What Do We Do About the "Nones?"

Dear Friends,

I’ve been waiting for this to happen and a few weeks ago, it did. 

Self-identifying Catholics in the USA have slipped from second to third most numerous religious group in our country, with Evangelical Christians first.  In second place now are the “Nones”.  It’s not that the Nones have come exclusively or predominantly from the Catholic Church, but a good number have.

I was with some of them over the last few weeks, during hospital visits and anniversary celebrations. These good young people were the children of practicing- I would go so far as to say ardent Catholics – men and women who are not Catholic because they were raised that way, but Catholics because they found the person and message of Christ compelling for them. They have found companionship in ministry and friendship in the faith community. Theirs is a commitment to Christ through the community of believers that we call the Catholic Church. Their faith and practice has affected their lives deeply. But their children have made other choices, among them to be “None.”

These are not the only Nones I have met over the years, nor are all the Nones young people.

Some became Nones because they simply drifted away and found no cause to come back. Others had a demeaning , ugly, inappropriate experience once in the person of a church worker. That experience, coupled with unprocessed doubt, was enough to take them away. Some Nones arrive at that position because they went searching and found that no religion was satisfying in the way that being spiritual but uncommitted did. Beyond these reasons are a plethora more.

Do practicing Catholics just let Nones with Catholic roots be, in the hope that the doors between them and us stay open? Do we lecture or proselytize? Do we express disappointment or anger? What?

How about staying the course in faithfulness and love of God and them, and wait for God to provide an opening? How about encouraging them to take a deeper look into their Catholic heritage before  throwing it away definitively , since so much of what we internalized as children and youth doesn’t fit our adult minds, hearts and spirits. What if God never provides the opening we seek? With all due respect, that’s up to God and the None. We might not be needed, strange as that  might seem.

And for those who are on the brink of becoming Nones, here is an excerpt from an article Hans Kung wrote in America (March 20, 1971 )at a time when this priest scholar was a center of controversy. Eventually he would be stripped of the title “Roman Catholic Theologian”. He has remained active in ecumenism and interfaith dialogue and has continued to be an important unofficial voice in the Church.

                “Why am I staying Catholic?” Kung writes.” Because in critical loyalty, there is so much in this community and its history that I can affirm, so much in this community from which I can draw life. I am staying in the Church because, along with the other members of this community of faith, we are the Church…I am staying in the Church because, with all the strong objections against it, here I am at home.” 

~Sister Joan Sobala

Enhancing and Honoring Our Freedom

Dear Friends,

The work of launching  American Independence 239 years ago was personally costly. Of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, five were captured by the British as traitors and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned, two lost sons serving in the Revolutionary Army, another had two sons captured. Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War. They signed their names and they pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor. It was serious business.

Is it as serious for us? The early patriots set the stage for the life we now live.  What are we willing to do to enhance that freedom that was so dearly earned? We are still fighting battles, but now, as in intervening years, the battles are largely not mounted from domination by foreign powers. They come from within, from fellow Americans who would deny freedom, opportunity, a future full of hope to certain members of our society. 

The most recent national  tragedy at Mother Emmanuel  Church in Charleston speaks volumes for what is lacking and needed in our life together. We hope for a breakthrough, but the work, the national conversation, is ours. Each of us has a piece to offer the creation of a new American future. What is it?

Over the holiday we enjoy so much,

• make time to search out a personal way  to combat continuing  prejudice, bias, hatred and discrimination.
• ask how you and all of us can pursue the values of justice and peace and how we can work with other families, business and government to overcome poverty and injustice?
• summon up the will to say no to indiscriminate violence or violence to settle apparent disputes?

The quest to diminish evil and to promote the good is no mere human enterprise.  You knew I’d come to that. It’s true. That’s why you and I worship as often as possible:  to pray that we might recognize our part in all that is to be done to bring forth human harmony. We recognize ourselves as  being children of the same God, present and active in our midst as we live this third American century. In his message to the people on March 30, 1863, Abraham Lincoln prayed “that we might not imagine that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom or power of our own.” 

