Mar Gregorios on Mission
With all the hustle and bustle of the season, we need to be focused on
our mission which is profoundly tied to the eucharistic celebration.
Paulos Mar Gregorios (of blessed memory!) left us a riches of
direction and assistance in his writings.
Paulos Mar Gregorios was a Bishop in what was a mission diocese (New
Delhi), so it is clear that he believed in mission work. He believed
in mission work that proved one's Christianity rather than one that
counted converts. As an Orthodox Bishop, he understood non-Orthodox
manners and forms of missionary work are not compatible, perhaps even
contrary, to Orthodox manners and forms of missionary work. In
addition, he was very proud of the Church's ethnic and cultural
history in India and felt it important for it to have a truly Indian
identity - however not to the detriment of its universality.
Here are several quotes from the small collection of his writings
called, "Introducing The Orthodox Churches," published in 1999 by the
Mar Gregorios Foundation in Kottayam that indicate his views.
I have typed out seven quotes:
1. "The Orthodox Church in India lives at peace with followers of
other religions like Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Parsee, Jains, Buddhists,
etc. They are not aggressive in trying to convert the others but are
prepared to live with them in peace and concord, and with respect. For
this reason they are often accused by more aggressive Protestant and
Catholics, of being defective or lacking in missionary zeal.
"The Orthodox place greater emphasis on the quality of spiritual life,
on worshipping God in a fitting way, and in showing love and
compassion to all, rather than on evangelism or social activism. They
run schools and hospitals, orphanages and homes for the destitute, but
not for the sake of attracting converts. It is a silent labour of
service in humility which is its own reward." (p.4, "Introducing the
Eastern Churches" original article written in 1976)
2. "The witness of the Orthodox is a quiet one, based more on worship
and a holy life of love and service, than on preaching and
proselytism. This lack of aggressiveness is often criticized by
Western Christians as a lack of missionary fervour. But we know that
the aggressive Western missionary movement is intimately linked with
the economic, cultural and colonial expansionism of the west, and we
would rather not be associated with such an aggressive and
institutionalized mission." (p.15, "How Different is the Eastern
Orthodox Church?" original article written in 1991)
3. "The Eucharist is not a mere teaching session for the edification
of those who attend. It is the vital link between Creation and God. It
is the highest response to the Creation to God...The converse of
representing the Creation before the Throne of God would be for the
church to represent God before the heart and mind of mankind. The
mission of the church thus flows naturally out of worship. Only a
church which lives by the rhythm of eucharistic self-dedication to God
on behalf of the Creation can truly become the bearer of God's saving
grace for mankind. The rhythm of worship in the matrix of mission."
(p.49, from "Central Concerns of Eastern Orthodox Church" date of
original article not given)
4. "The real failure of the Orthodox Church does not appear to lie, at
least to the present writer, in her missionary laziness, but rather in
her unsanctified, power-hungry, quarrelsome, self-pre-occupied and
selfish life in the world. It is not missionary organization that she
stands most in need of, but rather evangelical simplicity and
eucharistic sanctity in ordinary life, manifesting the love, freedom,
and wisdom of God to mankind." (p. 50, same article)
5. "Eastern orthodox communities in the East have clung to the
cultural forms with desperate favour. They have been unable to
disentangle their national identity from their Christian faith, and so
have tried to hold blindly to many archaic traditions of a national
culture quite unnecessary for maintaining a Christian commitment in a
new Western culture." (p.53, same article)
6. "Orthodoxy holds the pure tradition of the ancient undivided
Church. But because of its ethnic group egoism remains incapable
either of enjoying their rich spiritual heritage or of sharing it with
others." (p54, same article)
7. "We are ahead of almost all the Orthodox Churches of the World in
using our own modern vernacular as the liturgical language of the
Church. No other Orthodox Church has so far been able to do this to
the same extent as we have.
