Homily

I was talking with a few people recently about why it is that so many young people drop out of Church, and not only out of Church, but really dropping out of the Christian faith. This happens not only in families who barely practice the Faith but even in families that are deeply devoted to Lord. I could give you statistics about the numbers and age groups of the dropouts, but you can find that for yourselves on the internet.

Why does it happen? Well, for a number of reasons. The temptation to materialism and self-satisfaction is always calling out to everyone who is still breathing. The temptation to decide for yourself what is right and good based on your own knowledge; an idea that almost nobody thought was wise 100 years ago, but today it’s hard to find almost anyone who doesn’t think living by your own inner light is a mark of higher intelligence. Then there is the desire to be free of any kind of restriction or limit on my ability to do what I want to do when I want to do it. And there is also peer pressure, which is often indirect. If nobody is going to Liturgy why should I be the odd person doing that? And if nobody in my crowd is a Christian, why should I be different? And then there can always be the typical element of rebelling against what your parents believe.

A few months ago I read a very fine book entitled, “How to Talk to a Skeptic” by Don Johnson. One of the points that Don makes is that the best way to begin to talk with skeptics is not to start debating theology, but to sit and carefully listen to what the skeptic is saying. It’s a person you are dealing with, not a sack of ideas. Don has many great observations and suggestions and I highly recommend his book to you.

It’s a person you are talking to. And so are we here today. I am talking to you and you are talking to me, and we are all talking to God and God is talking to us. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit—these persons are communicating with us today. It’s about persons. And I have, over time, become convinced that one, not the only, but I think the biggest reason why there are so many dropouts is because they do not really know one person. They do not know Jesus Christ. They have heard of Him. Maybe they know some things about Him. Some may even claim they believe in Him. But since they do not really know Jesus Christ, He has very little or no influence or place in their lives. Yes, people might agree there is, or there was, a Jesus but He is totally absent in the lives of so many young Catholics (not to mention the rest of the Christian community.)

How do we try to show young people, and even older people, raised in the faith, that the Catholic faith should be the most important guide and source of truth and help in their lives? Again, I think there are many ways to try and achieve this goal, but I want to talk about what I think is one of the most important. Scripture gives us a clue. Last week we heard St. Paul tell the Corinthians that Jesus Christ is the only foundation for life, and this morning were heard him tell them that he, Paul, is their father in Christ. When Jesus asks the disciples who people say He is, Peter answers “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” And that I think is always a good place to begin with others who are not living the Christian life. Start with Jesus Christ. Who do you think He is and what do you have to say about Him?

So often people want to talk about other things. They don’t agree with the Church’s teaching on this or that. They don’t believe you have to go to church to be a good person. They don’t accept a church where people have done this thing, or that thing, or that thing. Everyone should just follow their own path the way they see fit. There are many different truths and many different ways to live and they are all equally valid they say. But, just as Jesus asked the question of His own disciples, I think we should begin talking with the fallen away using the same question: What do you say about Jesus Christ? Because really that is the bottom line, the most important question for every believer and non-believer: What do you think about Jesus? Then, after that, whatever that person answers we can move along from there and start to talk about their objections to other things. If they say they do not believe Christ is God, then we can begin to explain why we believe that Christ is God and to talk about the great crowd of witnesses who testify to His divinity. If they say they do believe Christ is God, then we can move on to the importance of living according to His word and how do we discover what His word is telling us, and why it is vital for us to live in that truth.

I hear so many fallen away Catholics, young or otherwise, talk about why they no longer live as Christians, but I have almost never heard them talk about Jesus and what they believe or do not believe about Him. But that is the most important thing of all for anyone who wants to discuss why someone leaves the faith. Even for us here today it must be the most important element in our own faith. If not for Christ, then why are we here? And if we are here for Christ, how shall we live and pray better according to His word? The apostle St. Matthias, who is the saint we commemorate today was so eager to have his fellow Israelites believe in Jesus that he risked his own life and then gave it up, in order to bring others to the Lord. May his same zeal for the salvation of souls encourage us to continue to bring Christ to the front, in our lives, in our homes and whenever there is an opportunity to share good news with other people. As I pray in the Liturgy, “Let us commend ourselves and one another and our whole life to Christ our God.”