Freedom claimed is not necessarily freedom retained. It takes discipline on our part, awareness of who is out there working for the common good, and a willingness to join our efforts to theirs.


        Gracious God, may the recognition of your presence to us, everyday
        move us to stretch out our hands to others who also call themselves Americans.
        Let this simple gesture be a symbol of our desire to be one with each other in You.
        May we honor the many cultures, traditions and roots
        we carry within us, no matter where we or our ancestors came from.
        May the great diversity we have not frighten us,
        or make us withdraw into being with people
        we believe are just like us.
        Hold us open, Dear God. Hold us open.  Amen.

~Sister Joan Sobala

A Sea of Change - A Reflection on the Pope's Encyclical

Dear Friends,

For the ancient world, the sea was a dangerous place, capable of swallowing up travelers. It was full of evil spirits, who had caused the upheavals in the sea.

In the Hebrew Bible, only God had power over the sea. God, in the Book of Job, says to the stormy sea:

                                           Thus far shall you come and no farther.

                                           Here shall your proud waves be stilled.

But in our contemporary times, we think we can tame nature to do our will, to make it perform, give up its treasures, become what it was not intended to be. Then, along comes a  leader like Pope Francis, relative in faith to Il Poverello, Francis of Assisi.  Writing in his encyclical Laudate Si,  Pope Francis, in effect, says to the world about our faulty environmental ambitions:

                                             

                                         Thus far shall you come and no farther.

All contemporaries who want creation to be shaped to our brilliant designs, our re-routing, our dreams of conquest, Francis, Bishop of Rome says: Our goal …is to become painfully aware, to turn what is happening to the world into our own personal suffering, and thus, to discover what each of us can do about it. (Laudato si, n.19)

To go back to the water imagery with which these thoughts began, Pope Francis calls us to a sea-change – a change that is significant beyond our expectations, arises turbulently, when we are not fully aware that it is coming.

The disciples of Jesus in the boat on the Sea of Galilee experienced the roiling water and the threat of personal destruction – they, whose numbers included fishermen, grew frightened by the ferocity of the storm. But Jesus was not distressed. He was asleep in the boat. What this storm offered the disciples is what it offers us:  the potential for new thinking, new being, new acting, fresh starts. Jesus says to us, as He did to the waterlogged disciples

                                      

                                                Why are you so terrified?

                                                Why are you lacking in faith?

God had not abandoned them at the height of the storm. God will not abandon us or our earth as it and we experience upheaval. Not one to mince words, at the end of his strong call letter to the world on behalf of our common home, the earth Pope Francis reminds us that our common human quest is not for the sake of death, but for life: May our struggle and our concern for this planet never take away the joy of our hope.  (Laudato si, n.244)

Let’s get into the boat with the sleeping Jesus and his fearful disciples. Together with them and our human family, hope can be ours as we sail to the opposite shore with our common good in mind.

~Sister Joan Sobala

Conversation to Enliven Your Next BBQ

Dear Friends,

Politics and religion have often been labelled taboo topics for backyard barbeques and other social events.  No matter. People ignore the taboo and talk about them anyway. The conversations, at times, surface a conflict of outlooks and limited understandings. In the sphere of religion, alone, not to mention politics, some  words are used and misused: words like liberal, conservative, orthodox and traditional. The way these words are used can easily skew discussion. In anger or disagreement, people fling those words at one another as though they were – well -  swear words.

Consider this a mini-update, not to be used at the backyard barbeque – only to have in the back of your mind as a generous framework for conversation. To begin, there are positive and negative sides to the liberal and conservative theological positions that are part of our times.