"Yet in areas outside Kerala, do we have to insist on Malayalam
always? Can we have a Tamil Eucharist at Tadagom or Madras, a Bengali
one in Calcutta, and Hindi or English in Delhi and Bombay? This would
make it possible for non-Malayalees to enter into the riches of our
heritage and thus help us break out of our ethnicism...
"I am only saying these in the hope that the Church in Calcutta would
show a way to the whole church to break out of its narrow ethnical
confinement. The final decision depends upon the Episcopal Synod, the
leaders and people of our Church there, and on the boundless grace of
God who is always willing to give more than we dare ask for."
(p.61-62, "The Ethnic Character of Orthodoxy" date of original article
not given)
===============
As I was typing the quotes out, I was rejuvenated in spirit after a
difficult day. Thank you, Paulos Mar Gregorios, and pray for us.
I hope everyone in the Madison area will come and celebrate the birth
of Christ with us on Sunday 12/25 at 5:30am (sunrise), when we will
burn palms as the shepherds did outside Bethlehem.
In service to God and humanity,
Rev. Fr. John-Brian Paprock
Holy Transfiguration Orthodox Syrian Mission
Madison, Wisconsin (608) 242-4244
http://www.maruroopa.blogspot.com/
December 22, 2011
December 4, 2011
Younger spiritual audience dwindling - AltoonaMirror.com - Altoona, PA | News, Sports, Jobs, Community Information - The Altoona Mirror
Younger spiritual audience dwindling - AltoonaMirror.com - Altoona, PA News, Sports, Jobs, Community Information - The Altoona Mirror
Younger spiritual audience dwindling
Religious institutions work to bring back unaffiliated youth
December 4, 2011
By Linda T. Gracey (lgracey@altoonamirror.com) , The Altoona Mirror
Church is out, and spirituality is in. That's how people in their 30s and younger think.
Those born after 1980 are considerably less religious than older Americans, according to a 2009 report "Religion Among the Millennials" from The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.
Locally, leaders of denominations are noticing the trend.
"Clearly, we are missing young adults in our parishes," said Bishop Gregory Pile of the Allegheny Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. "The proportion of young adults in the general population is not being reflected in the pews."
The Pew report states that young adults "are less likely to be affiliated than their parents' and grandparents' generations were when they were young. Fully, one in four members of the Millennial generation are unaffiliated with any particular faith."
"Young adults also attend religious services less often than older Americans today," the Pew reports states. "And compared with their elders today, fewer young people said that religion is very important in their lives."
Experiencing change
Jeff Miley, pastor of Tyrone Church of the Brethren, said it is the age group that goes to college, a time when young adults tend to pull away from their faith.
"They go out in the world for the first time and experience so much," he said. "They have difficulty processing it."
"They may leave their faith and seek the ways of the world," Miley said. "Unless they come to a pastor or someone of faith who is more mature, they flounder."
He said young adults are looking for worship where they feel invited and loved.
About a dozen or more young adults attend services at Tyrone Church of the Brethren, which is a fair representation of that age group for the Tyrone church as a whole, Miley said.
He said young people are eschewing imposing edifices and ritual.
"We are more relaxed. You feel the presence of God because of the love of God [among the people], not because of stained glass windows," Miley said.
Bishop Mark L. Bartchak of the Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown has observed that all age groups, not just those in their 20s and 30s, are attending Mass less frequently. Although Catholics may not be as active in their parish communities, "I am keenly aware that their faith is still there, especially in that young adult crowd," he said.
"When I visit college campuses, students don't want to talk about sports. They want to talk about their Catholic faith," he said.
Off campus, young adults gather at Theology on Tap sessions offered by the diocese, where they openly discuss their Catholic faith and ask questions of clergy in a pub/restaurant setting.
"It's a very popular venue," Bartchak said.
Seeking personal connections
Bartchak believes people enjoy small groups and one-on-one contacts because "they hunger for real personal attention."
