TOPICS from A to Z: leadership in the Church

Showing posts with label leadership in the Church. Show all posts

Friday, December 5, 2025

Why do churches require formation or preparation classes before we can receive the various sacraments in the Roman Catholic Church?

On these Blogger pages we explore TOPICS in our desire to respond to Jesus' call to walk with Him in our world as his missionary disciples empowered by the Holy Spirit to bring to humanity the Good News of the Father's love manifested and given in Jesus, the Divine Mercy. G.S.

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There are 2 dimensions: social & personal

The Roman Catholic Church as "institution" requires preparation classes or formation on the part of those who seek or ask for sacraments. This is because the churches see here a challenge or contradiction in the "social dimension" of the faith, such as in the case of people who ask for sacraments but are not themselves practicing their faith; that is, they are not going to church much or at all.

Churches are under obligation to not treat the sacraments trivially, or with contempt, and to avoid making it easy for the people to also treat the sacraments - and therefore God - with contempt. In other words, proper care and attention must be given to people seeking sacraments to assure that they have the proper dispositions and motivations.

It is a contradiction to give the impression sacraments are important by asking for them, but then demonstrating that the sacraments are of no significance by ignoring them in actual practice of daily life, family life, family and work. This is how some parents give scandal to their children and harm their innocence by getting them excited about sacraments, but then rarely or never bringing them to church in order to grow in the experience of the sacraments and of God.

So, formation is an attempt, sometimes a feeble attempt, by churches - often with limited resources of finances and personnel - to accompany people seeking sacraments. In the early church, it was forbidden to say anything about the sacraments before they were received and experienced. They didn't want to give "spoilers" in advance; to leave people free to experience the sacraments with no advance indications. This was because those about to be baptized were adults, or at the very least youth, and it was very important for them to first experience the sacraments in a way that was "fresh". This heightened their attentiveness and allowed them to be more "sensitive" to the subtle ways in which God moves and works.

Only then, afterwards, were they given catecheses to help them reflect on what they had experienced. The Holy Spirit would help them recall what was happening within them during the celebration of the sacraments; as well as during the period of preparation leading up to the sacraments. These catecheses were called, in Greek, "mystagogia", which means "words about the mysteries" or about the "mysterious experience of God". This is because God always reveals something of himself, the Holy Trinity, through the sacraments. Every single time we receive sacraments, it is fresh, it is different, because we are different; who we were yesterday is gone, and who we are today is fresh and new. What we carry within us accumulates, making us different day by day. God's ultimate purpose is to bring us into an intimate personal relationship with the Most Holy Trinity, which introduces us into the eternal life which begins now and becomes fully experienced in heaven, in the permanent communion of saints in God.

That brings us to the second dimension, the "spiritual" or "mystical" dimension of the sacraments. We can be certain that God always does "his part" in the sacraments. New birth by water and the Holy Spirit is always given by God in Baptism; just as Jesus really communicates Himself to us in Holy Communion, as we participate in Holy Mass and receive his "transfusion of divine life and love" in Holy Communion.

What happens in Holy Communion is much like what happens when a baby nurses at its mother's breast: she gives of the "substance" of her life to her baby, but is not diminished by that. On the contrary, she becomes "more fully" mother in giving of herself to her baby in this way. So too does Jesus give of Himself to us in Holy Communion; it is really and truly a "transfusion of the divine life He has with the Father in the Holy Spirit". In this life, we cannot yet "retain" completely and fully his divine life in us; not as we will be able to do so in eternity.

So, for churches, the personal dimension raises such questions as: Are these people who are seeking sacraments also desiring a personal connection with God, or wanting to grow in their relationship with God, or else are they really not interested, but only wanting to go through the motions of cultural or family traditions; such as to please the grandparents, or for the pictures of milestone events?

So, the baptizing church wants to make sure parents and godparents are well disposed and personally motivated to participate in the sacraments; that they understand what they are seeking and that they intend to act in accordance with God's will.

Secondly, when the one being baptized is a baby or child, churches want to make sure parents and godparents are capable and fully intend to mentor their child into the future. We know God does his part, but a baby or child needs help to discover that God is real, God is present, God loves them, and they can have a personal connection with God in various ways. We all need to be mentored at every age and stage of life.

We can perceive God's majesty and power in the beauty and complexity of nature....

We can experience God's love through our parents, godparents, other family, friends, neighbours, and even strangers; such as in the church faith community.

We can open ourselves to God's love, beauty, goodness, and truth through contemplation of nature, in silence, going for a walk, at family meals, and in endless ways....

We can discover God's abiding presence, love, and help through the trials and difficulties of life: illness, weakness, disappointments, challenges, loneliness, misunderstandings, losses, tragedies, successes and failures, griefs and joys, etc.

We can open ourselves to God through prayer, personal private prayer - saying prayers, but also speaking and listening from our heart - and also communal prayer: at table with the family, together before bed, in church at Holy Mass Sundays and special seasons, and with others in other places and at other times....

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© 2006-2025 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal QC
© 2006-2025 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC

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Thursday, May 16, 2024

Humanity at the beginning of the Third Millennium is in crisis. The R.C. Church is in crisis, but so are the other Christian churches and other religions. What are we to do about it in 2024?

