The Biggest Obstacle is the
Solution
Mark S. Roberti, Director of
Stewardship
Heartland Parishes of
The greatest obstacle to the
effectiveness of the Church today can be boiled down to our failure to heed one
citation in scripture. It’s called
the great commission. “Go, therefore, and
make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of
the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have
commanded of you.” (Mt. 28:19)
As lay people, we seem to
think that commandment was directed toward the apostles and their successor, the
bishops and priests. We figure,
Christ certainly couldn’t expect us to do that, that’s the clergy’s job. We’re
not even trained.
The bishops and priests, on
the other hand fully realize that – short of a miracle – they can’t do it
either. There are just too few
clergy. For many of the clergy we have,
their most vigorous days are behind them.
Moreover, most of the people we need to reach are not even coming to
Church. Many people coming to
Church aren’t doing much more than just that, coming to Church.
They are not very involved.
They are too “busy” with their own lives.
What few of us truly realize
is that our faith, and the Church that instructs us and our families in our
Catholic faith, is the essence of our lives.
The Church ushers us into eternal life.
In the end, that’s all that really matters…eternal life.
The ultimate purpose of our
lives is to share in the life of God for eternity and to help others to do the
same. If you or I were to die
today, and didn’t make it to heaven (or at least Purgatory) our existence here
on earth would have been in vain, a waste. And,
if through our acts of faith, hope, and love we do not help someone else get to
heaven, chances are we will be standing outside the gates for all eternity
ourselves. An essential part
of our role as Christians is to help bring others to eternal salvation.
The laity, today, seems to
expect the clergy to do most of the work.
Isn’t that what we pay them and the Church staff for?
The clergy, on the other hand, expect us, the laity, to be doing a whole
lot more than we are doing. As a
consequence, neither group is accomplishing what God expects of us.
We are both failing God, ourselves, and our families.
A very high percentage of people who are going to other churches in the
We have approximately 75
priests (including retired priests) in the Diocese of Salina.
We have just over 46,000 registered Catholics.
Who should we be expecting to do most of
the work…75 priests or 46,000 lay Catholics? The
bishops of Vatican Council II saw the writing on the wall.
They encouraged Catholics to go out and be leaven for the world.
Each Catholic is called to be priest, prophet, and king, they taught.
The mark of our baptism, indelibly imprinted on our souls, made each of
us a new creation. Our very
orientation was changed from simply human, to a child of God.
This is an ontological change in our
very being, a change in the very essence of who we are.
We were deputized, so to speak, as disciples.
Our role is to evangelize with our lives, to help bring others to Christ.
As a whole (with exceptions,
of course) we, the laity, have dropped the ball.
Most of us are barely trying to make disciples of anybody, let alone all
nations. We are sitting pretty in
our comfort zones and that’s where we intend to stay.
We’ve got our things, our comforts, our
conveniences, and our securities, we certainly don’t want to risk those.
Plus, we’re very busy. So, we’re very willing to let others play the role
of steward, evangelist, and disciple.
The clergy dropped the ball,
too. After Vatican II, most of the
faithful were very poorly catechized. That
was a problem with the hierarchy. As a
consequence, we have a shortage passionate, faithful, Catholics.
We also have a shortage of priests.
We, the laity -- you and I -- need to accept the Catholic challenge set
before us. We need to evangelize.
We need to evangelize with our lives.
We need to evangelize with our words.
Everything is at stake here.
Our once Christian culture is imploding upon us as we watch and do nothing.
What can one person do? Follow the Church. Live Her teachings with a passion! You are not simply one person. I am not simply one person. We are one person in a huge chain of Catholics. The better each person performs his or her responsibility as a link in that chain, the stronger the chain will be. That’s stewardship. That’s discipleship. That’s evangelization. That’s our charge!