Why, in spite of its huge resources, do so many people not come to know the living Christ in the Catholic Church?
That was the question posed by Cardinal Edwin O’Brien of New York, Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre, when he preached at St Joseph’s Church in Subiaco last Saturday morning.
Cardinal O’Brien has been visiting cities throughout Australia and New Zealand this past month, investing new Knights and Ladies into the order and celebrating 25 years since the first Australian lieutenancy was established, here in Perth.
In his homily, Cardinal O’Brien recounted the testimony of a major US sports figure who denounced the Church of his youth, saying he had only come to know Jesus upon meeting his Protestant Christian wife.
“How sad I was to read that public denunciation of our Catholic faith. How sad I always am when a friend or relative leaves the Catholic Church,” Cardinal O’Brien said.
“In spite of my sadness, I had to recognise the fact that some who join other churches finally find Jesus.
“Surely, such individuals are missing out on the fullness of our one, holy Catholic and apostolic faith but at least they have found Jesus in their lives.
“Why didn’t our sports star come to know the living Jesus in our Catholic Church with all the huge resources we invest in education? Why are so many of our churches near empty? “Why do so many of our baptised enter their parish church only for first communion, perhaps for confirmation and marriage, and will probably want to be carried in at their funerals?”
“Jesus simply has no relevance in their lives. He makes little practical difference in their daily family life, business, and social interactions. In short, Jesus is not alive for them,” the Cardinal said. It was the first order duty of all Knights and Ladies, and Catholics more broadly, he said, to announce to the world “that the Holy Sepulchre is empty”.
“In short, our lives must proclaim the message of the living Jesus… The Holy Sepulchre is empty because Jesus Christ is alive in our hearts and our works of love”.
Speaking with The Record after celebrating the 11am Mass at St Mary’s Cathedral, Cardinal O’Brien echoed sentiments expressed by Pope Francis, that the Church needed to be more outgoing.
“[Pope Francis] talks about the horizon – go, go, go – not just to China and India, but to the distant places in our culture that are unaware of Christ or that reject Christ.
“It’s what the Pope did with the atheistic editor of the La Repubblica magazine,” Cardinal O’Brien said of the now infamous interview in which the Pope said that ethics followed love, and not the other way around.
“He called him and wanted an interview. That’s going out to the periphery; that’s going to the outskirts of culture, and I think we have to realise in our parishes that attendance is not enough, activities within the parish are not enough.”
“We’ve got to challenge our people beyond our parish limits to prove that we want Christ to be known by everybody.”
The Catholic Church in the West had relied too much on education and not enough on formation, the Cardinal told The Record, adding that, in his experience, many teachers had factual knowledge but no intimate knowledge of the religion they were teaching.
“We are losing members and we have to do a better job of taking Christ seriously – living a Christian life – and realise this society is taking us off track; this society of consuming is antithetical to our faith.
“Materialism, the more we get the more we want, it’s dulling us; it’s plugging up our ears and our mind to what the Gospel message is.”