Theological liberalism helps nourish and hone the spirit of critical inquiry, openness to new questions and new insights. It resists injustice and is sensitive to the experience of minority people and positions. Among the weaknesses of theological liberalism is a bare minimum approach to doctrine and spiritual resources. It sometimes locates the whole work to be done in the here and now, without seeing this work in a larger human, historical and divine context.

Theological conservatives offer the faith community real praise of God, honor signs of holiness  and  work toward the freedom of the children of God.  But for conservatives, faith is not seen as a way of life. It is not a journey and but a tool, a given, complete and whole and in some cases, a weapon. Boundaries are sealed, doubt and darkness are banished. Without space for creativity or exploration, faith is a package.

Some women and men argue that, in resisting the theological liberal approach to living faith, they are upholding  the tradition of the church. Further probing shows that what this group pf people want is to continue the conventions of recent decades or centuries. They mix up this clinging to recent history with knowing and living by the rich and complex tradition of “faith seeking understanding” that has enlivened the church from its beginning.

While theological liberals and theological conservatives each have gifts to offer the community, the most untried and perhaps remarkable approach to plumbing the depths of Christianity is … orthodoxy.

The word orthodoxy literally means right praise. Believers are called to give right glory to God, and so live fully ourselves and as a world. We look to our source events and documents for  help to know how to be faithful to God in this culture and time. Our good works are rooted in the founding vision of Christ.

Christian orthodoxy is God-centered, and not elitist. It holds that the world and its structures are meant to be vehicles of the divine. Orthodoxy  condemns  neither  liberals or conservatives, but invites them to the table of dialogue and the works  of justice and peace.  The primer s done.  Tuck it away.

Now, enjoy your barbeque and the conversation that enlivens it … for the good of all.

~Sister Joan Sobala

Myths that Derail Faith

Dear Friends,

Myths abound in the world – about many aspects of life. Three myths, in particular are destructive in the way they work on our minds and stoke our fears. This small collection of myths tell us that God is not really steadfast, so we had better fend for ourselves.

The first of these destructive myths is scarcity. There isn’t enough for you and me, so I’ll take care of myself and good luck to you! Hoarding and violence are ways of responding to the threat of scarcity. All over the world, in countries where there is scarcity there is pushing and shoving when food arrives. Where there is a scarcity of respect for the human person, there is violence. We witness to the power of the myth of scarcity when we take more than our modest share. Scarcity translates into “God is not trustworthy.”

A second destructive myth is self sufficiency. “Whatever is needed, I can do it myself.” This myth disconnects us from others, and from our God. Look at the back of a dollar bill. Ben Franklin and his design team took four years to produce two circles to represent our nation in a satisfactory way: The right circle is dark , because in 1776,  the nation did not know what it would become. The circle on the left contains a pyramid with a bright face and no top. Above the sheered - off top is the eye of God, over the land : from the beginning, one nation, under God. Dependent and interdependent America  is our homeland.

The third myth is destructive silence – the unwillingness or fear of sharing the things in life that really matter. In not speaking out against injustice or not speaking up on behalf of others, evil wins. In not offering words of hope, others become hopeless. If we keep silent in our sorrow, the world can offer its temporal comfort to us, but nothing lasting.  Instead of destructive silence, our God invites us to speak words of hope. The word hopeless is not in God’s vocabulary. With God, we can name sin for what it is and release into the world the power of God for good.

Negative forces in today’s world take advantage of our uncertainty about God’s steadfast love, and uses our uncertainty to entice us away from God and to control us. But, God is not the giver of scarcity or disconnectedness or destructive silence. Our loving God invites us to proclaim God as steadfast and to live in that confidence.

                                                I, God, will not remove my steadfast love.

                                                I will not be false to my faithfulness.

                                                I will not violate my covenant with you or

                                                Alter the word that went forth from my lips.

                                               

                                                Happy the people who know you, Lord,

                                                Who walk in the radiance of your face.  (Ps.89: 3,4,16 paraphrased)

 ~Sister Joan Sobala