Catholic Evangelization, Stewardship, and Catechesis: Three Yet One
Mark S. Roberti, Director of Stewardship
Heartland Parishes of Ellis County

We all know God is Triune. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three separate and distinct Persons, yet they are one indivisible God. Over the years, theologians have tried various ways to explain the mystery of something that defies our comprehension. All explanations are incomplete. We will never be able to get our finite minds around an infinite God. Yet, these attempts to understand God are good and healthy for us.

Today, I would like to also try to explain Church in terms of a triune formula that includes evangelization, stewardship, and catechesis. These are just my thoughts. But, they may help you better understand three interrelated components of our faith in a new and clearer light.

Let’s start with some common explanations of the Trinity. There is the analogy of the triangle, three separate, yet equals, angles within the one geometric figure of the triangle. Then, there is the three-leaf clover example, one leaf yet three cloves. There’s the water example: liquid, steam, and ice, yet all water nevertheless. A relatively new speculative explanation is the theology of the Divine Will: three separate persons thinking with the same Divine Will. None of these examples can or ever could capture the reality of God. He is mystery. They can, however, be used as tools to help us better visualize something that is invisible.

Let’s also look at the Church. We know that the Church is more than what we see on earth. We see the greater Church though the eyes of faith. There’s the "Church Victorious" (the saints in heaven); the "Church Militant" (those of us fighting here on earth); and the "Church Suffering" (the souls in Purgatory). This one Church is working together for the final salvation of each member.

That brings us to the Church on earth. How are we going to fulfill our role? Evangelization is the mission of the Church. Stewardship serves evangelization, and catechesis (Catholic religious education) serves both evangelization and stewardship.

We can reflect upon that in the light of the Holy Trinity. Just as God the Father is the origin and source of all, so evangelization is the source and origin of all activity in the Church. Stewardship reflects the life of Jesus, the Divine Son, "...who came not to be served but to serve and to give His life for the ransom of many" (Mt: 28:20). The Holy Spirit is the bond of love between the Father and the Son.  Analogously, Catholic religious formation is the bond of unity between stewardship and evangelization. In both Trinitarian formulas there are tri-equal elements, yet a unity of purpose...our very salvation.

Catholicism has struggled for the last forty plus years. Catholics have lost sight of the relationship between professing and living our faith. We have put possessions, comforts, and securities before God and, sometimes, before of our own family relationships. The result is a broken world and a Catholicism seeming unable to accomplish its mission.

Yet, the relationship is as simple as this: evangelization is about proclaiming our faith, stewardship is about living our faith, and catechesis is about faithfully teaching what the Church teaches. The person properly catechized will live the faith. The person who properly lives the faith (a steward) will proclaim the faith (evangelize) in word and action.

The good steward evangelizes while at the same time being further evangelized by the message itself. Living the message draws us deeper into the mystery. The mystery itself can never be fully plumbed. We just continue to go deeper and deeper into a relationship with Jesus Christ. The bath water of our baptism gets warmer and warmer, more and more wonderful.

Today, the great and true traditions of Catholicism in the Diocese of Salina rest upon our shoulders. It is our watch! There is no backup team in place. If we fail, here, the Church fails here. In a world almost hostile to Christianity, those of us, right here, right now, have been called to deliver the torch of our faith -- that our ancestors handed on to us -- to the next generation. How will they, as well as our grandchildren, judge our fidelity to this commitment? More importantly, how will God judge us?

Understanding this relationship between evangelization, stewardship, and catechesis all boils down to one question: "What good is it to profess faith without practicing it?” (James 2:14) This is a question we should not have to ask of ourselves.