‘New springtime’ of spiritual renewal

MADISON  Catholics: Do not lose faith in Christ and the mission of his Church to spread the Gospel and be the Body of Christ on earth, despite your possible anger and distrust of the Church after this summer’s child sex-abuse revelations and cover-up have caused the institutional Church to go through a “dark night of the soul.” Instead, live in the knowledge that the Church has weathered many scandals throughout its long history and also live in the hope that it is the Lord’s plan for the current scandal to lead the Church to the light of a “new springtime” of spiritual renewal.

That was the hopeful message that Timothy Gray, a biblical scholar and founder of the Augustine Institute, imparted, during his two-part, “Can I Be Spiritual without Being Religious?” talk on Sept. 22 at St. Paul Inside the Walls: the Diocesan Evangelization Center at Bayley-Ellard here. He spoke about Jesus founding the Church and the importance of organized religion in spreading the truth of the Christian faith and building a vibrant community for its followers. But in light of the recent revelations, Gray also spent a sizable portion of this talk focusing the sex abuse scandal. Each session concluded with a question-and-answer period for the more than 200 priests, religious and laity, who attended the event.

“Will these scandals destroy the Church? No. All the Apostles betrayed Jesus. Throughout the history of the Church, there have been corrupt priests, bishops and popes. We can weather this crisis,” said Gray of the Augustine Institute in Colorado which equips Catholics intellectually, spiritually, and pastorally to renew the Church and transform the world for Christ through its academic and parish programs. “We are the stewards of the Church. We need to fight to protect it. I’m angry [about the scandal] but I’m also zealous for the glory of God. If there are people who are not being pure, then double down on being pure. Don’t lose hope, because God doesn’t abandon his Church,” he said.

There always has been corruption in the Church. In the early Church, St. Paul wrote about a scandal that had rocked one Christian community that accepted the sinful pagan lifestyle of its neighbors. He stressed that sinners faced excommunication if they refused to repent, Gray said in his presentation on that Saturday morning in St. Paul’s auditorium.

“In the Church, we have love, mercy and forgiveness but we also have family standards,” said Gray, while answering an audience questions about the responsibilities of the laity in the midst of the scandal. “We need to hold the Church accountable and tell the Church to be truthful and responsible with a deep sense of holiness and transparency. The laity need to stay active in their participation in the Body of Christ, support clergy who are being faithful, and pray for them,” he said.

It is hoped that God will lead the Church out of the pain of the scandal and into “a new springtime in the Church,” Gray said.

“We need a New Evangelization for the Church — a return to Scripture, an attraction to the Cross and being the Bride of Christ. The Church is going through this fiery trial so that God can purify it,” he said.

Gray emphasized that “reform of the Church requires humility. It’s by God that reform will happen, not by our own labors. Also, we can’t be worldly. We should not seek the world’s approval but God’s approval. We need to be obedient to God.”

Weathering and learning from the scandal is part of our mission as members of the Church, a “messy community of sinners with other sinners,” which enables us to “grow in holiness that leads us to God by practicing virtue,” Gray said in the first part of his talk that focused on the importance of organized religion.

“Our loving God comes from loving our neighbor. To think that we can believe in Christ without community denies the disciple call. We need to give up ourselves for others as Jesus gave his life for the Church,” Gray said.

In addition its mission in creating a community for his followers, the Church that Jesus founded has another purpose: to stand for the truth, as a “witness that Jesus died and rose on the third day.”

“The Church could lose its credibility [if it fails to speak the truth of its creed]. That would be weak discipleship. In the Church, the creed shapes the way that you live. You serve the creed. In a more personal spirituality [without organized religion], the creed serves you,” said Gray, who noted that many people today tend to value the more superficial aspects of modern worship, including “entertaining preaching and good music.” Many Protestant denominations, he said, downplay the importance of organized religion, claiming that it actually gets in the way of a relationship with Christ. “Christians are bound by the truth and by rules, which is not popular with people today, who want to be free. There has been major social upheaval in the last 40 years. In the face of technology, people are asking if faith is a fairytale or is it real? What truth will you stand up for?” he asked.

After his introduction of Gray at the start of the event, Father Manning, St. Paul’s executive director and diocesan vicar for evangelization, prayed to the Lord that the presentation would help audience members “grow closer to the Lord, his Son and the purpose that you have for us.”

“This [talk] is timely today, when we feel hurt and disappointed in the institution that we have loved and trusted,” Father Manning told the audience.

After Gray’s well-received presentation, Anne Spenser of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish, Flanders, echoed the speaker’s optimism that the Church will overcome this crisis.

“St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta was a prophet. For a time, she didn’t feel close to God but she didn’t lose faith,” Spenser said. “We are all called to be priests and prophets. I’m saddened by the scandal, but I’m not surprised. We are all sinners. I pray for the healing of the Body of Christ. I definitely have faith,” she said.