Apr 8 Tue
What is the main task of the Church?
The main mission of the Church, as articulated in various Church teachings, is fundamentally centered on evangelization and the proclamation of the Gospel. This mission is rooted in the command of Jesus Christ and is essential to the Church's identity and purpose in the world.
The Church's mission is not only about spiritual salvation but also encompasses the integral well-being of individuals and communities. It aims to free people from sin and the influence of evil, leading them into a loving relationship with God. This involves teaching moral principles and promoting justice, which are integral to the Gospel message.
What topic, then, should the world’s Church leaders be discussing?
How about this: How to confront the reality that a steadily growing number of Catholics—and especially young Catholics—aren’t much interested in anything the Church says. For a truly missionary Church, this is the crucial challenge of our time.
Rather than spending years discussing how the Church should change (a perfect example of “self-referential” Church) why not concentrate on how the Church might change the world?
And thus, we come, on March 17, to a timely look at St. Patrick, and what he did—and didn’t—do in Ireland.
St. Patrick’s is not all about leprechauns, shamrocks, and green beer. He was an influential saint who, 1,500 years ago, brought Christianity to the little country of Ireland. He was born about 385 in Great Britain; he was carried off, while still very young, and sold as a slave during a raid on Roman Britain by the Irish.
Six years later, he managed to escape to Europe, became a monk, and was ordained a priest. He then returned to Ireland to preach the Gospel. During his thirty years of missionary work, he covered Ireland with churches and monasteries. In 444 he founded the metropolitan see of Armagh. St. Patrick died in 461. After fifteen centuries, he remains the great bishop whom all Irishmen venerate as their father in the Faith.
He could have given up his missionary ambitions, figuring that the pagan culture was not ready for the Gospel. He might have compromised with that culture, finding ways to make common cause with the pagan Druids. He might have called together the few Druids, too, to discuss how the Gospel message could be tailored to the day's tastes.
Instead, St. Patrick jumped into that pagan culture and society, and preached the Gospel without apology, consecrating over 300 other bishops, and converting an entire nation. The story of St. Patrick gave proof—not for the first time—that the Gospel message sells. People crave the Good News: the item itself, not the talk about how it is packaged and delivered. Christ never sent His disciples out to host meetings to make others feel included; He sent His disciples out to preach the Gospel so fully and effectively as to prompt repentance—to change hearts.
I do not imagine St. Patrick closing a parish church in Ireland; he was far too busy opening new ones. Nor can I imagine that St. Patrick would have had the patience to endure years of talk about “preparatory workshops and assemblies for discussion,” when there is so much work to be done to bring the world to a knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Some excerpts from Phil Lawler.
What is the main task of the Church?
The main mission of the Church, as articulated in various Church teachings, is fundamentally centered on evangelization and the proclamation of the Gospel. This mission is rooted in the command of Jesus Christ and is essential to the Church's identity and purpose in the world.
The Church's mission is not only about spiritual salvation but also encompasses the integral well-being of individuals and communities. It aims to free people from sin and the influence of evil, leading them into a loving relationship with God. This involves teaching moral principles and promoting justice, which are integral to the Gospel message.
What topic, then, should the world’s Church leaders be discussing?
How about this: How to confront the reality that a steadily growing number of Catholics—and especially young Catholics—aren’t much interested in anything the Church says. For a truly missionary Church, this is the crucial challenge of our time.
Rather than spending years discussing how the Church should change (a perfect example of “self-referential” Church) why not concentrate on how the Church might change the world?
And thus, we come, on March 17, to a timely look at St. Patrick, and what he did—and didn’t—do in Ireland.
St. Patrick’s is not all about leprechauns, shamrocks, and green beer. He was an influential saint who, 1,500 years ago, brought Christianity to the little country of Ireland. He was born about 385 in Great Britain; he was carried off, while still very young, and sold as a slave during a raid on Roman Britain by the Irish.
Six years later, he managed to escape to Europe, became a monk, and was ordained a priest. He then returned to Ireland to preach the Gospel. During his thirty years of missionary work, he covered Ireland with churches and monasteries. In 444 he founded the metropolitan see of Armagh. St. Patrick died in 461. After fifteen centuries, he remains the great bishop whom all Irishmen venerate as their father in the Faith.
He could have given up his missionary ambitions, figuring that the pagan culture was not ready for the Gospel. He might have compromised with that culture, finding ways to make common cause with the pagan Druids. He might have called together the few Druids, too, to discuss how the Gospel message could be tailored to the day's tastes.
Instead, St. Patrick jumped into that pagan culture and society, and preached the Gospel without apology, consecrating over 300 other bishops, and converting an entire nation. The story of St. Patrick gave proof—not for the first time—that the Gospel message sells. People crave the Good News: the item itself, not the talk about how it is packaged and delivered. Christ never sent His disciples out to host meetings to make others feel included; He sent His disciples out to preach the Gospel so fully and effectively as to prompt repentance—to change hearts.
I do not imagine St. Patrick closing a parish church in Ireland; he was far too busy opening new ones. Nor can I imagine that St. Patrick would have had the patience to endure years of talk about “preparatory workshops and assemblies for discussion,” when there is so much work to be done to bring the world to a knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Some excerpts from Phil Lawler.
Video: