Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Recently, I read a new work of Bishop Erik Varden, a Trappist monk and Bishop-Prelate of the Territorial Prelature of Trondheim, Norway, entitled, Towards Dawn: Essays in Hopefulness (Elk Grove Village, IL: Word on Fire, 2025). What drew me immediately into his writings were these opening sentences:
“It is often casually said that we live in post-Christian times. I believe that statement to be false. Theologically, the term ‘post-Christian’ makes no sense. Christ is the Alpha and the Omega, and all the letters in between. He carries constitutionally the freshness of morning dew. Christianity is of the dawn. If at times, during given periods, we feel enshrouded by twilight, it is because another day is in the making. It seems to me clear that we find ourselves in such a process of awakening now…Secularization has run its course. It is exhausted, void of positive finality. The human being meanwhile, remains alive with deep aspirations. It is an essential task of the Church to listen to these attentively, with respect, then to orient them towards Christ, who carries the comfort and challenge for which the human heart yearns” (Preface).
This orientation towards Christ so that we might remain in him (“Remain in me” - John 15:4), is the essence of the forty-day retreat the Lenten season offers you and me in preparation for the renewal of our Baptismal Promises at Easter. At the beginning of this sacred time, I write to you a third pastoral letter focusing on a theme that I spoke of on the day of my appointment as Bishop of Syracuse back in June 2019 – “In You All Find Their Home” – the last line of Psalm 87 as it is prayed in the Church’s “Liturgy of the Hours.”
If we look back in the Church’s calendar to the second day of the month of February, we encounter the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord that gives flesh to our consideration of the theme and image of, in God and in God’s house, finding a “home.” Through the persons of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus, along with Simeon and Anna, we encounter in this event found in Luke 2:22-39, some fundamental dynamics meant to be found in houses of worship, that is, in our parish churches.
First, they must be places where people feel warmly welcomed! Second, they are to be places where one gives true worship to our Triune God through our engagement in the Church’s sacramental life and the rituals which are an outward sign of God’s presence, and the grace (the gift) he wants to share from His very self. Third, our houses of worship are to be places of encounter, where we hear the word of God and through the working of the Holy Spirit, allow God to speak to our inner hearts, in order to mold our daily living into the divine image in which we are made. Finally, in our encounter with God’s Real Presence, our houses of worship mission us to go forth and to carry the light and peace of Christ into our homes, neighborhoods, nation, and world.
Again, we look to the subsequent verses of Luke 2:40-52, Verse 40 states; “The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.” How did this happen? Not only by what we, today, would refer to as the Domestic Church – that is, family life as the most fundamental community of faith (see Lumen Gentium #11), but also by a weekly keeping holy of the Lord’s Day through worship and instruction in one’s local house of worship, i.e., the parish church.
The Little Rock Catholic Study Bible (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2011) highlights the importance of this weekly encounter in its commentary on Simeon and Anna. It states: “Both Simeon and Anna illustrate that waiting involves action and contemplative listening. They go to the place where their faith finds its home, and they are people of prayer. They were not simply in the right place at the right time; they were in the right place spiritually and recognized the time of God’s action” (p. 2119).
It is in this context that I wish to address the need for our parishes and their pastors, along with their collaborators in pastoral ministry, to strengthen parish life in the areas of teaching the Catholic faith in its fullness (catechesis/sacramental preparation/Scripture study) and in providing the spiritual nourishment of both Sacraments and of the Church’s devotional life on a regular, consistent basis.
Evangelizing Catechesis for Mission
Pope Francis in his 2013 Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel), wrote: “Catechesis is an essential part of the Church’s mission to evangelize. It is the process by which we come to know Jesus Christ and his saving message, and it is the means by which we are formed as disciples who are sent out to proclaim the Gospel to others” (#222). Catechists, including teachers in parish programs and in our Catholic schools, along with those involved in youth ministry, play a vital role in this journey with the younger members of our diocesan Church by providing instruction, guidance, and support in accompanying our young people to know Jesus Christ personally and intimately. This is done through regular Faith Formation programs in our parishes, through Sacramental Preparation, participation in Sunday and Holyday Masses, and faith-based activities to engage our young people in the life of Christ’s church.
The Directory for Catechesis (2020) presented by the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization outlines five tasks for catechesis in the process of accompaniment: (1) Leading to knowledge of the faith – Scripture and Tradition; (2) Initiating Celebration of the Mystery – Liturgy and Sacraments; (3) Forming for Life in Christ – Morality and Social Justice; (4) Teaching Prayer; and (5) Introduction to Community Life – Disciple and Vocation. Their end is to form missionary disciples who not only internalize and hold onto their beliefs, but who also actively share and live their faith out in the world – in the public square.