Young Life & the catholic church

Michael A. Havercamp

A Story . . .

The “Missional Moment”

1.2 Billion Catholics Worldwide

“Because many of those baptized as infants are culturally or nominally Catholic and may never have internalized their faith, they need to meet the person of Jesus Christ through a new proclamation, so that at the root of their relationship with Jesus will be an authentic conversion of heart and mind.”

~Bishop Samuel Jacobs, former chairman of the USCCB Committee for

Evangelization

“The majority of Catholics in the United States are

sacramentalized but not evangelized.”

-Sherry Weddell, Catherine of Siena Institute

“SO HOW DO WE ADDRESS THIS?”

Shoot Christians say…

Language to avoid…Para-churchEvangelismGetting “Saved”“Jenny became a Christian at camp”“Have you been born again?”Note: Many Catholics won’t have the language that you do to express their faith. But don’t assume that they lack faith altogether.

Catholic language:a whole new world

Catechism/CatechesisApostolateHomilyLaityLectionaryLiturgy of the Hours/Divine OfficeThe Our FatherParishPaschal MysteryRCIAVatican IIVocationDiocesePetitions/Intercessions

Catholic quiz: true or false

Young life’s objectiveIs to convert catholics:

true or false

Catholicism teaches personal relationship with God:

true or false

true or false:Catholics believe in salvation by works while Protestants

believe in salvation by grace.

Sacraments are “objectively efficacious,”

so they automatically produce holiness in people.

true or false

true or false:Protestants are all about

scripture. Catholics are all about tradition.

All catholic teaching comes from what popes saytrue or false

true or false:catholics worship saints.

Catholics believe that mary is the fourth person of the trinity.

true or false

true or false:You must pray the

rosary to be a “catholic in good standing with the

church.”

Young life & the Catholic church:

Five points of common ground

YL & The Catholic Church:

1) A personal relationship with Jesus

The essence of Christianity is Christ –

not a doctrine, but a person.

~ Pope Benedict XVI ~

Pope John Paul II, Novo millennio ineunte, 29

“We shall not be saved by a

formula but by a Person.”

“Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice, or a

lofty idea, but the

ENCOUNTER with an event, a

PERSON, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.”Pope Benedict XVI Deus caritas est (God is love), p.1

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, New York

“We are all about a person.

We are all about a relationship of faith,

hope and love with a person,

who happens to be the greatest person

who ever lived…”

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, New York

“. . .who also happens to be my best friendwho knows me and calls me by name,

who looks me in the eyes and invites meto spend eternity with him. . .

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, New York

. . .and that person is JESUS.”

the pastoral realityOnly 60% of Catholics believe in a personal God.Only 48% of Catholics say they are absolutely certain they can have a personal relationship with God. There is a direct relationship in young Catholics between

Mass attendance and their certainty of a personal God.

Unique Challenges to the Evangelization of Catholic Youth

“Cradle” Catholicism

“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Culture

Historical Overemphasis on catechesis

“Cradle” Catholicism• “I was born Catholic.”

• You are not a Catholic because your grandmother was born in County Cork or Palermo or Guadalajara and your parents submitted you to a certain religious ritual when you were an infant. You are a Catholic because you have met the Lord Jesus and entered into a mature friendship with him.~George Weigel, Evangelical Catholicism, p.34

“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”• “For many Catholics, it’s a scary thing just to mention the

name ‘Jesus’ in casual conversation.”

• Most Catholics don’t know that normative Catholicism involves:- a living, growing relationship with Jesus Christ- a deep and personal knowledge of the Scriptures- a unique, personal calling (or vocation) from God- fellowship with other Christians that are equally excited about their faith

• *This is so distant and unreal to them that they have come to regard it a deeply Catholic thing NOT to talk about their faith with others.

historical overemphasis on catechesis

• CCD and DRE• “I learned all that in Catholic school.”• Catholicism begins not with knowing about

Jesus, but with knowing Jesus personally.• **Doctrinal formulas are merely intellectual

expressions of a fundamentally personal encounter with the Lord Jesus who invites every person into intimate friendship.

YL & the Catholic Church:

2) JUSTIFICATION

Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of justification

1999Lutheran world federation & Roman Catholic Church

“Together we confess: By grace alone, in faith in christ’s work and not because of any merit of our own, we are

accepted by God and receive the holy spirit, who renews our hearts while equipping and calling us to good works.’”

YL & the Catholic Church:

3) Prayer

To be a Christian without prayer is not more

possible than to be alive without breathing.

-Martin Luther King, Jr.

St. Therese of Lisieux

“For me, prayer is a surge of heart;

it is a simple look turned toward heaven,

it is a cry of recognition,embracing both trial and

joy.”

St. TeresA of Avila“Prayer in my opinion is nothing else than a

close sharing between friends;it means taking time frequently to be alone

with him who we know loves us.”

“How to pray? This is

a simple

matter. I would say: Pray any way you like, so long as you do pray.”

Pope John Paul II

YL & the catholic church

4) Scripture

Dei verbum (Dogmatic constitution on divine

revelation), 21

“The Church has always venerated the divine scriptures as it has venerated the body of the lord…it follows that all the preaching of the

church, as indeed the entire christian religion, should be nourished and ruled by sacred

scripture.”

YL & the Catholic Church

5) Spiritual friendship/community

“The most

terrible poverty is

loneliness.”

Mother Teresa

“Where two or more are gathered together in my name, I am there

in the midst of them.”Matthew 18:20

Pope francis & commonground

MINISTERING WITH CATHOLICS:JOINING HANDS WITH OUR CATHOLIC BROTHERS AND

SISTERS.

1) Reach out personally to your local Catholic youth minister, priest or diocesan director of evangelization or youth ministry.

2) Be prepared. Read key Catholic resources:-Beating with one Heart

-A Practical Guide for Ministering To and With Catholics

-An Ecumenical Gift Exchange

-Catholic & Christian

-That They May Be One: www.ylcatholic.blogspot.com

-Evangelicals and Catholics Together-The Christian Mission in the Third Millennium

3) Get Catholics on your committee

4) Pray for and welcome Catholics onto your leadership team

Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris missio, 3

“The moment has come to commit all of the church’s energies to a new evangelization

and to the mission to the world. No believer in Christ, no institution of the church, can

avoid this supreme duty: to proclaim Christ to all peoples.”

The End