THE PRESENT CULTURE

Under the guise of tolerance and diversity a relentless secularism seeks to eliminate religion from any role in the public life of society (e.g. the war on Christmas). In so doing, it endangers religious freedom and conveys the message to young people that religious faith is retrograde.

When moral imperatives which come from religious faith are deconstructed, then the relativism of individual opinion challenges the teachings of the Church as just one opinion among many. When this happens, the void which is thereby created is filled with the values promoted by the media and the entertainment industry. An example of this is the unapologetic role-modeling of sexual promiscuity on certain television programs. Our present culture is pervasively influenced by both these industries which also attempt to drive social change in the direction of the values they promote.

Is it any wonder that a Catholic who is poorly formed in the faith becomes confused and often unaware of being formed by values contrary to the Gospel and the teachings of the Church? More than ever before, it is necessary that we meet this challenge by studying our faith in a process of continuing lifelong education. This can insure that we live as successful and happy human beings and create such a world around us.

In a lecture given at Saint Basil’s Collegiate Church on the campus of the University of Toronto, Canada, on February 23, 2009, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of the Archdiocese of Denver said, “The Church in the United States has done a poor job of forming the faith and conscience of Catholics for more than 40 years — and now we’re harvesting the results — in the public square, in our families and in the confusion of our personal lives.”

This Catechetical Master Plan is intended to deal with this situation. The challenge we face today is difficult, but not insurmountable. We must form the members of our faith with courage, determination, and perseverance, mindful that today, as never before, we have to pay the price of witness.

Our present culture teaches youth that freedom without responsibility is an acceptable norm to follow. A lack of faith formation can, and eventually will, lead youth and young adults to make poor decisions without the consideration of future consequences. This will undoubtedly change their lives for the worse, and the lives of those around them.

In his 1995 encyclical The Gospel of Life, Pope John Paul II identified the presence of a “Culture of Death.” This culture continues to be prevalent in our society today. It presents to our youth and young adults seemingly easy solutions to complex moral and ethical dilemmas. These “easy answers” include the acceptance of abortion, pre-marital sex, cohabitation, the abuse of drugs and alcohol, and the misuse of technology as normative. All of these are symptomatic of the reality of the difficult challenges facing young people today which can be put into a correct perspective only with the truth of the Gospel.

In an address to the Bishops of the United States during his Apostolic Visit in 2008, Pope Benedict XVI described the present culture and its relationship to God when he said, “People today need to be reminded of the ultimate purpose of their lives. They need to recognize that implanted within them is a deep thirst for God. They need to be given opportunities to drink from the wells of his infinite love. It is easy to be entranced by the almost unlimited possibilities that science and technology place before us; it is easy to make the mistake of thinking we can obtain by our own efforts the fulfillment of our deepest needs. This is an illusion. Without God, who alone bestows upon us what we by ourselves cannot attain, our lives are ultimately empty.”

As a Diocese, we must have a catechetical plan which seeks to address the needs and the challenges to the faith that we all, in particular our youth, face today. Consequently, a goal of our current pastoral and catechetical work, to pass on the faith of two millennia and to “go and make disciples” in this present day and age, is crucial.