We need some iteration of Catholic Action in our day. The church’s engagement with the culture cannot be limited to occasional statements from the U.S. bishops’ conference and the work of lobbyists at the state and federal level. It is the laity, not the clergy, who are called to bring Christ to the culture.
Wednesday, I looked at the doctrinal wellsprings from which the Catholic Action movement grows. Historically, that faith was carried by the subcultures of Catholic communities throughout the world. Those subcultures died as Catholics moved out of their urban enclaves. You search in vain for any discussion of mission in Catholic education in the 1940s or 1950s: It walked in with the priests and sisters who had begun their day with Mass and the breviary. It was in the air. That air was hospitable to Catholic Action too.
Today, our societal air is putrid and it needs the purifying breeze of the Gospel. How to do it? Where to start?
In terms of their value to reviving Catholic Action, chaplaincies are a starting point. Chaplains should discern when and how to encourage the people they serve to form their own organization. The accompaniment does not cease, but it is transformed. A second value, participation, is introduced and the thing in which the group participates is the spreading of Catholic social teaching.
To continue reading this article, click here.
With thanks to the National Catholic Reporter (NCR) and Michael Sean Winters, where this article originally appeared.
