers who work hard all year long to serve in these capacities, I want to thank you very much and invoke the Lord’s blessing upon each and every one of you to have strength to continue to be witnesses for Jesus Christ. You are a true blessing to all of us. We pray that God our Father, the Father of Love, will fill you with confidence and joy as you proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit.
I wish you a blessed week and let us pray that each one of us will bring the Gospel of Jesus to those who leave their faith, and in doing so become the “beacons of hope” for Christ Jesus and His Church.