By Fr Henry Opara
You may have observed that on Sundays, we do have the pews of our Churches filled to the brim when compared with any other days no matter the liturgical celebration! For instance, some Catholics may be absent from the activities of the Church on Ash Wednesday, Stations of the Cross, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and All Saints ,May and October devotions, Bible week, Catechetical Week , Laity week etc but on Sundays, he or she comes.
This is unfortunate but a daily experience in different places of our Catholic environment. In my discussion with another Priest in Italy, he confirmed that such is their case with many coming for days of social activities or events. What can be responsible for this? Is there a possible solution to the problem? Are they supposed to be present? What does the laws of the Church say about this? Are there spiritual benefits in attending these liturgical activities within the week outside the Sunday masses?
Canon 1247 states “ on Sundays and other holy days of obligation, the faithful are bound to participate in the mass; they are also to abstain from those labours and business concerns which impede the worship to be rendered to God, the joy which is proper to the Lord’s day, or the proper relaxation of mind and body.”
Canon 1246 ( 1) listed holy days of obligation though canon 1246 (2) leaves the right to reduce and choose the days of obligation to the Various Conference of Bishops. The holy days of obligation as stated in the Canon above include Christmas, the Epiphany, the Ascension and Corpus Christi, Holy Mary Mother of God and her Immaculate Conception and Assumption, St. Joseph, the Apostles Saints Peter and Paul, and finally, All Saints.
No doubt, some of these feasts and Holy days of Obligation are celebrated on Sundays with the direction of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) like Corpus Christi. The holy days of obligation as approved by the CBCN includes Ascension, Assumption, All Saints and Christmas day.
Our focus here is why a good number of Catholics are found wanting during liturgical actions outside of Sundays? The first commandment of the Church in our local catechism supports attending masses on Sundays and holy days of obligation. The relevance of these programmes cannot be over emphasized. Ignatius Puthiadam, S.J. in his book “Christian Liturgy.
The Re-presentation of the Greatest God-Human Story”, maintained that “the annual cycle of seasons and feasts that celebrates the Christ Event is very important for Christian life and growth. The Council says: ”in the course of the Year, the Church unfolds the whole mystery of Christ from the incarnation and nativity to the ascension, to Pentecost and expectation of the blessed hope of the coming of the Lord” (102) ”Recalling the mysteries of the redemption, the Church opens up to the faithful, the riches of Christ’s powers and merits, so that these are in some way made present for all time; the faithful lay hold of them and are filled with saving grace.”
Some possible reasons why some Catholics would themselves absent from these programmes in spite of the underlying gracious fruits therein?
Poor parental influence:
The best gift children should have at the early stage of their lives are parents with good knowledge of the faith. The child grows, seeing the parents attend these programmes with quality devotion, he or she will follow suit automatically. Do not forget, that the family remains the primary school of evangelization.
It is at this level that the child begins his school of evangelization. Some kids learn about these spiritual exercises through their peers but just like the parable of the Sower (Matt. 13: 1-23), it is very easy for the seed to die because of poor root though there may be exceptional cases in this regard.
Poor Catechesis:
Knowledge, they say, is power. Knowing what you believe in, helps in better appreciation and participation. The next phase will be better conviction which turns the person to be an evangelizer of the said programme. Most Rev Dr. Hilary P.O. Okeke in his 2005 Lenten Pastoral titled, “Let us celebrate the Mystery of Faith” no.75 maintained that “liturgical or sacramental catechesis is necessary for the adequate preparation of all who will take part in the celebration of a sacrament.
This is necessary to dispose both the minister and the recipient to fruitful celebration…” For instance, during the first Sunday of lent, my reflection during the mass was around this topic, Catholics and participation in the life of the Church. During our evening program, Know Your Faith and Benediction, a woman stood up and asked me, Fada , thank you for your teaching today.
I came from a family that attends Assemblies of God Church. I am now a Catholic because of marriage. Honestly, I did not know the importance of attending such programmes until I listened to you today. Thank you again. She is one of the many with this same experience in need of adequate knowledge or information in this regard.
Nonchalant attitude and lack of faith:
This factor is very close to the former. Some of our Catholics are not interested. They pay attention to Sunday obligation only. Even at that same Sunday, they will come late, may not be interested in the readings of the day talk less of receiving Holy Communion. You will not be surprised, seeing them going before the end of the mass that will accommodate the time for announcement for the weekly programmes. For people in this category, the teaching of Pope Benedict xvi on active and full participation to gain the full graces of our liturgical celebration is not part and parcel of their own beliefs. Bernard J.Cooke, in his book, “Christian Community: Response To Reality” captured the experience in these words “ more disturbing, considerable numbers of well- educated and sincere Christians are doubting the necessity and role of liturgical worship . Is it not much more important, they ask, to live one’s life with integrity and concern for others, than to participate in worship actions that seem to have little impact on the world?”
