Lay Spiritual Formation: An Ecumenical Opportunity

Let me bring now to a conclusion my consideration of lay spiritual formation by looking at something my parish is planning.

On November 21-22, 2008 my parish, Holy Assumption Orthodox Church (OCA) in Canton OH, is hosting a Roman Catholic team who will lead a workshop meant to help people discern what their own unique gifts are given to them at Baptism. The "Called & Gifted Workshop" is a project of the Catherine of Siena Institute is "a program of the Western Dominican Province dedicated to equipping parishes for the formation of lay Catholics for their mission in the world." To do this, in their own words, they "provide innovative programs, resources, and leadership training that are faithful to Church teaching and will enable your parish to become a dynamic center of lay formation and mission." The workshop will be lead by the co-directors of the Institute, Fr Michael Fones, O.P. and Sherry Anne Weddell.

One of the reasons that I am excited about the "Called & Gifted" workshop is that they present an understanding of the Christian life grounded in an appreciation for the sacrament of baptism. Again, from the Catherine of Siena web site: "Every lay man and woman has been called by Christ (in his or her baptism) to a unique mission, and every lay man and woman has been gifted by the Holy Spirit in order to be able to answer that call."

To be very direct about it, often in the Orthodox Church we see the Christian life in terms of monasticism rather than baptism. We too easily forget that monastic life is the fruit of a baptism and, as such, does not, and cannot, exhaust what God does in baptism. Compare this monasticization of the Christian life to the baptismal vision of the Christian life that inspires the "Called & Gifted" workshop: "The Church calls these gifts of the Holy Spirit which Christians are given for the sake of others 'charisms.'" They continue by asserting that "Discerning our charisms is an important first step to discerning God's call. These gifts of the Holy Spirit are both clues as to the nature of the mission for which God is preparing us and tools with which to successfully carry out our mission."

The teaching of the Catholic Church "that all of the baptized are called by Christ to proclaim his Gospel in the world" is certainly one that any Orthodox Christian could affirm. But, as in the Catholic Church, the pastoral implications of our baptismal call are often neglected. Rarely "do parishes provide a formation that prepares Catholics for so great a mission." Beside my personal respect for both Fr Mike and Sherry, I hoping that they will be able to do for Orthodox Christians, what they have done so successfully for Catholics. What is this you ask? Very simply that help people "bridge the gap between the Church's vision for the laity and their participation in the Church's essential mission of evangelization," on the one hand "and the typical reality within the parish where there is little awareness of the mission of the Church, lay responsibility for the proclamation of the Gospel, and the necessity of lay formation for effective participation in evangelization" on the other.

It is ironic that while the Orthodox Church has received from other Christian traditions, tens of thousands of adults into her midst, we seem (as I have pointed out in other posts) to have failed to provide these new Orthodox Christians with sound a spiritual formation that seeks to help them discern what is their own unique vocation. And, I hasten to add, we have failed to do this for new Orthodox Christians because we fail to do this for those baptized into the Church as infants.

The question that might be asked at this point why am I seeking assistance from Roman Catholics? Why not invite Orthodox Christian speakers? Let me answer the last question first.

While there are many Orthodox Christians who could be invited to speak, I am not aware of any who are skilled in lay spiritual formation. As I said, often if we speak of the spirituality of the laity at all, we do so from an at least implicit monastic model. This is not to reject monasticism far from it. But (as I said above) monasticism is a mode, or way, of living out our baptism, but it does not exhaust the gift of baptism.

More than that though (and this gets at to why I am asking a Roman Catholic team to speak), pastorally the Orthodox Church has largely neglected the formation of the laity. More often than not, we imagine that coming to Liturgy, going to confession, keeping the fasts and a rule of prayer is sufficient. But as the results of Pew Charitable Trust survey suggest, this is simply not working. One third of those baptized as infants simply leave the Church; two thirds of those who identify themselves as Orthodox Christians are not in Church on any given Sunday; over half of those who join the Church as adults, will eventually leave. Given the statistics it is hard for me to avoid saying flatly that we have simply failed.

My hope is that Fr Mike and Sherry, speaking from their own experience as Catholics, will offer to us as Orthodox Christians a deeper insight into what it is we have all received in baptism.

