Journeying with the Word of God

suggested that the findings are due to the lack of impact people believe faith and religious practice have on their daily lives and relationships, especially family relationships.

“Most people see faith and religious involvement as something that complicates their relationships more than it benefits them,” he said. “At best, church is one more thing to do in an already busy life. At worst, it asks me to follow rules that I fail to see having any positive impact on the quality of my relationships.”

He highlighted efforts such as the CatholicHOM (Households on Mission) app, a digital family formation platform for Catholic families launched by his practice, as important for both the future of Catholic family life and the future of the church itself.

“Unless we can show people how our Catholic faith helps people lead more loving, connected, caring lives especially in their families most people will find no compelling reason to celebrate the faith themselves or encourage their children to own it,” Popcak said.

Joseph White, a child and family psychologist and the associate publisher for catechetical resources at OSV, found it “especially striking” that a third of Catholic parents do not consider it important to pass on their faith.

“I think this highlights the need for evangelization of Catholic adults,” White said. “The issue here is not just that Catholic adults don’t ‘know’ their faith; they don’t see why their children would ‘need’ it.”

He said this represents not only a failure to catechize but also a failure to evangelize. In response, he called for a refocus

In many areas of Pew’s analysis, responses by Catholic parents resembled the responses of U.S. parents in general.

The percentage of Catholic parents and the percentage of all parents who say it is extremely or very important that their children have similar religious beliefs to their own as adults is the same: 35 percent. Of all parents, 22 percent say it is somewhat important and 42 percent say it is not too or not at all important. The majority of U.S. parents (81 percent) and Catholic parents (81 percent) find it extremely or very important for their children to grow up to become people who help others in need, according to the analysis. The majority of U.S. parents (80 percent) and Catholic parents (79 percent) also say it is extremely or very important for their children to grow up to be accepting of people who are different from them.

Parents’ answers changed depending on how often they attend religious services or Mass, according to Pew. U.S. parents who attend religious services at least once a week are more than three times as likely to consider it important to raise children who will share their religious views.

With two-thirds of Catholic parents saying it is at least somewhat important that their kids share their religious beliefs as adults, White recommended that ministry leaders in Catholic parishes and schools consider what evidence-based tools they can give parents to ensure that the Catholic faith is handed on to the next generation.

“We need to use this knowledge to help parents who want to raise their children as lifelong disciples of Jesus,” he said. “This is a primary responsibility of the parish. Pope Francis calls us to be ‘a family of families,’ and we need to work harder to ensure that the family stays together.”❖

Step 1: Lookattoday’sReadingsprayerfully.

1st Reading: Abram is called by God to leave all that is closest to him – his relatives, his home, and his country. His response is immediate.

2nd Reading: Towards the end of his life, Paul is writing from prison to his trusted fellow worker, Timothy, urging him to endure hardship for the sake of preaching the Good News.

Gospel: This is Matthew’s account of the Transfiguration. We hear the very words spoken by the Father in heaven that we heard at Jesus’ baptism. Now “Listen to him!” is added.

Step 2: ApplyingthevaluesoftheReadings toyourdailylife.

1.The Transfiguration story is always heard on the Second Sunday of Lent as we prepare to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus. Can you tell why?

2.Paul gives encouragement to the young Timothy to rely on the power of God rather than on his own efforts. In what way are we encouraged and challenged today?

3.Matthew’s account of the Transfiguration has the voice from the clouds saying “Listen to him”. Why do you think he adds this line to the words heard at Jesus’ baptism?

4.Abraham gave up all he knew to go forward into the unknown when he answered God’s call. In answering God’s call, what are the secure things you will feel you have to give up as you set out in a new direction?

Step 3: Accepting the message of God’s Wordinyourlifeoffaith

On Transfiguration Sunday we are challenged to remember the call we receive at our baptism to bring the light of Christ into the darkness of our world. We reflect on the call to continue the journey into the unknown that is the future, trusting in God.

We are made in the image of God. We carry the beauty of godliness within us. Sin darkens that image and so disfigures us. Goodness causes that image to shine and so brighten our lives. We are at our best when we are good.

Step 4: Somethingtothink&prayabout

1.The Transfiguration experience is meant for us as much as it was for the three apostles. We have to be conscious of such moments in our everyday lives. They are moments of real joy. Recall such moments that you have experienced. ❖

[From: Journeying with the Word of God, The Religious Education Department, Diocese of Georgetown, Guyana ] conference’s articles and providing complementary academic documents that contextualize its main themes.