He said Americans live at a hectic pace where it is important to have technological gadgets cellphones, laptops and iPads - that make it quicker and faster to perform tasks and communicate. But on the flip side, technology leaves out the personal element when it comes to communicating.
"People are looking for a real personal contact as opposed to a virtual contact," Bartchak said. "When people talk to me about their faith, they want to be connected."
He said the church helps people to connect on two levels - the human personal level and an introduction or reintroduction to the person of Jesus Christ.
The trend to forgo services also can be seen in the Jewish faith.
Bill Wallen, executive director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Altoona, said houses of worship do not have the authority they once did and fewer people are affiliated.
"There was a time when a rabbi, priest or minister used to carry more authority," he said. "And parents would reinforce that authority. It is less so anymore."
He said at one time, almost every Jewish person belonged to a synagogue. Now, especially in the cities, business and professional people belong to independent minyans or prayer services.
Wallen said young people use websites to enrich their Jewish faith or may attend services or events at an Orthodox chabad.
Interfaith marriage and a more mobile society may be part of the reason why attendance is less frequent.
"It used to be common that you only dated people within the Jewish world," he said. But now the barriers are broken down and the Jewish community is more welcoming to a non-Jewish spouse, he said.
In interfaith families, the partners may go to one or both services.
"A lot of others don't go. It's easier not to offend," he said.
A more transient society may also lead to less affiliation.
"They [young adults] don't stay in the community," he said. "They grow up and move away."
Starting from scratch
Another reason why young people don't make worship a priority could be because they never had a spiritual base in the first place.
The Rev. Ed Preston, pastor of Mardorf United Methodist Church in Juniata Gap, said people don't go to church for various reasons, including the fact that their parents did not take them when they were children.
For those who did go, images of how services were when they were younger don't always fit in a post-modern culture.
Preston said despite changes in society, the church tried to remain the way it was in the 1950s.
"We were a force to be reckoned with. We were in the public square. Clergy and religious leaders were looked up to for their opinions. Now we can't put a Nativity scene on the public square," Preston said.
"We lost the power of the public square, but that's OK. That's not what Christ called the church to be," he said. "We got full of ourselves and thought it was all about us. It's not about us. It's about those who aren't here yet.
"The gospel is relevant, fresh and exciting," Preston said. "The role of the church is making disciples. It's how we transform the world. We are supposed to be changing hearts."
Preston said the Mardorf congregation is working toward that goal. It has transformed its worship and is making other adjustments to make it more welcoming to those who grew up in the latter part of the 20th century.
The services include multimedia images and contemporary Christian music. Even the nursery has been revamped to assure young parents that their babies are in a safe, clean, well-equipped environment, leaving them free to worship.
Changing priorities
At Curryville Church of the Brethren, Pastor David Stiles believes attendance is down because of a shift in priorities.
"You have seven choices and time to do four. Three things get scratched. Church is not essential. It gets scratched," he said.
He called Sunday the new Saturday. People shop, do their laundry and catch up on chores on Saturdays.
"By Saturday night, they are exhausted. On Sunday, they want to chill out, stay home," he said.
Others don't have that luxury because their jobs overshadow worship. People might have to work on the weekends at their main job or a second job they have to keep food on the table.
If it isn't work that keeps families away from worship, it might be recreation. Miley said at his church, girls who play on a traveling softball team are no longer attending services.
"You have to maintain a habit [of going to church]," he said. "If you break the pattern, it is harder to get back."
Pile said fewer people are looking to the church to observe significant events in life.
"Everybody used to have a pastor when someone died. Now some have a party," he said.
When they marry, they have other options than the church, and baptism is not important as it once was, Pile said.
"People have drifted away from a deep and abiding relationship with God through devotion and prayer. They are so busy and are distracted by the demands on their time," Pile said.
