Part 4 of a new series on Faith in modern Ireland with Eoin McCormack
Have you ever found yourself in the often-awkward position in work or in another social setting where you are somehow elected the spokesperson for all things Catholic? Over the next several weeks this column is exploring how we can better prepare for those uncomfortable conversations that many Catholics find themselves in today.
Last week’s column explored the most fundamental issue secular-rationalist culture has with religion in the world today. The first line of our creed, “I believe in God.” While a lot of non-believers may cite many ‘surface-level’ topics when discussing Catholicism such as the various scandals, research tells us that something much more philosophical lies underneath the culture. As Catholic numbers continue to decline in the census and the ‘no-religion’ bracket continues to rise, people are not just leaving Catholicism behind, they are leaving behind any understanding or relationship with the triune God. Belief in God is understood as an irrational concept from the past and therefore it is irrelevant. To see how we can respond to these critiques as Catholics, be sure to check out last week’s article on www.irishcatholic.com.
This week I explore how we might respond in conversation to a query that largely comes from ‘cradle’ or lapsed Catholics who very often have received a full sacramental initiation but have never experienced joy or meaning from their religious upbringing. That question, so often asked with bafflement rather than curiosity, is “Why do you go to Mass?”
Mission
Before being tempted to give a quick, bland, ‘tolerant’ response that might seem acceptable by modern secular standards like “Well, it’s just something I personally do” or “It’s a family tradition”, take time to prepare some authentic and compelling reasons and wisely use this evangelisation opportunity. If you want to reinforce someone’s perceptions that the Mass is indeed boring or a waste of time, however, bland “I’m ok if you’re ok” answers are probably the best way of doing just that. Your Mass attendance will be understood in the same vein as someone else might play golf on Sundays. If you want to at least appear sincere about who you are and what you believe, or better, share the joy and meaning that your faith gives you, a much more compelling answer is going to be required.
When asked “Why do you go to Mass?”, you are in fact being offered your very own opportunity to ‘do’ Mass. How so? The word Mass, by definition, means ‘mission’. In the Latin form of the Mass, the priest would conclude the liturgy with the dismissal “Ite, missa est”, which does not mean the Mass has now ‘ended’, but much more profoundly: “It is the Mass”. The Mass, or the mission, is now in your hands by the grace of God. You are being tasked with the ‘kerygma’, the great proclamation to “Go and make disciples of all nations.” Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to partake in the divine mandate Christ has set before you. So, be confident, do not be afraid. By the grace of God, ‘do’ the missa (mission).
Cultural Catholicism
But what exactly are the cultural attitudes that makes your friend balk at the idea that you’re going to Mass?
The reality for generations of Irish Catholics is that the Church is something that happened in the past. It is not in contemporary society’s capacity to imagine that faith might be a living thing. Underlying a question like “Why do you go to Mass?”, is a whole philosophy of rationalist secularist relativism.
“Did you not know Ireland has moved on? We’ve matured as a nation; we have grown-up from all that nonsense.”
These are very often the impressions underlying much of modern man’s image of religion in contemporary culture. The Mass for many people might be remembered as some kind of superstitious act that granny used to fill her time with because she had nothing better to do, or perhaps it’s remembered vaguely as a boring formality that used to mark various milestones. Giving a positive, meaningful answer to a question like this, may just be the first time your questioner has ever considered faith as a life-giving phenomenon.
Understanding and humility are also required on our part when approached with a query like this. On one level, for many Irish Catholics, their exposure to the Mass and religion in general may in fact have been a bland, boring and meaningless experience. For reasons which will certainly not be exhausted in this article, our catechetical output in the past half-century has been increasingly dumbed down to feed a simplistic reductionist understanding of religion to the moral platitude of ‘be nice, be kind’. In this worldview, liturgy does indeed seem like an out-dated unnecessary activity. It is up to you, however, the formed and committed Catholic, to counteract this impression with something authentic and meaningful.
