It has been my prayer that the recent apostolic visit of our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, to the United States will be the occasion for us to truly experience a “New Pentecost” in the Catholic Church in our country. But you may be wondering in what areas we should be looking for the arrival of this “New Pentecost.”
We are surrounded by a culture that seems to have completely rejected any possibility for the existence of objective, unchangeable truths. We are told by this culture that “my truth may not be your truth,” and that each of us defines our own set of values. This becomes especially challenging when we look at the field of education, from elementary school through high school and right on into college. But I was recently struck by a television ad for a state university that actually gave me a little bit of hope. It was highlighting the advantage of signing up for this particular university by showing a college student in the process of working on a rather elaborate mathematical equation. It occurred to me that this was indeed one very basic example of foundational truths in education. Mathematics builds upon foundational objective facts and truths. It is on these truths that, in a real sense, the whole Universe is built.
In speech after speech and in his homilies at Masses here, the Pope again and again brought up the invitation, even the challenge, that is ours. On the one hand, we are urged to recognize the subtle ways this culture negatively impacts our faith life. On the other hand, the Pope calls us to engage the present-day culture in dialogue in order to transform the culture and society from within. I found the Holy Father’s remarks to the bishops of our country at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., especially clarifying.
At one point, Pope Benedict made the following observation:
This leads me to ask how, in the 21st century, a bishop can best fulfill the call to “make all things new in Christ, our hope?” How can He lead His people to “an encounter with the living God,” the source of that life-transforming hope of which the Gospel speaks (cf. Spe Salvi, 4)? Perhaps he needs to begin by clearing away some of the barriers to such an encounter. While it is true that this country is marked by a genuinely religious spirit, the subtle influence of secularism can nevertheless color the way people allow their faith to influence their behavior. Is it consistent to profess our beliefs in church on Sunday, and then during the week promote business practices or medical procedures contrary to those beliefs? Is it consistent for practicing Catholics to ignore or exploit the poor and the marginalized, to promote sexual behavior contrary to Catholic moral teaching, or to adopt positions that contradict the right to life of every human being from conception to natural death? Any tendency to treat religion as a private matter must be resisted. Only when their faith permeates every aspect of their lives do Christians become truly open to the transforming power of the Gospel.
Recently, Monsignor Lorenzo Albacete, the national director of the Catholic lay group Communion and Liberation, said that the impact of Pope Benedict XVI’s pastoral visit to the United States “depends on us.” “The Pope did his job. It was beautiful and magnificent,” the priest said, but he quickly added that U.S. Catholics are “left with a lot to reflect upon” and that it would be a “mistake of our freedom” not to read and study the Pope’s words.
An essential part of this New Pentecost envisioned by Pope Benedict will entail all of us in the Church becoming more involved in the New Evangelization that Pope John Paul II called for in our Church in this Third Millennium of Christianity. Indeed, the New Evangelization is a call to begin this effort to transform our culture from within.
Locally, I have been in discussion with our Diocesan Pastoral Council, our priests and collaborators here at the Chancery. We are in the process of making available a program that can help us powerfully answer the call of our Popes. The program is called “Why Catholic?” It is based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Over the coming months you will have the opportunity to learn more about this important program.