The Priest’ Factor:
There is no doubt that in the life of the Church, the Priest has significant role to play. Little wonder that the Church, as a Mother pays special attention in the formation of her Priests in order to equip them for the enormous task. His actions and inactions display the beauty in the life of the Church or vice versa. For St. Joseph Cafasso, in his book, “The Priest, The Man of God, His Dignity and Duties”, ”the priest may be compared to the rod of Moses; raised aloft in the air, it works miracles, thrown on the ground it becomes a serpent that kills, that poisons. Therefore, either we are true Priests, and then we will do immense good, or we are not.” The priest’ presence can become an attraction for people to long to participate or be a distraction that can scare the people away. Let us enlist some factors in this regard: the quality of his homilies has a part to play. We cannot neglect the importance of his human relationship. What do you say about his level of sensitivity to time and the environment of his apostolate? Some others have created cracks in the walls of the Church using the language of Monsignor Eva Nwamadi through their poor moral life, thereby discouraging some faithfuls from attending such programmes. Finally, his approach to the liturgy has a part to play here.
Method of Catechesis:
No one can underestimate the negative impact of poor understanding of the teachings of the Church in the life of the Church. One of my most shocking experiences was the day I went to a nearby diocese to officiate a wedding in a colleague’s parish (he was not around ). During the reception of the Holy Communion, I said, “Body of Christ”: the response I got was ”you are welcome”
If you were in my shoe, what would you do at that point? What is really responsible? Here, in our own Assumpta Environment, when I was the Archdiocesan Youth Chaplain, I encountered a couple who just drove in from a nearby parish within the Owerri Metropolis, ”fada, can you hear our confession? We are going for Child presentation tomorrow morning.” If you were in my position, will your mind go to “do you know if they are wedded in the Church”? That was my case, I went on to hear the first who came forward i.e the wife. Immediately after, a thought came as the man was approaching, ask him if he has wedded this woman. So, I asked the man, subtly, I believe you people have done your wedding in the Church? He answered in the negative. The rest was story. Now, here lies our problem. I have mentioned poor catechesis. We miss opportunities when our lay faithful approach us for different sacraments and even during our Sunday masses and other occasions. Can you believe that even the General Instruction on funerals, gave room for catechesis during the homilies considering certain situations? Here, I want to point out something on our model or method of teaching. The content of our teaching is suitable but I believe the way and manner of communicating needs to be revisited. In the same vein, Fr Nathaniel Ndiokwere, in his book, ”The Third Millennium Church The Church That Will Survive” opines ”the strategies for conversion are changing rapidly. Not much can be accomplished from the pulpit. There is need for door- to –door, family – to- family, person – to – person Apostolate today. .. the Second Vatican Council instructed that for any effective evangelization in the modern world, the Church must discern ‘the signs of the times.” The inability of any Church to discern these ”signs of the times” will have far- reaching consequences on its future”. The men of the contemporary world pay great attention and spend much time on social media. To what extent has the Church especially within our locality used this medium of social communication in her evangelizing mission? In other words, what is the quality of our pastoral communication? To what extent do we reach out to these members of our Church?
Work Pressures and Other Emergencies:
There is no gainsaying the fact that some Catholics are working with institutions whether Government or Non Government Agencies. These parastatals may not allow them to attend to these programmes from time to time.. Health challenges and security concerns can hamper one from participating in the many programmes of the Church.
In all these, all hands must be on deck to improve the participation of these Catholics. There should be willingness in all ramifications; the Church as a Mother and the Catholics involved. In so far as the Church has the duty to teach and lead all men to God by bringing the Church to men and the men to the Church, the Individual faithful has the singular duty to listen to “what the Spirits are telling the Churches”. As the saying goes, you can take a horse to the stream but you cannot force it to drink. The truth remains that if we have attained our supreme height, there will be no need for this article and since we have not gotten to our destination, then there is need and room for improvement. Let us continue to do our parts in this evangelizing task.
In Conclusion, Archbishop Stephen Ezeanya of blessed memory in his 1993 Lenten Pastoral Message, titled “the Blessings and Joys of Being a Catholic Christian” no.35 observed that ”one of the most attractive elements for our people, in the life of the Church is the diversity, the richness and the beauty of her liturgy and other celebrations calculated to lead the people to holiness”. Absenting from them deprives one of these benefits. Let all Christ’s faithful get involved in the life of the Church. Let the people at the helm of affairs continue to create strategies that will make the Sacraments and the Liturgy of Church, without losing its substance become more appealing and attractive to the vast majority. Let those who attend reinvigorate the call to be missionaries to those who do not attend. May we continue to pray for people in need of this singular grace. May the Holy Spirit enlighten their minds to cherish these unfathomable treasures handed over to the Church for our salvation.
Fr Henry Opara is Parish Priest, St Anthony’s Catholic Parish, Ohekelem, Owerri Archdiocese.