If you are interested in participating in the Called & Gifted Workshop, please either email me or call the parish at 330.455.9146. Again, the workshop is being hosted at Holy Assumption Orthodox Church (OCA), Canton OH, November 21,2008 from 7- 9 pm and Saturday, November 22, 2008 from 9- 4 pm. The charge for the workshop is $20.00. Breakfast and lunch will be included on Saturday. Personal discerning sessions will be available after the seminar ends for an additional fee of $25.00.

Please register soon. Because of space constraints, we are limited to only 100 participants. As of this point, 20 of those spaces have been taken. I you are interested in participating, register soon. Once spaces our gone, we will add your name to a waiting list. If space becomes available we will inform you. If space does not become available we will of course return your registration fee to you.

I look forward to meeting you at the seminar.

In Christ,

+Fr Gregory

Syndiakonia: Lay and Clergy Cooperative Leadership and the Spiritual Formation Group

To repeat what I have said earlier, the goal of a spiritual formation group is to help participants grow in self-knowledge and self-mastery in Christ. In other words, the aim of this type of group is vocational and ascetical and as such is a process grounded not only in the grace of baptism and personal experience, but also tradition. And again to reaffirm what I said earlier, group formation is not a time set aside for people to simply share their own, idiosyncratic (and often narcissistic) views on the spiritual life. Avoiding this temptation and keeping the focus on personal formation within the context of the tradition of the Church requires a leader who is him or herself not only personally mature spiritually and psychologically, but also well grounded in the tradition of the Church.

One of the great temptations in any formation group is for one member, either through force of personality or the collusion or passivity of other group members, to dominate their time together. Whether the dominate personality is that of a group member or the group leader is secondary; in either case the substance of the formation process is undercut to the determinate of all.

Ideally small group leaders should be chosen from among those who have already demonstrated their commitment to Christ and potential for leadership in and through not only the quality of their spiritual life (including regular attendance at Liturgy and frequent confession) but also their willingness to participate in the philanthropic, evangelistic and/or catechetical ministries of the Church on either the parochial or diocesan levels.

In addition to the careful selection of who directs such a group, there are I think some practical things that can be done in a parish setting to help make a formation group a fruitful undertaking for not only the group members themselves, but also the larger parish community. Let me suggest some things that might prove helpful.

As with any small group meeting, there is a temptation, and sometimes a tendency, for the group to become elitist. I remember in my own early experiences with Charismatic prayer groups this was certainly a problem that we often encountered. Besides being contrary to the Gospel, elitism is harmful for both the group members and the larger parish community. For this reason it is important that any small group ministry, but especially a formation group meeting under lay presidency, remain in regular contact with the parish priest, the council and the parish as a whole. This I would add, is also true for choirs, Church School teachers, parish Sisterhoods or Brotherhoods, and any of the myriad small groups that meet formally or informally under the auspices of the parish. Any group needs to make regular reports to the pastor, the parish council and the parish community as a whole. Cooperative ministry does not "just happen," it requires planning and effort. Or maybe more accurately, cooperative ministry is built on the foundation of good planning, regular communication with the larger community, and under the supervision of the pastor. Let us look at these in order.

Any small group, but especially a formation group, needs to be planned. With a formation group one of the most effective things that can be done is to have the group leaders themselves be members of a formation group lead by the parish priest. Following the general structure I outlined earlier, this group should meet on a regular basis with the priest and look together at texts chosen to help them not only with their own personal spiritual lives but also with the demands of leadership. Some of my favorite texts for this are The Holy Rule of St Benedict, the various rules written by St Basil, St Augustine's First Catechetical Instruction, and On Pastoral Care by Pope St Gregory Dialogous (in the West, Gregory the Great).

In my next post I want to offer some suggestions not only cooperative ministry between the laity and the clergy, but with the order of the laity.

Until then, and as always, your comments, questions and criticisms are not only welcomed, they are actively encouraged by me.