Salesian Sister Linda Pocher, a contributor to the book’s second volume, which compiles academic papers supporting the conference’s main documents, told reporters Feb. 20 that varying perspectives on the realities of the priesthood worldwide must be still studied, and not only by the clergy.

“It’s not the same thing to be a priest in Rome, Ukraine, Romania and Australia,” she said. And “it’s not the same thing to be a priest before or after the explosion of the sexual abuse scandal. This can’t be denied.”

At the book presentation, Cardinal Ouellet said that while the abuse crisis was not the focus of the conference, the subject of clerical abuse “was not ignored” in its considerations.

In his opening remarks at the conference last year, he had said a discussion of priesthood today must begin with expressing “our sincere regret and asking again for forgiveness from the victims, who suffer for their lives destroyed by abusive and criminal behavior, which has remained hidden for too long and treated lightly out of a desire to protect the institution and the perpetrators instead of the victims.”

Sister Pocher said the conference underscored the need for an “interdisciplinary study” of the ministerial priesthood as a vocation “realized in the fragile and wounded humanity of men, who are and remain human beings, like their brothers and sisters in the faith.”

Cardinal Ouellet said the book “fills a gap in the current theological literature” on synodality because a “synodal church cannot progress without the commitment of conscious and personally involved actors to follow Christ in the church.”

With the book’s publication, Cardinal Ouellet called for a “renewed co-responsibility between pastors and the lay faithful” in carrying out the church’s mission and the developing of a theology of the priesthood “deeply rooted” in the Second Vatican Council.

The council’s Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests stressed the role of priests as members of the baptized faithful and affirmed the laity’s participation in the mission of the church, effectively reducing the distinction between the clergy and the laity.

Among the texts included in the book is one that asks whether the priesthood should be “desacralized,” removing the “divine aura” that surrounds priests and which some people argue enables them to commit abuse with impunity. Another analyzes the connection between celibacy and the sacrament of holy orders.

One of the conference’s contributors, Cardinal Gianfranco Ghirlanda, said that by reflecting on the vocation of ordained priests, laypeople will better understand their own priestly vocation, which they receive in baptism.

The baptismal and ministerial forms of the priesthood are “not only complementary, but reciprocal,” said Cardinal Ghirlanda; “they are all necessary and ordered toward each other in a circular relationship.”

“If synodality means walking together,” he said, ” we must keep in mind that ‘together’ means diversity and at the same time unity, a diversity of vocations.”

Bishop Gianmarco Busca of Mantua, Italy, said one way to strengthen the relationship between clergy and laity is to involve more laypeople in priestly formation, particularly in seminaries. The church, he said, should consider the possibility of allowing “figures that are not only priests, but also laypeople, couples, female figures” to be members of formation communities.

The structure of many of today’s seminaries, he said, creates “worlds incapable of interacting with the culture” and form priests “with a weak gauge for the people they must minister to.”

Cardinal Ghirlanda added that he has encountered many young priests who, due to a lack of strong relationships, have felt “totally abandoned, even by their own bishop.”

“They are in difficulty, and they don’t know who to turn to,” he said.

In his speech opening the 2022 conference, Pope Francis emphasized the theme of closeness in priestly life and said that every priest must work to be close to God, to his fellow priests and to the people he serves.

“It is important today to be closely involved in people’s real lives, to live alongside them, without escape routes,” he had said.

For Cardinal Ouellet, the publication of the book is just the beginning of a discussion about understanding priesthood and helping priests minister better to their fellow Catholics. Study initiatives will be launched to continue discussions on the priesthood in Spain, France, Ivory Coast, Thailand, Colombia and the United States, among other countries, in the coming months. A group will also travel to World Youth Day 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal, to host conferences on vocations with bishops and young people, “to give the event a vocational slant.” ❖

One day Jesus took three of his disciples Peter, James, and John up on a mountain so that they could be alone. While they were on the mountain, an amazing thing happened. Jesus' appearance began to change. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Then Moses and Elijah appeared and were talking with Jesus. The disciples couldn't believe their eyes! Then they couldn't believe their ears! They heard the voice of God saying, "This is my Son. I love him and I am pleased with him. Listen to what he has to say."

Well, from that moment on Peter, James, and John had no doubt about who Jesus was. He was the Son of God. God said it and that settled it. Peter himself said, "We were eyewitnesses of his majesty...we ourselves heard the voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the mountain." (2 Peter 1:16,18)

There are many people today who still don't know who Jesus is, but we know, don't we? He is the Son of God. How do we know? Because God said it and that settles it whether others choose to believe it or not.

Dear Father, we thank you for sending Jesus, your Son. We know that he is your Son because you said so and that settles it. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.❖