Family units under attack
Monsignor Michael Servinsky, vicar general for the Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, traces part of the spiritual deficit problem to the 1960s when the birth control pill was introduced and free love became the philosophy.
Servinsky said that Pope Paul VI warned in his papal encyclical letter "Humane Vitae: On the Regulation of Birth" that artificial birth control would damage the family.
"We see it happening," Servinsky said. "The family is under attack. We see more and more divorces. Families are scattered. We no longer have extended family connections to pass on religious values. Children have two fathers and two mothers."
Servinsky also spoke about how relativism has permeated the culture and how people look at life.
"Do your own thing" seems to be the guiding force, he said. "Absolute values aren't there. We have such a sense of individualism that we have lost a sense of community."
Servinsky said although these concepts began in the late 1960s, "It takes awhile for these movements to flower. We are seeing the fruit of what we were sowing."
Younger spiritual audience dwindling
Religious institutions work to bring back unaffiliated youth
December 4, 2011
By Linda T. Gracey (lgracey@altoonamirror.com) , The Altoona Mirror
Church is out, and spirituality is in. That's how people in their 30s and younger think.
Those born after 1980 are considerably less religious than older Americans, according to a 2009 report "Religion Among the Millennials" from The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.
Locally, leaders of denominations are noticing the trend.
"Clearly, we are missing young adults in our parishes," said Bishop Gregory Pile of the Allegheny Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. "The proportion of young adults in the general population is not being reflected in the pews."
The Pew report states that young adults "are less likely to be affiliated than their parents' and grandparents' generations were when they were young. Fully, one in four members of the Millennial generation are unaffiliated with any particular faith."
"Young adults also attend religious services less often than older Americans today," the Pew reports states. "And compared with their elders today, fewer young people said that religion is very important in their lives."
Experiencing change
Jeff Miley, pastor of Tyrone Church of the Brethren, said it is the age group that goes to college, a time when young adults tend to pull away from their faith.
"They go out in the world for the first time and experience so much," he said. "They have difficulty processing it."
"They may leave their faith and seek the ways of the world," Miley said. "Unless they come to a pastor or someone of faith who is more mature, they flounder."
He said young adults are looking for worship where they feel invited and loved.
About a dozen or more young adults attend services at Tyrone Church of the Brethren, which is a fair representation of that age group for the Tyrone church as a whole, Miley said.
He said young people are eschewing imposing edifices and ritual.
"We are more relaxed. You feel the presence of God because of the love of God [among the people], not because of stained glass windows," Miley said.
Bishop Mark L. Bartchak of the Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown has observed that all age groups, not just those in their 20s and 30s, are attending Mass less frequently. Although Catholics may not be as active in their parish communities, "I am keenly aware that their faith is still there, especially in that young adult crowd," he said.
"When I visit college campuses, students don't want to talk about sports. They want to talk about their Catholic faith," he said.
Off campus, young adults gather at Theology on Tap sessions offered by the diocese, where they openly discuss their Catholic faith and ask questions of clergy in a pub/restaurant setting.
"It's a very popular venue," Bartchak said.
Seeking personal connections
Bartchak believes people enjoy small groups and one-on-one contacts because "they hunger for real personal attention."
He said Americans live at a hectic pace where it is important to have technological gadgets cellphones, laptops and iPads - that make it quicker and faster to perform tasks and communicate. But on the flip side, technology leaves out the personal element when it comes to communicating.
"People are looking for a real personal contact as opposed to a virtual contact," Bartchak said. "When people talk to me about their faith, they want to be connected."
He said the church helps people to connect on two levels - the human personal level and an introduction or reintroduction to the person of Jesus Christ.
The trend to forgo services also can be seen in the Jewish faith.
Bill Wallen, executive director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Altoona, said houses of worship do not have the authority they once did and fewer people are affiliated.
"There was a time when a rabbi, priest or minister used to carry more authority," he said. "And parents would reinforce that authority. It is less so anymore."
