October 9, 2009
The Christian Journey
Is it a grocery store or a commitment to Christ?
BY FATHER JIM SAUER
In the Sept. 25 edition of the Message, Bishop Gerald A. Gettelfinger concluded his letter with some provoking questions: 1) Why do only 43 percent of our members in the Diocese of Evansville regularly attend weekend Mass? 2) Why do so many marriages fail? 3) Why do we have a shortage of priests since families are the source of all vocations? 4) Why do parents not choose Catholic schools as the best choice to assist them in passing on the faith to their children? 5) Why are Catholic School children scarce at weekend Masses? 6) Why is attendance of children in religious education programs irregular and inconsistent? 7) Why have parents allowed sports and other activities to replace Sunday worship? Wrestling with these questions can bring about real conversion in our lives and parishes — should we dare to devote time to them.
Allow me to continue reflecting on the Sacrament of Baptism for Infants because I truly believe therein lies potential for real change in the church, however, not in the way we have prepared and celebrated infant baptism in the past. The challenges of the present day church (as presented by our bishop’s questions) demand us to develop different ways of preparing parents for their infants’ baptism.
About five years ago during our priest convocation, we studied Steven Covey’s “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” which were adapted by The National Federation of Priest Councils for parish life. I have found the second principle to be most helpful when initiating new programs with an eye on parish renewal — “Begin with the end in mind.” If we know what we want to accomplish, then we can map the steps at arriving at our goal.
What is the goal of preparing parents for their infants’ baptism? Is it baptism for their baby? No, not only! The RCIA teaches that baptism is a “bridge” into Church life. We can never view baptism (or any sacrament) isolated from parish life. If we do, renewal will never happen in our parishes. If baptism is the goal, then what happens when we baptize the babies of “inactive” Catholic parents (as many of them are)? Once they have gotten what they wanted, most generally these parents will remain inactive until First Communion (then Confirmation). Unwittingly we encourage a “grocery store” mentality toward the sacraments (that is, “come and get it when you need it”). Unfortunately, we never foster a commitment to Christ and the parish demanded by our sacraments. Baptismal preparation simply must understand its goal to be a stronger involvement in parish life. We need to place greater emphasis on strengthening our new parents’ commitment to Christ and the Church.
Canon Law 868.2 says, “there must be a founded hope that the infant will be brought up in the Catholic religion; if such a hope is altogether lacking, the baptism is to be put off.” Church leaders would be very negligent if we understand this canon to permit us to “slam the door in the faces of inactive parents.” This canon challenges us to do just the opposite — to work even more with our inactive parents. We need to spend more time evangelizing and catechizing them so that their public promise to accept the responsibility of raising their child in the practice of the Catholic faith is genuine and honest. One-night preparation programs are inadequate because they are “hoops” which parents must jump through to have their babies baptized. More often than not, we never see our inactive parents after that. Our parishes need a lengthier process of parental preparation, beginning during their pregnancy.
Stay tuned!