Canadian Catholics need a deeper faith

Words from Dr. Ventresca at King's College UWO

h/t Big Blue Wave

Dr. Robert A. Ventresca is a prof at King's College at UWO in London, Ontario. He is a grad of King's, and holds a Ph.D in History from U of T. His current research and teaching interests from the history faculty of King's include church-state relations in 19th and 20th century Europe, the Catholic Church in the modern era, the history of fascism and its legacy in postwar Italy, and the history of Catholic-Jewish relations in modern times.

He wrote a piece that appeared in the National Post Holy Post religion blog here on October 22, 2009 titled Canadian Catholics need a deeper faith.

In his article, he starts off by referencing Archbishop Lahey and his troubles, then quickly shifts to " the ongoing campaign of intimidation and persecution of Christians by the Islamist regime of Khartoum", as reported by the African Bishops. He says:

In this as in so many other ways, the contrast between the Church in Africa and the Church in Canada could not be starker. In Africa, bishops – the spiritual shepherds -- worry for the lives of their flock; for them, martyrdom is a real possibility, not some ancient account or artistic depiction.

Still, the Canadian Church has its own cross to bear – an internal, self-imposed crisis of faith, fidelity and identity.

He writes of the abandonment that the Apostles must have felt when Jesus was condemned then crucified, such that Peter, his chosen leader, denied him not once but 3 times. He makes an interesting comparison worthy of reading:

My guess is that many Canadian Catholics can relate to the confusion, fear and abandonment the disciples must have felt at the time of the crucifixion. For all the good, intelligent and holy men who serve as bishops and priests in Canada, it is sometimes hard not to think of the Church as ship being tossed at sea with no one around to calm the waters.

A a few decades ago, we were building churches and opening Catholic schools and universities. Today dioceses struggle to remain solvent, churches are closed while parishes are clustered, and Catholic schools are populated increasingly with students whose interest in their religious heritage is dismal. Catholic universities which once saw themselves as purveyors of an intellectual tradition that helped to shape civilization, market generic ‘values-based’ learning, convinced that the Catholic brand is damaged goods.

Once-flourishing religious orders now struggle with the historical legacy of abuse and the ensuing shame and financial ruin. Others, especially female religious orders that helped lay the foundations of our vaunted health care and education systems, are withering, unable to spark the imagination of young women to a life of holy service. To say nothing of seminaries which sit half-empty and struggle to inspire more than just a few good men by the radical call to stand in the person of Christ.

Boy, does this man have a good insight into the Church today. For the disciples, their faith was tested, and my favourite saint Peter, always stepping out of the boat, ready for a challenge, leading with his lip as it were, saw the light, and became a great leader of the Church. Sure couldn't see that one coming early on. But Jesus did.

Dr. Ventresca calls us to have conversion of our hearts, and then to re-dedicate ourselves to the faith that comes to us from the Apostles. As the good doctor concludes:

The frightened disciples caught in that violent storm at sea felt abandoned by their Master. ‘Teacher,’ they asked him, ‘do you not care that we are perishing?’ To which Jesus replied, ‘Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?’

This last is a question all Canadian Catholics should be asking themselves. It certainly would help us to practice what we preach.

Suzanne, over at Big Blue Wave has some interesting insights as well on this article. I have long held the belief that the Catholic Church holds the full deposit of faith, as given to us by Jesus, and carried on by the Apostles and their successors. The problem is not the Church. It is that the Church is full of humans. Though the Catholic Church produces spiritual giants on an as needed basis, like Pope John Paul and Mother Theresa, it is also full of people that are pew sitters, with little understanding of the faith they profess every week in the mass. That is changing in my opinion, as the sitters are leaving and the Church population, diminished is stronger in faith, though yearning for the return of all our departed brothers and sisters.

I admire Suzanne's tenacity for Life, but above all her faith in a God she knows loves her more than she deserves, and can ever fathom, as he loves us all. She points our the problem in the Church as follows:

Getting to the heart of the matter. One of the problems of the Church :)

The heart of the problem in the Catholic Church is that faith is treated like an academic subject, a series of abstract deductions that lead one to a conclusion that one accepts as a working hypothesis-- because that's where the evidence leads.

There's nothing wrong with deductions, conclusions, hypothesis or going where the evidence leads.

But faith is not a deduction, or a conclusion, or hypothesis.

Faith is not found in the brain, but in the heart. Her next conclusion brings tears to my eyes, and joy to my heart.

It's a relationship to God. A personal God. An intimate God. An interventionist God. A real, bona fide, supernatural, omnipotent Supreme Being who cares and orders the world for your benefit, and is your ultimate source of happiness and delight.

God is not just a necessary conclusion to explain something. If you treat him like it's all about thought processes and putting two and two together, then you will never have real faith.

To me, this is the problem of the Church. God and the Catholic Faith is treated like philosophical or political ideology, the way that one would approach post-modernism or feminism.

God is not ideology.

He's real. He cares. He requires obedience for our own Good, because he loves us.

Our Evangelical and Pentacostal brothers and sisters have said this all along. In the Catholic Church we tried to gut it out in our heads. It cannot be so, and it is not so. Though you can teach someone about faith, faith is caught, not taught.

The day that I realised, by a great gift from God that He loved me so much that He sent His only begotten Son to earth to be born and to die for ME, and that if I was the only person on the planet He still would have come was the greatest day of my life. What a realisation it was, that I would have had to nail Him to the cross, and then take Him down and later see that He had indeed risen from the dead. When I think of this Greatest of All Loves, I tingle.

She goes on:

Faith is accepting the authority of God because he says so and trusting his say-so because he cares.

If you do not trust him to be loving and if you do not accept that he is able to accurately impart his thought then you cannot accept him at his word.

If you accept him as loving, if you accept his power and his word, then you can have faith.

All the dissent and apathy in the Church is symptomatic of not recognizing God for who he is and what he can do.

Yes, Suzanne, we define God by who we are not by who He is. As she says:

There are so many people who cannot fathom that God can organize world and individual events that the pope will never utter an erroneous teaching (as per the dogma of church infallibility).

They cannot fathom that God would assure that the Church would transmit Sacred Tradition (that is, unwritten Revelation) in an accurate fashion, in spite of the failings of her members.

They can't picture it. In their minds, humans are too weak-- and their own weakness means that they really can't perceive or assimilate God's Truth properly.

As if God can't overcome human weakness! (Even the weakness of billions of people.)

Give this dear lady a pulpit. She speaks wisdom, and with authority. She knows. Above all, she knows the Redeemer, and has wisdom from the Holy Spirit, all through the love of the Eternal Father. Praise the Lord, and pass the ammunition. So what you get when you don't trust God is:

The truth is, Catholics don't trust God enough. They don't trust him to transmit Revelation. They don't trust him to protect Church doctrine from error. They don't trust him to guide personal or world events.

They have too much invested in not trusting him.

So in not trusting him, Catholics in Canada are treated to an impoverished Catholicism; one without Mary, the angels, the saints, miracles, sacramentals, healings, apparitions, eucharistic adoration, and so forth.

Theirs is the religion of thoughts and sentiments; not of actual divine manifestation.

The goal of this impoverished Catholicism is to change your thinking NOT your soul. Their spirituality is purely psychological, not supernatural.

Part of the solution is partially educational. Of course, more Catholics need to learn the rudiments of the faith.

But part of it is also philosophical. Our world resists belief in the supernatural. Some people might think because it's illogical.

It has nothing to do with logic. It's perfectly logical to believe in God and the Catholic Faith.

It has to do with the vested interest people have in not accepting the supernatural.

When you accept that man is the measure of things, and that all beliefs are relative, it's very easy to justify oneself and one's motives.

The Church is vibrant in Africa where Christians fear for their lives, but not such that they will be silent about the Way, the Truth and the Life. When we go to Tucson in the winter, the Associate Pastor in our parish is from Ghana, and he is a man of abundant faith, come to evangelize America, because he was called to come here. We live in the third world as far as faith is concerned.

Suzanne concludes:

I would also say in parting that faith is a gift. While it's necessary to have all the right information and arguments, man's will and intellect can only go so far. Faith, as a supernatural virtue, requires divine grace. It is not the work of man. It is facilitated by humility, good works and one's own questioning. But it can only come by the work of God. God doesn't reward those who make faith into an intellectual exercise. He will reward those who see faith as the pursuit of God himself. But that reward will come in God's time, not man's.

That gift of faith is a free gift, available to all. God wants us all to have it, so we may be one as He and the Father are one. Don't take my word for it. Don't take Suzanne Fortin's word for it. Don't even take Dr. Ventresca's word for it. Take God's word for it. Invite him to give you abundant faith, to overcome the trials of your lives, to see the truth that is there in front of your eyes about Him and His love for you.

Seek it with your heart and then embrace it.