He said at one time, almost every Jewish person belonged to a synagogue. Now, especially in the cities, business and professional people belong to independent minyans or prayer services.
Wallen said young people use websites to enrich their Jewish faith or may attend services or events at an Orthodox chabad.
Interfaith marriage and a more mobile society may be part of the reason why attendance is less frequent.
"It used to be common that you only dated people within the Jewish world," he said. But now the barriers are broken down and the Jewish community is more welcoming to a non-Jewish spouse, he said.
In interfaith families, the partners may go to one or both services.
"A lot of others don't go. It's easier not to offend," he said.
A more transient society may also lead to less affiliation.
"They [young adults] don't stay in the community," he said. "They grow up and move away."
Starting from scratch
Another reason why young people don't make worship a priority could be because they never had a spiritual base in the first place.
The Rev. Ed Preston, pastor of Mardorf United Methodist Church in Juniata Gap, said people don't go to church for various reasons, including the fact that their parents did not take them when they were children.
For those who did go, images of how services were when they were younger don't always fit in a post-modern culture.
Preston said despite changes in society, the church tried to remain the way it was in the 1950s.
"We were a force to be reckoned with. We were in the public square. Clergy and religious leaders were looked up to for their opinions. Now we can't put a Nativity scene on the public square," Preston said.
"We lost the power of the public square, but that's OK. That's not what Christ called the church to be," he said. "We got full of ourselves and thought it was all about us. It's not about us. It's about those who aren't here yet.
"The gospel is relevant, fresh and exciting," Preston said. "The role of the church is making disciples. It's how we transform the world. We are supposed to be changing hearts."
Preston said the Mardorf congregation is working toward that goal. It has transformed its worship and is making other adjustments to make it more welcoming to those who grew up in the latter part of the 20th century.
The services include multimedia images and contemporary Christian music. Even the nursery has been revamped to assure young parents that their babies are in a safe, clean, well-equipped environment, leaving them free to worship.
Changing priorities
At Curryville Church of the Brethren, Pastor David Stiles believes attendance is down because of a shift in priorities.
"You have seven choices and time to do four. Three things get scratched. Church is not essential. It gets scratched," he said.
He called Sunday the new Saturday. People shop, do their laundry and catch up on chores on Saturdays.
"By Saturday night, they are exhausted. On Sunday, they want to chill out, stay home," he said.
Others don't have that luxury because their jobs overshadow worship. People might have to work on the weekends at their main job or a second job they have to keep food on the table.
If it isn't work that keeps families away from worship, it might be recreation. Miley said at his church, girls who play on a traveling softball team are no longer attending services.
"You have to maintain a habit [of going to church]," he said. "If you break the pattern, it is harder to get back."
Pile said fewer people are looking to the church to observe significant events in life.
"Everybody used to have a pastor when someone died. Now some have a party," he said.
When they marry, they have other options than the church, and baptism is not important as it once was, Pile said.
"People have drifted away from a deep and abiding relationship with God through devotion and prayer. They are so busy and are distracted by the demands on their time," Pile said.
Family units under attack
Monsignor Michael Servinsky, vicar general for the Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, traces part of the spiritual deficit problem to the 1960s when the birth control pill was introduced and free love became the philosophy.
Servinsky said that Pope Paul VI warned in his papal encyclical letter "Humane Vitae: On the Regulation of Birth" that artificial birth control would damage the family.
"We see it happening," Servinsky said. "The family is under attack. We see more and more divorces. Families are scattered. We no longer have extended family connections to pass on religious values. Children have two fathers and two mothers."
Servinsky also spoke about how relativism has permeated the culture and how people look at life.
"Do your own thing" seems to be the guiding force, he said. "Absolute values aren't there. We have such a sense of individualism that we have lost a sense of community."
Servinsky said although these concepts began in the late 1960s, "It takes awhile for these movements to flower. We are seeing the fruit of what we were sowing."
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