Teaching religion in an 'apostolic age'

By Ana Rodriguez Soto - The Archdiocese of Miami

Photography: ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO | FC

SOUTHWEST RANCHES | No need to panic. The Church has lived through times like these before.

That was the message conveyed to the English-speaking portion of more than 1,000 educators — Catholic school teachers and parish religious education volunteers — who gathered Oct. 28, 2023, for the annual Catechetical Conference. They filled St. Mark Church for the opening Mass, celebrated by Archbishop Thomas Wenski, then scattered throughout Archbishop McCarthy High School next door for learning sessions in English and Spanish.

“We pretty much have [at least] one from every school and parish,” said Sister Karen Muñiz, director of the Office of Catechesis, which hosts the conference every year.

The sessions covered topics such as “Empowering children’s imaginations with beautiful and meaningful books,” “Our Lady as a model for all catechists” and “Sharing the beauty of holiness.”

At the opening Mass, two catechists were honored with the Esperanza Ginoris Award for “exemplifying excellence in catechetical ministry”: Liliana Martorella, director of religious education at Mother of Our Redeemer Parish in Miami, and Nadine Destine, coordinator of religious education and faith formation at St. Elizabeth of Hungary Parish in Pompano Beach.

Another 60 were recognized with the Bishop Agustin Roman award for serving anywhere from 20 to 40 years as catechists, including one, Maria Teresa Villanueva, who is in her 51st year of teaching.

Scott Lefor, who delivered the keynote for English-speakers, is program director of Mary College, a campus of the University of Mary located within the secular campus of Arizona State University in Tempe – a reality that he said parallels the reality of Christianity in today’s western world.

“People are leaving the faith in droves,” he said, something especially true for those aged 35 and under. But the percentage who describe themselves as atheists or agnostics is in the single digits.

Lefor called this a “practical atheism,” where “God doesn’t really matter in life.”

“What our culture did was say, we’re going to be nothing,” he added.

The problem for those struggling to pass on the faith to younger generations is the “dissonance” between what the culture teaches and what the Church teaches.

“You’re being sold two visions of the world, and those worlds are completely different,” Lefor said. Young people absorb cultural values “through osmosis,” so they are, in a sense, predisposed to “deeply formed ways of thinking and acting that are not necessarily Christian.”

But there’s reason for hope. “In the life of the Church, what we’re experiencing is quite common,” Lefor said. “Living within a culture that’s opposed to the Church is a common occurrence in the Church.”

It was true in the time of the early Christians, who looked like they would be wiped out by persecutions around 300 A.D. It was true again during the Enlightenment.

Those are times when being Catholic means “you’ll find yourself to be an outsider socially,” Lefor said. And also times subject to violent clashes and revolutions because “you can’t have a culture with two visions of the world.”

One must prevail. The early Christians did, despite all odds. He also cited St. Benedict, whose rule of life slowly caught on and shaped western society, at one point counting as many as 37,000 monasteries throughout Europe.

Lefor called such periods “a Christendom age” and their counterpart an “apostolic age,” one where the Church is smaller “but more intentional.”

Because there’s a downside to “a Christendom age,” he said, citing the philosopher Kierkegaard: “When there’s not a social price to be paid in being Christian, then hypocrisy tends to spread,” as does a “lukewarmness” about the faith.

“We’re no longer teaching in a Christendom age,” Lefor said. So educators’ work today involves “passing on the Catholic ‘imaginative vision’ to the next generation.”

That “imaginative vision” takes into consideration the fact that “we experience life as an unfolding story,” and it involves helping young people look at the world – and their story – through the eyes of faith.

“Conversion is more of an embracing of a different vision of the world,” Lefor said, the hopeful vision offered by Christianity.

That won’t happen by arguing about culture or politics or for whom to vote, but by living out Christianity “in the smallness of our lives.”

“Renewal can only come to Catholic education and our culture in general if we’re living as Christians,” he said, at the same time assuring his listeners that “the modern world at some point will turn back to Christianity. ... At some point, we’ll get a second hearing.”