In Christ,

+Fr Gregory

Syndiakonia: Lay Cooperative Leadership and the Spiritual Formation Group

In my last post, I encouraged regular meetings between the priest and small group leaders. While these meetings are important (essential really) they are not sufficient. Effective lay leadership also requires regular that is to say, at least quarterly, communication with the parish council and at least an annual report to the whole parish. Not only does this help keep the group from focusing on itself, it also keeps the larger community aware of what is happening with the various small group ministries. It also, I should add, helps build these small group ministries--people won't participate in a ministry they don't know exists or, if they know it exists, understand. Remember, that a formation group is what sociologists call a "mediating structure" between the wider realities of parish, diocese, the Church or culture on the one hand, and the particular reality of one's daily life. The small group is then inherently a place of some tension and there is always the risk of the group become an occasion for isolation from either pole of the members' lives.

Small groups and especially spiritual formation groups that meet on a regular basis for common prayer and shared reflection can be a great source of strength and encouragement for not only the laity but also the clergy. Precisely because their focus is vocational and ascetical, or if one prefers, Christian discipleship. They provide a means to help people discover the joyful challenge of not simply being called Christian, but actually being Christian.

Great rewards however require great effort and risks. Effective small group ministry in generally, and spiritual formation groups particularly, don't simply happen. Nor are they without their own possibilities for failure. This is in the nature of the Christian life isn't it? The angel of the Lord instructed St John the Theologian to write these words to the Church Laodicea:

These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing'—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. (Rev 3.14-22)

No question, the words are harsh. But again, in what other area of life do we succeed without effort and at the risk of failure? To my knowledge none.

In my next post I want to offer what I think is an exciting ecumenical opportunity for the spiritual formation of the laity that my own parish will be undertaking later this fall.

Until then, and as always, your comments, questions and criticisms are not only welcomed, they are actively encouraged by me.

In Christ,

+Fr Gregory

The "Mechanics" of Group Spiritual Formation: A Spiritual Conversation

Mindful that the goal is to help people help each other come to self-knowledge and self-mastery in light of the Tradition, I find it best to begin with a brief, 10 minute reflection on the text assigned for that meeting. As I have mentioned in another place, in this talk I will ALWAYS make three points:

1. What is the aspect of the Christian faith illustrated by the text? ("What do we believe?")
   
2. How in the Tradition of the Church is that faith typically embodied? ("How have the saints who have gone before us lived?") and finally,
   
3. What are the typical obstacles and facilitating conditions for our incarnating the faith? ("How then are we to live?")
   

In presenting the opening talk, it is important that the group leader bear in mind that the objective here is three-fold. The talk should be (1) an inspirational reflection on the text (2) in light of what he or she has appropriated and applied from the text to their own life and (3) what the leader thinks is foundational for the group as a whole.

So in a group of retired men and women, for example, the fact that the director is quite taken with the Pilgrim reciting the Jesus Prayer 10,000 or more times a day, doesn't mean he should suggest this as a standard to be imitated by the group. But he might reflect on how overwhelming is the Pilgrim's example but how it has inspired him to set aside a few minutes at the beginning and end of everyday to recite the Jesus Prayer. Or, how he recites the prayer at quiet moments during the day. And all of this might be introduced by the Scripture command to pray constantly as a command to be always mindful of the Presence of Christ in our life.

Learning how do offer a talk that is inspirational in character takes practice. One sign that a speaker has learned to do so is the response s/he gets from the group. The initial talk is meant to be a stimulus for conversation in the group. For this reason there needs to be clear a transition from conference to conversation. Leaders need to be attentive therefore to tone, gesture, etc. There are three intertwining methods:

1. The leader might wish to ask the participants to discuss those parts of the assigned text that they resonate with/resisted.
   
2. Sharing of reflections/thoughts by the participants in the service of the group helping each other in their journey toward self-knowledge and self-mastery.
   
3. Integration and articulation of the suggestions for the spiritual life that are not only held in common but which people in the group as particularly important.
   

Obviously, I have only offered a very brief sketch here the process of group formation. And it should be clear that what I have outlined is very demanding of the group leader. In the next series of posts I want to speak directly about the group leader and his or her relationship with the parish priest.

As always, your questions, comments, criticism are most welcome and actively sought.

