Can You Hear the Dialtone?

Photo by Maarten van den Heuvel on Unsplash

The following is a guest post from Michael Einterz, a husband, father, attorney, and a very involved member of St. Alphonsus Liguori Catholic Church in Zionsville, IN. One of his many volunteer roles at the parish is as the director of RCIA and adult education.

The Catholic Church in America has a problem. This seems to be a universally accepted truth, but the agreement ceases there. The Catholic Blogosphere, including the number of priests and bishops who participate in the discussions, can’t agree on a solution to the problem – and it’s not for a lack of trying. 

Although we could drag out volumes of Church History, in my opinion, a review of the attempts to solve the problem can start back in 2012 when Sherry Weddell published her blockbuster Forming Intentional Disciples. Although not the first of its kind, it combined several elements and rightfully became a hit among parishes and Catholic ministers. Most notable among the elements of the book are, first, her attempt to offer a solution to the problem in Catholic Parishes, and, second, an intentional review of protestant churches and the tactics they are employing to achieve outstanding levels of participation. 

Disciples touched off a firestorm of refinements. Catholic authors scrambled to explain how the Church should employ foreign techniques to solve the problem. Anything from SixSigma management techniques to eastern meditation practices were suggested as tools to reignite Parishes and create a culture of stewardship. In this new tradition, the Church is a ringing phone and these authors are giving us tips and tricks to convince parishioners to just pick it up!

Even while in its infancy, this crusade was questioned. While authors touted amazing success in parishes that employed their suggestions, few were able to actually duplicate results. Some saw quick increases in participation and giving, followed by a regression to the mean when the glitter wore off the new parish program. Some took their desperation to a depressing, albeit logical end, and we got suggestions like The Benedict Option and its progeny which seemed to suggest that the Church should not accommodate and does not need this increased participation – instead she should work with the dedicated few who already seem to recognize the value in participation and let the Holy Spirit worry about the rest. 

As I read a few recent posts by Fr. Matthew Schneider – who advocates that the “secret” to improving participation is to “help every Catholic realize their Baptismal Commitment to be Active Apostles” – and by Marcus Woods – who, in response, argues that there is no “secret” but that the Church must focus on properly educating the faithful, particularly with Thomistic metaphysics, so that they can effectively evangelize in our changing society – I came to a couple of revelations. 

First, the solutions proposed by everyone are neither unique nor helpful. Whether under the guise of Waddell’s Intentional Disciples or Fr. Schneider’s “Active Apostles” the proposed solution is the same: Do what Jesus told you to do, but do it better. One is reminded of Bob Newhart as a psychiatrist on MadTV, who’s only advice to his patients is “STOP IT!” 

While the advice is not wrong, it is also not helpful. And, while I admit that this is a gross oversimplification of the solutions offered by many thoughtful and well-meaning contributors, I don’t think any would suggest (nor want to suggest) that they are offering a solution that is much different from the original Great Commission handed down by Christ, they’re just bickering about how to best carry out that original solution in today’s world. 

Second, and here’s where I finally get to my real point, everyone seems to have jumped to offering solutions, but overlooked a very important first step: What, exactly, is the problem we are trying to solve? It seems capricious, and maybe that is why it was overlooked, but I have yet to see a real diagnosis of the “problem” before a solution is proposed. It is taken as a given that the problem is declining participation – and often the problem is described relative to other Christian churches:  “Compared to the non-denominational Church down the street, Catholic participation is abysmal.” Or to the Catholic Church of the past: “This entire neighborhood used to be Catholic and the Parish Church was the center of the community. Now, people barely show up once a week.” 

I don’t think that declining participation is the problem. Instead, it is merely a symptom of “the problem.” And, the more we focus on trying to address the symptom of participation, the more superficial our efforts appear. So what, you might ask, is “the problem”? Although I believe “the problem” cannot be boiled down to a singular thought or description that fits in our 280-character dialect, I think we can approximate the problem with a single word: “Relevancy”

While the Church might be a ringing phone, just waiting for us to pick it up, it is a landline phone. If one even exists in our homes, it is unplugged and in a closet. Landline phones are outdated. They might have been a technological marvel when they came out and heavily used in the past, but today they are useless and anyone not using a smart phone is similarly outdated or superstitious. Landline phones are irrelevant. We can’t get people to answer them because people don’t even have them in their homes!

Like that landline phone, the Church has lost her relevancy with the modern American. An ‘organized religion’ run by a bunch of ‘old white men’ who cling to ‘closeminded’ ideals is perhaps the epitome of an irrelevant entity in our current society. The average American is told to be fiercely independent, non-judgmental, accepting to a fault, and partisan. The Church’s appeal to absolute truth alone disqualifies it from a seat at the table of our modern culture. 

The Church has also lost her desire to be relevant with Americans. This lack of desire is often masked by an appeal to tradition (or Tradition), but do not be deceived by such apathy. While we cannot compromise the Truth, we must also recognize that the Church’s commission is to “GO and make disciples…” not “build it and they will come.” The Church in America has become complacent. We have plenty of projects and programs within our own walls, but we rarely GO. After all, we would not want to offend the other ministers and pastors in our communities by poaching their flock… 

The Church is outdated, superstitious, and useless to many Americans who wish to see themselves as ‘modern.’ Much like a landline phone or analog camera, the Church has its limited uses for a few, but is no longer an asset for the majority of modern Americans. It was good for our parents, but we know better – and Her constant decline is crowd-sourced proof. 

If you’re reading this, you understand the fallacy in those statements, but we’re not concerned with those of you who read Catholic blogs or attend daily Mass or know the staff at your local Catholic bookstore by name. The non-participating and the barely participating are not our problem – they’re our audience. And we are neither directing our message to them nor framing that message in a manner relevant to their lives. 

And that is the core of it – a lack of participation is a symptom of an underlying belief:  “there is a better outlet for my time, talent, and treasure than the Catholic Church.”

The solutions aimed at increasing participation are attempts to change the ringtone or make it louder – but no matter how attractive we make the ringing, you can’t answer the phone if you don’t have one in your home. Just like a new ringtone won’t convince one to install a landline phone, these “solutions” won’t convince the average American that the Church is now relevant. And once we lose a soul down that path, we can’t win them back just by making participation easier, we have to re-convince them that participation is necessary and relevant. 

So, before we try to figure out how to get everyone to answer the call, do we need to first answer how to convince average Americans to re-install the Church in their homes?