Talk about faith in 'real' language – bishop

Bishop Paul-Andre Durocher tells class to make words relevant

- WCR photo by Deborah Gyapong Bishop Paul-Andre Durocher explains the responsibility to share the Good News.

By DEBORAH GYAPONG
Canadian Catholic News
Ottawa

Alexandria-Cornwall Bishop Paul-Andre Durocher urges Catholics to "unpack" the teachings in the Catechism of the Catholic Church to find the language and images to "speak about our faith to others."

"We should never just pull out the catechism and throw it at someone," he told an adult faith development class in the Ottawa Archdiocese May 12. "We need to be equipped with a vocabulary that is up-to-date."

While the catechism is indispensable, Catholics need to put its teachings into words others will understand, words that will connect with them, he said.

Parallel teachings

His teachings paralleled what Pope Benedict said during his five-day trip to Brazil May 9-13, when he called for more use of the catechism for deeper faith formation among Catholics of all ages.

The pope urged a "methodical evangelization aimed at personal and communal fidelity to Christ."

Durocher, a dynamic teacher, showed how that kind of methodical evangelization could take place in the workshop entitled, What Does it Mean For Me to be a Catholic in the World Today?

On May 12, he worked through passages from the catechism on Baptism and Confirmation, encouraging the participants to form small groups, discuss the relevant passages, then report what they discovered.

Family forever

In discussing the "indelible mark" of Baptism, participants said it was like being born into a family. Even if you walked away from that family, you were still a member.

Then Durocher wove what participants said into a theological context, helping bring the doctrine to life. He said this process of reflection on the passages and finding everyday language and images will help make the Gospel relevant to the people who need to hear the message.

"Don't we all wish we could start all over?" he asked, pointing out that the sea in the Book of Revelation refers to "everything that stops us from being everything we could be. Somehow the messiness and chaos of life wells up within us and we screw up again."

Durcoher explained how in Baptism, one is plunged into those waters and brought up "no longer bound to it."

In Baptism, "we're being made graceful, grace-filled and that quality comes from our relationship with God," he said.

"Our consumer society influences us; it makes us consumers of religion," he said, noting the Church has become "a place for more consumption," in the form of "consuming spiritual graces."

But being a Christian brings responsibility, and that responsibility is to spread the Good News and participate in the Church's mission, Durocher said.

In Baptism, we are welcomed as members of the extended family of God, he said. "Anyone who belongs to a big family knows there's a lot of messiness involved. The Church is like that."

The family image is one of being connected, he said, but many in the world feel disconnected. With the duties and responsibilities come rights and privileges, including inheritance.

Even if you walk away from your family, if you inherit money, some lawyer will come and find you, he joked.

"It's a bond that is established that can never be broken," he said. It also speaks about how we are "shaped like Jesus" and "become like Jesus" as "much as I discover I am a child of God."

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