Life giving
So how can we begin to change perceptions for the better?
For the formed and committed Catholic, the reaction to a question like “Why do you go to Mass?”, might be to wonder “What on Earth could they possibly mean?” If they only knew the splendour and beauty of the gift that is the Mass, there would be queues outside the door of every Church rather than at the local cinema, as the soon-to-be saint Blessed Carlo Acutis once said. The Mass is the source and summit of the Christian life, the most sublime mystery made present before our eyes, the most life-giving, and life-changing channel through which God is made present to us.
Responding with something along those lines or perhaps even more simply, “It’s the most meaningful part of my week”, may just do the trick in taking your colleague by complete surprise and make them wonder, “Really? How could Mass be that important?”
Communion
Perhaps simply reflecting on two words that are associated with the Mass (‘Communion’ and ‘Eucharist’) could also be an easy way to assess how we might respond.
Consider the word Communion, a word we so often repeat but rarely take the time to reflect on. By definition, ‘communion’ alludes to some form of ‘connection’, it means we are coming into contact with something, or someone. Translated further, ‘communion’ from the Latin ‘communio’ can also be understood as ‘community.’ The Mass, therefore, is by definition the establishment of a community between God and Man. This could be something to call to mind when responding to the question and perhaps summarised with, “I go to Mass because of the deep sense of connection (communio) with God.”
Or how about the word ‘Eucharist’? Again, another word we constantly use when speaking about the Mass – but why ‘Eucharist’? Where is that word in the Last Supper account? Why don’t we just say ‘host’ when referring to the Body of Christ? You may struggle to find ‘Eucharist’ in your bible’s accounts of the Last Supper because ‘Eucharist’ is in fact a Greek word. Translated into English, ‘Eucharistia’ means ‘thanksgiving.’ Perhaps this is also something you could call to mind when confronted with a question about going to Mass; “I go to Mass because I want encounter God and routinely give thanks (Eucharistia) for all he has given.”
Confident Catholicism
It could also happen that your bright, well thought through answer might just confirm their initial thought that you’re one of those religious nutters, who believes in the hocus pocus of religion. And that’s ok. In this secular age, we’re going to have to learn to be comfortable in our ‘religious skin’.
Faith and culture have diverged to a point that may not be reconciled for a long time yet. In Ireland, we are perhaps too used to Catholicism being accepted as the cultural norm in the recent past that we have forgotten its unique majesty. But since the time of Christ, Christianity has been divisive. John’s Gospel tells us when Christ taught about the Eucharist, many of his disciples left him. We should not expect everyone in the contemporary world to be enamoured by the fact that we find the ultimate purpose and meaning in our Faith. At least not at first. What is instead required of us is the confidence to joyfully witness to our faith and not let people’s bafflement privatise our beliefs like an embarrassing secret.
Fully alive
What’s more is that the very fact they are asking you this question alludes to the possibility that they have a reason to be surprised you go to Mass. You evidently don’t ‘fit the bill’ of what they misappropriated as a ‘religious nutter’ – especially if Mass after all is something ‘granny did to keep busy’. As this person gets to know you, through your very witness as a joyful person of faith who has a ‘normal’ enriching life, you are already evangelising and changing perceptions over time.
As St Irenaeus said, “The glory of God is the human being fully alive.” In our evangelising mission in the contemporary secular world, perhaps now more than ever we are called to be people of joy and display our practice of the Faith as not a mere option amongst many like golf on the weekends, but rather as the most profound and meaningful experience of our lives.
Next week’s article tackles the question of faith and science. How can we respond to charges that science makes religion obsolete?
Read Part 1 of the series here – Talking about faith in a sometimes hostile modern Ireland
Read Part 2 of the series here – ‘Religious Conversations’: What’s going on with religion in Ireland?
Read Part 3 of the series here – ‘Religious Conversations’: God & the man in the sky