Lost Along The Way

Église St-Esprit, which now houses the Quebec School of Circus Arts.
Photo by Ruby Irene Pratka/Shareable

Quebec is a cautionary tale. When the Church becomes so closely allied to a state, where the state and society go, these days especially, Catholics tend to be dragged around with them.

QUEBEC CITY (CNS) — Cardinal Gerald Lacroix asked parishes in the Archdiocese of Quebec to “pause” their catechetical programs to give them the time they need to think about what comes next.

The last few months, he said, have given the Quebec church an “unhoped-for opportunity” to “begin anew,” he said in a video posted online Sept. 9.

“Fewer and fewer of our brothers and sisters in Quebec are Christians,” he said. “This cannot leave us indifferent. It is urgent that we evangelize and form (people) to Christian life. We must realize that our methods and ways of doing things do not bear the fruits we expect.”

"Ways of doing things do not bear the fruits we expect." Are their/our ways conformed to what God expects? When liturgies are bereft of truth, goodness and beauty, and Christians have little or no guidance how to inform their lives with the Eucharist, the source and summit of the Christian life (LG 11), there is little reason to wonder why the Faith is invisible, a light hidden under a bushel, and does not attract.

Jesus did say that Mary had chosen the better part (Luke 10:42). Perhaps the good Archbishop is asking Quebeckers to choose the better part. If the growing movement of young people toward Tradition is any indication, then the better part looks like a return to Tradition and Mass reverently celebrated .

Everyone needs art in their life. Tradition guides people into the Mystery of Faith. Our ritual selves cannot be properly fed on a diet of spiritual pablum. A dumbed down Faith does not engage, it stunts the spiritual sense in man. For all the great architectural edifices the Church in Quebec produced, the food offered in such magnificent places is too often poutine. Fries, cheese curds and brown gravy. Haute cuisine? Not so much.

If there is little or no enthusiasm for the ars celebrandi, the artful way of celebrating the Sacred Liturgy so as to draw attention to the sublime nature of the Mass, people look elsewhere for the Mystery and ritual that feeds the soul, the ritual that is a clear window of truth, goodness and beauty through which God shines His light into souls and draws people to Himself. Sadly, people looking away from the Church settle for pseudo-mystery, and end up manufacturing a pseudo-reality that neither sustains nor satisfies.

“If you have not yet begun catechesis with children and young people to prepare them for the sacraments of Christian initiation, the time is right to take a break. Let’s at least give ourselves the autumn to reflect together,” he invited.

The good Archbishop seems to be saying 'if you haven't started, don't start'. Curious.

He asked for “time and space” to discern the next steps to implement “the priority of formation to Christian life for adults.”

A wise friend once said that a stationary ball has no direction. Set the ball in motion and God directs it with His hand. Keep going, and allow one's trajectory to be adjusted through prayer, fasting and works of charity, conforming each day, more closely, one's actions to the will of God.

Conversely, if one is truly lost, perhaps the best thing to do is to stop wandering, and wait to let the rescue party catch up. Are Quebeckers lost? The condition of the Church in Quebec and society at large would tend to confirm that Quebeckers have need of a rescue mission. Perhaps a more positive way to think about the situation is that Quebeckers, having made themselves empty by abandoning their identity, are ready to be filled again with the hope and joy that the Catholic Faith offers, the Faith that once permeated and invigourated Quebec society and inspired Catholics at home and abroad to a deeper relationship with Christ and His Church.

Is it too much to suggest that Mary, our loving mother, whose maternal character so informed the creative will of Quebec, must necessarily be involved in the reclamation of Quebec for Christ?