Catholic Community: the Heart of Catholic Learning
Note: while this post is about smaller versions of a Catholic community, some of you may be interested in taking this idea to the next level and actually living in a Catholic neighborhood. Such a lifestyle has its strengths and weaknesses, but it’s a fascinating idea.
As I went through the client needs survey I was surprised to see the desire for Catholic community so low in the results. The need for a Catholic community was certainly present in the responses, just not as strongly as I expected it to be.
You see, almost by definition Catholics are not loners. This is one reason we have such a difficult time sometimes communicating to our non-Catholic Christian brothers and sisters when they ask us questions like, “Have you accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and savior?” We just don’t think that way. Jesus is our savior, but he saves us not only from sin but into the Catholic community – the Family of God – the Covenant – the Church.
Learning within a Catholic community is incredibly important. Yes, it is good to have quiet, alone time too. But learning with a community is a great way to move your knowledge from your head to your heart. When it is done well, growing in intimacy with each other within a Catholic community connects us to the family, and therefore helps us to grow in intimacy with the Divine Family (Father, Son and Holy Spirit).
Some resources to use with small faith sharing groups:
Faithful Citizenship Discussion Materials
Faith Alive Program (my group – described below – use these excellent books written by Christopher Ruff from the Diocese of LaCrosse, WI)
Here are some responses from the client needs survey that reflected a need for Catholic community
- Finding or building community, learning to contemplate
- Things that didn’t work: trying to do it alone. It always helps to reach out and talk to others, go to events that help inspire and educate.
- Talk to my wife and athers more about my faith. Going to daily Mass more often. Both have helped.
As I write this, we are a week past the feast of the Epiphany and I am still thinking about our pastor’s homily. He began by asking us what we have in common with the Magi who sought out Jesus.
- The magi were outsiders to the Jewish people, just as most of us are.
- The magi left everything to seek God, just as we are called to do (though most of us – including me – struggle to do so)
- The magi didn’t go it alone. They traveled in a community, just as we Catholics always seek God in the context of a Catholic community.
Why Do We Seek Catholic Community?
The reasons that Catholics seek community range from the practical to the deeply theological.
On a practical (natural) level, we seek community because God made us to need each other. Each of us is better when we are empowered by others.
I have just joined a membership program for online writers. Despite the talents that God has given me as a teacher and writer, I would be foolish to think that I couldn’t benefit from having other writers look at my writing, from seeing what content others are creating in their own areas, from exchanging ideas and support. And hopefully I am bringing the same value to the table that I am receiving from others.
If there is such value in joining a community of writers, how much more value would there be in striving for growth in our faith within a Catholic community?
By being a member of a Catholic community we give ourselves the opportunity to
- Learn from others aspects of our faith that we could never figure out on our own
- Hear fresh perspectives on ideas we had been taking for granted
- Get support for the changes you need to make in your path to conversion
- Come to realize that you are not the only sinner in the Church
- Learn from the struggles and successes of others who are on the same journey as you
- Gain accountability to help you take your growth in faith seriously
It’s All About God & His Family
In addition to the practical and natural reasons to gain a Catholic community, there is also a supernatural and spiritual reason that we seek community.
As a human being, you are created in the image of God. By his very nature, God is a Catholic community. More specifically, God is family love (if you want to learn more about the Trinity as family, buy Scott Hahn’s talk on the subject – it’s only $3 plus shipping and it is excellent). The three divine Persons abide in a perfect relationship of family love, and as God’s image you are created to exist in the same sort of relationship. This is why it was “not good that man should be alone” in Eden – why Adam needed Eve to be complete.
God is faithful to human nature even in his act of salvation. Yes, you are judged and redeemed as an individual. But while you are redeemed from sin, you are also redeemed into God’s family – the Covenant. At this stage in salvation history, the covenant – God’s family – is expressed through the Church (have you ever wondered why we call priests “father” and religious “brother” and “sister”?).
So our relationship with God is deeply embedded in our relationship with each other. Being part of a Catholic community is an expression of our connection to the larger Family.
In future articles, I’ll explore how we can achieve a sense of authentic Catholic community.
This is definitely an element that I am going to want to pay attention to in the Catholic Learning Plan. Anonline community cannot provide a complete Catholic community experience, but a sense of community – the opportunity to interact with each other and provide help and support to each other – really needs to be an integral part of all Catholic adult learning.
We’ll explore more about this later. In the meantime, if you’re not yet part of the little community of subscribers to these articles, why not give it a try? Fill out the form below to receive updates whenever I post a new article. And please, please, please comment on this article! The comments can be a great start to building a Catholic community! Let’s do it!
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