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There is a crisis currently in the R. C. Church, with the emergence of sexual abuse, as well as other forms of abuse, done to vulnerable people. This is only a symptom of the underlying problems.

A recognized general principle for understanding human society is to look not just at where we are, but to also see from whence we come, and also where we are going or trying to go.

Human societies have profoundly changed in the past two millennia, especially in what is called Western Society, as it is found in Europe, the Americas, Oceania, and with the spread of its values east and south into Asia and Africa. The Ten Commandments given by God to his Chosen People and, through them, to humanity, are essential principles. However, leaders who govern - in the Church as in society - need many more principles and skills, without neglecting or ignoring these basic Ten Commandments. We have only to observe how Pope Francis has tried to persuade Russia's leader to end the war on Ukraine in order to properly consider and appreciate how great a challenge it is to work to protect the innocent, stop and avoid war, and make peace instead. These are a few factors involved.

Christian churches, and worship centers for other religions, are all embedded in the societies in which they are situated. They cannot escape influences and pressures from their ambient society. They must be vigilant to monitor those influences and work to moderate them.
The historical passage in the last few centuries from Christendom to open western societies, with similar passages in eastern and southern regions, has deeply impacted churches.
There was at the outset in the Mediterranean world the gradual clericalization of the Church after the age of the Apostles and Fathers of the Church.
Simulteneously, there was a development which had a greater impact on the Church with the gradual invasion of their societies in the dwindling Roman Empire by the barbarian tribes from the north and east of Europe. When the civil authorities proved to be powerless in the face of the barbarian tribes invading their society, the populace looked to their bishop to protect them. Bishops tried to muster their resources to militarize and protect the population, and the Bishop of Rome, the Pope, was particularly successful for a time.
There has been a great impact by the emergence in modern times of societies giving priority to individual and personal rights of citizens - giving people an individual identity - as opposed to a social identity linked to one's village, town, city, tribe, nation, or worldly prince or monarch.
There was therefore over the last two millennia a corresponding emergence of dual dimensions to the leadership of local churches - in both dioceses and parishes - as well as in ecclesial movements and organizations: leaders had to deal with geographic and political entities; while at the same time they had to deal with the demands for individual and private rights.
The passage from primarily illiterate populations to heavily educated and professional populations highlighted the inadequacy of the Church's expectation that Holy Orders should be sufficient to empower and enable priests, in addition to their sacred and pastoral duties, to also manage every aspect of the life of a local church.

In a concise summary, here is a single statement of the problem as we find it today.

Whereas during the time of Christendom, when clerics were among the few people of their time with an education; it was reasonable for the Church to expect clerics to be able to lead and govern a local parish church or ecclesial movement. Then, with the emergence of more complex societies, with many more citizens - and even the majority of citizens in many places - having benefitted from higher education, formation in trades, and professional formation and training; the topography of human societies at every level has dramatically changed. In the Roman Catholic Church, as in many other Christian churches, the exercise of ecclesial leadership has developed into a dual role: that of PRIEST, yes, but also that of PASTOR or ADMINISTRATOR.

It is becoming increasingly evident - sometimes painfully so - that a man having received Holy Orders may be a holy man and an excellent priest, but he may simultaneously be a terrible pastor. Western society - with its governments, private and publicly traded companies, and NGO's, non-governmental organizations - has evolved so rapidly in the realms of human resources and personnel management, workers rights and unionization, that many churches have not been able to keep pace with those changes.

R.C. priests, even some recently ordained, suddenly find themselves assigned to pastor, as the responsible leaders of worshipping assemblies, along with parish staff and volunteers. They are responsible for financial management, the maintenance and repairs of buildings, the management of personnel and volunteers, and the protection of vulnerable people, among many other files and issues. However, in most cases, they have never received the proper formation pertinent to each of those areas. They may not be familiar with any of those concerns; unless they had experience in their previous life as private citizens.

In the Archdiocese of Montreal, where for two years now there is a general service to the population of an Ombudsman; this can and does open up situations in which a priest finds himself accused of some form of abuse, which may be nothing more than a problem to be resolved by a proper human resources department or personnel office, if the parish had one of these or both. This diocese, like many others, has not had the time, expertise, or financial resources to develop such departments and services, and has only recently begun to do so from scratch. As a result, everyone is caught short, surprised and in shock at the allegations transmitted by the Ombudsman. In some cases, a priest may even have been suspended for a year or more due to one or more personality conflicts, which could and should have been resolved at the source without having recourse to such drastic measures as a long-term suspension.

In addition to the first grievous wrong done by such a summary suspension, both to the priest and to the faith community which he had been serving, justice may not be served well at all by such a process. This is particularly true when the complainant may have had an axe to grind personally against the priest. If such were the case, then the entire process would be in effect co-opted by an abusive lay person, turning the entire process on its head.

If the true problem is not identified early and competently handled; then a succession of injuries may ensue, like the toppling of a long series of dominoes, leading ultimately to the destruction of the life and mission of the faith community itself.

When wisdom, prudence, and charity are lost; there isn't much left upon which to build truth, goodness, and beauty, those three transcendental qualities of God, in the context of human lives and society. We have heard that a professional review of this process is under way, and we eagerly await the results, and, in the meantime, entrust ourselves, our people, and our Church into the hands of Almighty God; whose Church we are.

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© 2006-2024 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal QC
© 2006-2024 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC

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