People aren’t hearing us. People aren’t seeing us.
That’s why it’s nothing short of urgent that as Catholics we hear the message, not only of the Holy Father’s bold, historic and jolting move to renounce the papacy, but also, from a communications point of view, the message of his entire papacy.
The message: Catholics, be who you claim to be — live lives of prayer and faith.
Pope Benedict has witnessed to us how to do this, by opening a window into his own friendship with Christ, with all the world’s eyes looking in.
Every visible thing this man has said and done as pope has pointed us to Jesus, seeking to build up the body of Christ to a radically new level of engagement.
Knowing what we know now, it’s easy to go back and read everything he has written and spoken — during the final months of his papacy, especially — as marching orders. This is particularly the case with his op-ed in the Financial Times, just days before Christmas, in which he wrote: “Christians should not shun the world; they should engage with it.”
Of course, by then, the novelty of the bishop of Rome on the editorial page of a major global paper wasn’t all that foreign a concept. After all, @pontifex had already joined the tweeters of the world, answering questions and giving busy moms advice on sanctifying their days with prayer, as he helped sanctify our social media, going right to the agora of our day — our iPads and other devices — to preach, to issue challenges, essentially to open a door to the transforming gifts of Divine love and mercy.
This moment in history is one where there is so much noise, and part of the challenge of the New Evangelization is to contribute to our media culture without being just another voice, but to lift the conversation, with our eyes always on Jesus and always seeing Jesus in the other.
We can only do this by approaching communication in prayer. We’ve got to do it knowing our stuff, by continuously going to the word of the Gospel, by reading our Catechism and keeping at it.
This is why this Pope has been the master catechist. All too many of us don’t know what it means to be Catholic anymore. And the world needs real Catholics — who live, love and embrace the faith; who are equipped with the knowledge and desire to defend the faith and engage the culture with that love that emanates from a life of Trinitarian prayer, rather than escape to a cultural ghetto, surrounded only by a chorus of fear or despair for the world.
When he spoke to bishops from the United States a little over a year ago, Pope Benedict said plainly: “We see the need for an engaged, articulate and well-formed Catholic laity, endowed with a strong critical sense vis-à-vis the dominant culture and with the courage to counter a reductive secularism which would delegitimize the Church’s participation in public debate about the issues which are determining the future of American society.”
And when speaking to a group of Catholic leaders from the Americas this December (I was among them), there was an urgency and even a fatherly admonishment in his words: “The Catholic Church is convinced that the light for an adequate solution can only come from an encounter with the living Christ, which gives rise to attitudes and ways of acting based on love and truth. This is the decisive force which will transform the American continent.”
Proclaim the name of the Lord, he said. “There is no greater service that we can provide to our brothers and sisters. They are thirsting for God,” he continued.
Programs and documents, blueprints and strategies are necessary. But no plan is going to ever be successful in bringing drink to a parched culture without that encounter.
One of the final major moments of his pontificate was last October’s Synod for the New Evangelization and the initiation of the Year of Faith. Frankly, the mere fact he felt the need to focus Catholics on faith in such a basic way is a bit of an indictment of us. At its most basic, it proposes: How about we all consider reading the Creed now and again? And not just during our Sunday obligation.
During the opening Mass for the Year of Faith, the Holy Father invited a group of people, representing all the peoples of the world, to receive messages that were identical to messages Pope Paul VI delivered at the end of the Second Vatican Council. They were addressed to artists, scientists, workers and the sick, among others. There, Benedict XVI handed me a message for all the women throughout the world.
The action in itself was a profound one, from a communications point of view. It was as if to say: We didn’t fully communicate this. You didn’t fully receive this. And so we must begin again, renewed in our faith. Because, as Pope Benedict has done nothing less than reintroduce to us the breadth and depth of our faith and the urgency that we ourselves must encounter Christ, so we might invite the world to join Him.
The best media plan in the world will never be successful if we’re not for real about this Catholicism of which we identify ourselves — if we don’t know it and live it and beg God to take the lead, in full surrender — so that those who have ears to hear might hear the Word in everything we communicate with our words and deeds.
Pope Benedict ended his final Lenten retreat as pope pointing to the necessity of anchoring our communications in faith through prayer: “Peter’s successor and his collaborators are called to give the Church and the world a clear testimony of faith, and this is only possible thanks to a deep and abiding immersion in dialogue with God. Many today are asking: ‘Who will show us what is good?’ We can answer, ‘Those who reflect God’s light and face with their lives.’”
Kathryn Jean Lopez is editor at large of
National Review Online, a nationally syndicated columnist and a director of
Catholic Voices USA, which seeks to help make the Church’s case in the public square.
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I don’t mean to split hairs, but instead of “renounce the papacy”...wouldn’t “relinquish the papacy” be more accurate? The former sounds negative. Just my two-cents worth, Ms. Lopez. Thank you for the article.
