Will There Be Faith -

in Ireland?

• Can’t presume “yes”• At end, Jesus wondered, “when I come again, will

there be faith?” (Lk 18:8)

• Challenging times for “faith on earth” - everywhere. Many

reasons

Ours is a secular age (Taylor)

A separating of faith from life and a falling off of

religious practice because the cultural conditions discourage faith (e.g.

enlightenment) or offer alternatives (e.g. self sufficient humanism)

In Church: scandals that reflect betrayal of Gospel

and Catholic faithDivisions, revisions and

tensions e.g. around Vat IIPervasive sense of paralysis;

elephants in corner but little we can do

But: Self sufficient humanism not nearly as humanizing as a life lived in faith; for high times, low times, & everyday

Made in Divine image (Gn 1:27), alive by life of God (Gn 2: 7), we live more humanly by honoring our nature as spiritual beings

• No better alternative than Catholic Christian faith – when at its best• Card Lustiger - A time for chosen faith: Will I have faith? • So much depends on what, why, and how we educate

For Reflection and Conversation

• Your reasons to hope for Catholic faith in Ireland?•What will help to realize your hopes?

• What Faith: In Jesus! New awareness of centrality of

Jesus to Catholic faith• Not the Bible, church, laws,

sacraments, dogmas, but “At the heart we find a

Person, the Person of Jesus of Nazareth, the only Son

from the Father” (CCC #426)

• Jesus of History who walked the roads of

Galilee, calling people to live for reign of God

• Preached radical love – even of enemies; fed the

hungry, welcomed the marginalized

• Claimed to be “the way, truth and life” for disciples

• Christ of faith, Son of God, among us as one of

ourselves; • By his life, death, and resurrection, conquered

sin, social & personal, and death

• By “God’s abundant grace in Christ Jesus” (1Tim 1:

14) we can live as disciples

All preaching and teaching should "put people in

communion and intimacy with Jesus Christ” (GDC

#80); present Christian faith as “full and sincere

adherence to his person and decision to walk in his

footsteps” (#53) – disciples

Jesus reveals God as: Ultimate Mystery, yet active among us

to effect God's reignOf love and justice, compassion

and peace, in partnership with us and for us

God is Love and in Love with us - unconditionally; Triune Loving

Community calling us to so live

“with us and for us”

• Sends the Spirit: Ever present as God's effective

love – grace at work• Moving in our hearts and

lives – sacramentality of ordinary and everyday

• Inspiring to live in "right relationship" with God, self,

others, creation

For Reflection and Conversation

•What does it mean for Irish Catholics to put Jesus at center of Christian faith?•What might persuade post-modern Irish to embrace Jesus as “way, truth, & life”?

Why to Teach: Need a new* apologetic for Catholic Christian faith

Of persuasion not coercionOf conviction not submission

*Very old e.g. Justin Martyr

Apologetics: to explain, defend, persuade to Christian faith

Aristotle: we need rhetoric of persuasion based on: Pathos (appeal to desire), Logos (to reason), Ethos (to the fruits)

Re-centering Jesus lends:Pathos: can appeal to peoples needs, desires; e.g. for a full lifeLogos: reflect the reason and coherence of Catholic faithEthos: appeal to good fruits; e.g., happy are poor in spirit, just, etc.

• Jesus’ sense of purpose: for reign of God; “for life of the world” (Jn 6: 51); for “life to

the full” (Jn 10:10)• “Good news to poor, freedom

to oppressed” (Lk 4:16-21)• For liberating salvation, personal and social; human

flourishing

• How to Teach: Not only to teach Jesus and what he taught, but how he taught?• A bit naive in our time and place. But . . .• Our how should be consistent with the approach of Jesus’ public ministry

• Catechists to imitate “the pedagogy of Christ” (GDC #140); to embrace Jesus’

approach as “the best model for communication of the

faith” (GDC #137)• Jesus described as “teacher” and as “teaching” 150 times

Reflection and Conversation• From your own sense of it, how would you describe Jesus’ pedagogy?• How might Irish catechists, teachers, and parents be consistent with his style?

Jesus was: Welcoming and Inclusive: distinctive in his

outreach and radical inclusion Respectful of Learners: to empower

as agents instead of dependents Favored Partnership with him and

each otherCompassion and justice: centrality

of reign of God

Focusing on Jesus’ pedagogy as evident in explicit

events, esp. the parables, his overall dynamic was to

lead people from life to Faith to life

He did so by:

* Engaging ordinary and everyday of people’s lives; fishing, farming, home

* To reflect on their reality, to question, often to “see” in whole new way

* Taught Gospel with authority (Mk1:22)* Encouraged people to see for

themselves, with personal conviction* Invited to decision – to follow his

“way” as disciples

Invited people to share their own story and vision

Shared with them the Story and Vision of the Faith community

Brought them to “see for themselves” and to personally embrace Christian Faith

The Road to Emmaus (Lk 24: 13-35): He joined their company; heard their traumatic

story and shattered vision; retold the Story and Vision of faith community; waited for

them to personally “see”; they returned to deepened faith

Life to Faith to Life

For Reflection and Conversation

• Insights, wisdoms emerging from example of Jesus?• Decisions for your own efforts to ensure “faith on earth” – in Ireland?

Thomas Groome, Irish National Religious Education

Congress, Tralee, Oct 9th 2011 (groomet@bc.edu)For further reading: see

Groome, Will There Be Faith (Harper, 2011) and Credo

series