Most of the faithful are familiar with both sides of the current Catholic coin: rampant unbelief and apostasy on one side and a small but powerful movement toward orthodoxy and tradition on the other. Many young priests have begun the hard work of improving catechesis and liturgy, emphasizing Confession, and building devotion to the Eucharist and the Blessed Virgin Mary. In many of their parishes, the exodus appears to have stopped. Parishioner numbers are beginning to stabilize and, in some select cases, even grow.
This a good sign, but even in these parishes there tends to be a lukewarmness. Though they call themselves Catholic and even attend Mass each Sunday, many parishioners refuse to fully embrace the faith. It takes a backseat to the things of the world. Far too many of the Catholics in the pews each Sunday are not in state of grace and are at risk of eternal woe. Why is it so difficult in today’s culture to get Mass-attending Catholics to fully embrace the faith?
This vital question holds one of the keys to stopping the exodus out of the Church and moving beyond its current crisis. If parishes are giving better catechesis and liturgy, emphasizing Confession, and building devotion to the Eucharist and the Blessed Virgin Mary, shouldn’t they be seeing more fruit? Shouldn’t these parishes be filled with fervent souls? So why aren’t they?
The hearts of many parishioners are hardened. Catholics, and many parishes, have succumbed to our modern-day culture and, in particular, its view of happiness, religion, and freedom. Although these ways of thinking are at odds with the Catholic faith, the Church is mostly silent about these fundamental dangers of the modern mindset.
In order for these Mass-going Catholics to embrace their faith and all that is being offered them, their mindset must change. While preaching against the culture and its worldview is never easy, these topics are necessary, and because of their relevance to everyday life, they are a great opportunity for priests to grab parishioners’ attention and lead them toward fully embracing and living their Catholic faith.
Out of a deep love for our Lord we must not only stop the physical exodus of Catholics from the Church, but we must also help those who remain fully embrace the faith to become true friends of Christ. This starts with parish priests. They have been ordained by God through His Church for this very task of leading the souls in their parishes to heaven. They are called to be the saints to lead us out of this crisis. But how?
To change the thinking of Catholics in the pews, they must change the culture of the parish, so let’s first understand culture’s components. Culture is made up of three elements: what we think (mentality), what we do (habits), and what we’re surrounded by (environment). These elements directly relate to the transcendentals of truth, goodness and beauty. The more a parish’s mentality is based in truth, its habits in goodness, and its environment in beauty, the more authentically Catholic its culture is, which brings its people closer to God.
“Faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes by the preaching of Christ” (Rom. 10:17). The first step to shifting the mentality of a parish is to preach Christ and the faith with boldness and confidence. Any sense of compromise diminishes the priest’s authority, along with the authority of the Church. It must be clear to parishioners that the priest teaches truths handed down from God through His Church. These teachings are not just one set of beliefs among many. Preaching in this way fights against relativism and the false idea of freedom, that one can do as he pleases, creating his own patchwork of truth and morals.
With the poor level of catechesis over the last half century, parishioners are ignorant about many elements of the faith. Through prayer and personal contact within the parish, priests should determine what topics must be taught in order to fight this ignorance. In many parishes, parishioners have lost interest in learning their faith, so a pastor might consider beginning with elements that will inspire them and pique their interest, drawing them further in and building a trust between the priest and his people. While sermons are the most obvious place for this to occur, many priests use podcasts, Facebook Live, bulletin inserts and regular parish talks to connect with parishioners and deepen their knowledge of the faith.
Preaching isn’t the only way to change a parish’s mentality. According to Aristotle, we learn moral virtue primarily through habit and practice rather than through reasoning and instruction. Habits, the second element that makes up the culture, are also a primary tool for changing parish mentality. A habit as simple as the Morning Offering combats the idea that religion is something to make life better, a self-help tool. By offering themselves and their day to God each morning, parishioners can connect themselves to the priest’s offering at Mass. In time this changes the way they look at the faith. Their faith begins to become an offering to God.
How can parish priests instill habits like the Morning Offering in their parishioners? Parishes are diverse, and the priest can’t reach everyone. Who should the priest focus his time and efforts on? According to St. John Paul II: the future of the world and of the Church passes through the family. The priest should focus his efforts on families, but even this is difficult. In today’s world, getting whole families together and then having material that works for children, mothers and fathers is nearly impossible.
So, how do priests most effectively reach families? Through fathers.