I will miss our dear Holy Father so much. He has been so wonderful for our Church and the world at large. God Bless him and may the rest of his life be a gentle one as he was so gentle with us. Such a faithful servant! We need his prayers!
Wow! Thank you, Kathryn. You hit so many nails on the head. Thank you for reminding us the wonderful gift of his pontificate and wise messages from Pope Benedict! Wake up, America!
This is such a beautiful article! Thank you for sharing your heart with us!
I wish I could more like Benedict. My pray life is sparse at best. I am trying to faithful but find it hard to be in a world that shuns Catholic teachings at every turn. But maybe I can find away to do so by just following his example which is very strong.
Hi Kathleen,
Watching Pope Benedict conduct the mass on television on Christmas Eve 2011 led me back to the Catholic faith which I now firmly believe is the one true faith as we were taught in Catechism classes 60 years ago. During my 63 years, when life has presented its myriad troubles, I have automatically gone back to the Catholic faith, to prayer, to Jesus, to the forgiveness and love provided by Him and His church. Since viewing that mass 14 months ago, I have been attending weekly mass, confirming my faith in daily prayer and asking Jesus to lead me through his loving guidance. All of my relationships are better because of this Living our Relationship with Jesus Christ in The Year of Faith that has been lovingly and beautifully bestowed on its Catholic followers. We will all miss Pope Benedict, but will benefit from his commitment to prayer in his remaining years on earth. Your article was very instructive and beneficial. Thank you.
I feel he and our other Shepherds aren’t speaking the right “language” to get to their flock. It has been a lot on my mind lately _maybe “somebody” is goading me! _ that we have two parts to us as humans, the body and the soul. The body is for use in the world and usually only lives for less than 100yrs. When it dies the soul departs and it (we) go on to live for eternity -forever, somewhere else. Dieing here is not the end of our life. We have this chance as bodies to choose and prove that we are holy enough to live in heaven, peacefully, joyfully, lovingly, more words fail me—but with others.
I would not consider it heaven if I had to watch that my neighbor would hurt me in any way. Money and things will not be our best friend, as it should not be here.
We will all have our own crucifixtion to go through here. Jesus said to the holy women at calvary “do not cry for me but for yourselves and your children”, meaning just that. We will have to go through our cross also.
To make this world extremely comfortable for our bodies and sometimes at the expense of others will not be an attribute to get us in heaven. Our body should be subject to the comfort of others and accept our cross as Jesus did, within the confines of the 10 commandments and our Church that he gave us as a guideline. We should not succumb to the ease of euthansia when our body is racking with pain, or suicide for ourselves or others such as killing our offspring when it is hard to face a pregnancy. We must face our cross on this earth so that our souls can be at peace forever with God.
PLEASE GOD ENLIGHTEN YOUR PEOPLE
God love you, Kathryn. This here is a masterpiece from the Holy Spirit. Thank you for being a conduit. +JMJ+
This article, is perfectly, and probably, providentially most timely. I am a Catholic who has hesitated to speak out in the face of blatant secularism (denial of the spiritual), relativism (denial of objective truth), entitlement (denial of justice and love. me-me-me), and a plethora of anti-Catholicism even amongst Catholics. I do not consider myself to be a learned apologist. However, by putting into practice my faith, I can spread my faith in deeds. My example can be that of what the Gospel teaches. And when it comes to words, some people say “I don’t discuss politics or religion.” I’ve talked with many people about Catholicism. But, I’ve had to learn to ask the Holy Spirit and Jesus to strengthen my faith and put the words in my mouth so that (especially in my case) they are not vacuous outpourings of my own ideas and opinions. Hopefully, that then will allow others to hear and follow the inspirations of the Holy Spirit and grow in love and closeness to our Father and to Jesus.
J.P. said: “I don’t mean to split hairs, but instead of “renounce the papacy”...wouldn’t “relinquish the papacy” be more accurate?”
“Renounce” is the word used in <a >Declaratio (11 February 2013)</a>.
Thanks for such a great article - you are “on point” in so many ways. I struggle with an issue in my parish (a very orthodox and lovely one) with a number of parishioners who are seem to be isolationists. They work, socialize and interact mainly with only other Catholics who they deem holy, most home school their children(I am not criticizing HS - just pointing out what may be an issue). and in general are wary of outsiders, even some enthusiastic converts within the parish. Not sure this is what we are supposed to be doing - like the Holy Father’s angelus message last week about the Transfiguration. We must climb the mountain for spiritual sustenance, then come back down again and spread the Good News to the wider world, in every little and great way we are able. As Kathryn points out above from B16 Christmas message “Christians should not shun the world but engage with it”.
What I have is a prayer for our dear Holy Father. May God bless and keep him, Amen. Happy retirement, Pope Benedict. Please PRAY very hard for the Holy Catholic Church.
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