Becoming a model village

“I come from a small village in the southeastern part of Nigeria. About 6 years ago my father, under the administration of the parish priest, instituted a small fund N100,000 ($600) to be loaned out to widows and the poor to assist their quest to earn a living. It was understood that anyone who didn’t pay back the loan made it impossible for others to access a loan. My siblings and I have increased the finance pool to about N1,000,000 ($6,000) and, in the six years it has been operational, not one person has defaulted. Several people who initially obtained a loan went on to become self-sufficient and didn’t have to come back [for additional funds].” (An entrepreneurship graduate student)

My Nigerian student’s church and village are reminiscent of how the American Church and our society used to take care of one another. However, as the American Church took on a contemporary persona this past half-century, we took on with it an agency-model of operation. Organizations and formal committees took the hands-on care of individuals out of the hands of the parishioners. There was a slight reduction in our sense of being our brother’s keeper as we had ‘people’ to do that. The subtle nuances of change coincided with more time spent at work and out of the home, and less down-time to spend with one another. Mirroring the society, and varying diocese by diocese, the church has become an institution providing welfare much of which used to take place at the person-to-person or local parish level. 

Prior to this time, we actively engaged in corporal and spiritual works of mercy (and knew what these are!). Devotional prayers supporting these reminded us of our duties to do so. Communities were more engaged neighbor to neighbor, individually involved in one another’s lives. We gave one of our most precious gifts to the other: the gift of our time. 

I think we see a desire in American parishes to take on more of a village model such as my Nigerian student’s home parish. A village where people who ‘have’ personally take care of those who ‘have not’, rather than paying an agency to do ‘that’. Perhaps there is renewed recognition that we are the church. 

“If we are going to be rebels, let’s rebel against the world and embrace the path to Heaven that leads through the Catholic Church.”  (Randy Hain)

To grow and transform, however, requires God. And you can’t know someone you don’t spend time with! Randy Hain gives 5 Ways to be a True Catholic Rebel: 

1. Follow the Magisterium and authentically practice our faith, trusting that two millennia of Church history and teaching are far superior to what we may come up with on our own.
2. It must take a pretty big ego to say no to Christ and His Church! What we need is more humility, total surrender and a sincere commitment to put Christ’s will before our own. “I [Hain] know from personal experience that doing it my way has never really worked out well.”
3. Since Christians are reclothed in Christ Jesus and refreshed by his Spirit, they are ‘holy’. They therefore have the ability to manifest this holiness and the responsibility to bear witness to it in all that they do.
4. Be joyful … remember that we are surrounded by people who are watching us.
5. Pursue Heaven, reject the world … Doing what is right is not always easy, but in the long run it is clearly the most beneficial. Why would we not choose Heaven?

Meanwhile, Fr. Edward Looney profiles Sister Adele who received apparitions from The Queen of Heaven, Our Lady of Good Help (the only approved Marian apparition site in the United States). Her response to Our Lady provides us an example of how to evangelize:  

• [disposition] “From Sister Adele, we learn that catechists must be people who practice their faith, pray, and frequently approach the sacraments of the Church…
• [qualifications] Adele’s qualifications for this work were her profound faith and piety. Like Adele, each catechist must trust they are responding to an invitation from God. …
• [curriculum of catechesis] Teach them what they should know for salvation … their catechism, how to sign themselves with the sign of the Cross, and how to approach the sacraments …
• [evangelizing] we can realize a new method of evangelization—through the children to the adults. …
• [help is here] Mary promises her help through her continued intercession and mediation of the graces we need .”

Each of us meet the qualifications if we begin in prayer. “According as you form a closer union and friendship with spiritual men, you will enjoy more happiness in the Lord.” (St. Ignatius of Loyola). Let’s put at the top of the list prayers for our ‘village elders’: our NEW Pope Leo XIV, clergy and religious. 

May our spiritual fathers be guided by the examples of Saints Peter and Paul, all the Apostles and their saintly successors. Give them valiant faith in the face of confusion and conflict, hope in time of trouble and sorrow, and steadfast love for you, for their families, and for all your people throughout the world. May the light of your Truth shine through their lives and their good works.

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam 😊

(Image by Olivier Collet on Unsplash)