In Christ,

+Fr Gregory

The "Mechanics" of Group Spiritual Formation: Prayer & Text

Group spiritual formation is not group therapy, an adult religious education, or group sharing. Nor, I hasten to add, is it an occasion for sermonizing by either a lay or clergy leader.

It is rather a prayerful conversation in which the group members help each other discover and incarnate who they are and are called to be in Christ. In other words, the goal of the group is self-knowledge and self-mastery in Christ. The means of accomplishing this two-sided goal is a conversation that is both rooted in, and leads to, prayer.

The twin goals of self-discovery and self-mastery might see odd to many. In more typical Orthodox theological language we might say that the concern of group formation is vocation (i.e., self-knowledge in Christ) and ascetical (i.e., self-mastery in the service of living out who I am in Christ). In this post I am less concerned with the teleos of this process and more in briefly describing in a practical fashion the process of the spiritual formation group itself.

The formation group itself begins and ends with prayer. In an Orthodox Christian context there are a number of different options for the opening prayer. For a more formal beginning, we might gather to pray Vespers, one or more of the Hours, an Akathist or Moleben. Less formally, the group might recite the Jesus Prayer ("Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner") with the group leader reciting say the first half of the prayer ("Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God. . . ") with the group either singularly or corporately responding with the conclusion (". . . have mercy on me a sinner"). Another option is for the leader to read a short passage from Scripture or a spiritual text, followed by a time of silence. As a personal matter, I find the more informal approach, limited to 2-3 minutes, to be more effective than a formal service.

However the group beings, I find it best for the group to conclude with silence. Early on the group as a group may only be able to tolerate a minute or two of silence before people begin to fidget. As the members of the group become more familiar with each other the silence can be extended and take up a larger percentage of their time together. In a group that lasts approximately 90 minutes, 10 or 15 minutes or even more time can be given over to the concluding period of silence.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

As a practical matter, I find it best to focus the group's time together around a classical spiritual text. There is a wide-range of works that can be used and they should be selected with an eye not only to their centrality to the Tradition of the Church, but also the needs of the group members. This means that we need to take into account the difficulty of the text in terms of language and concepts, length, and the "existential" distance between the text and the group members.

So for example, in the first spiritual formation group I lead as a graduate student we used The Way of the Pilgrim. The text itself has come to hold a central place in not only Orthodox spirituality but is valued by Catholic and Protestant readers as well. The text itself is easy to read and is not overly demanding either intellectually or emotionally for the average reader. And while the Pilgrim whose adventures are chronicled is a Russian peasant wandering through 19th century Russia, the basic themes he addresses are very basic human themes, for example, grief, disappointment, and fear.

St John Climacus's The Ladder of Divine Ascent, on the other, is unlikely to prove effective especially for a beginning group. The work is long, culturally alien and is narrowly concerned with the experience of early Christian monastics. Again, this doesn't mean that the book shouldn't be used, only that it may not be as effective text for a general audience as say St John Cassian's On the Eight Vices which, while also quite challenging, is a shorter, more focused and accessible work for the average adult.

Also helpful are works of a more theological or systematic nature. I'm thinking here of Bishop Kallistos (Ware) The Orthodox Way, Metropolitan Anthony (Bloom), The Courage to Pray, Fr Alexander Schmemann's Great Lent: Journey to Pascha, For the Life of the World: Sacraments and Orthodox, or Of Water and the Spirit: A Liturgical Study of Baptism.

Novels and short fiction is also a possibility. And of course there is Scripture. But whatever text is used it must be not only generally accessible but classical text. We ought to avoid more marginal or specialized works.

Whatever is read, is best read according to a schedule so that the group members can focus their reading and thoughts on the same section of the text. Failure to do so usually results in some group members reading ahead, others lagging behind, and no one on the same page. When people really are not really basing their reflection on a common text there is a tendency to substitute one's own idiosyncratic (and not infrequently, narcissistic) views on the spiritual life for a shared response to the Christian tradition.

In my next post, I will look at how this shared response might be structured.

As always, your questions, comments, criticism are most welcome and actively sought.

In Christ,

+Fr Gregory

Why Group Spiritual Formation

Having explored yesterday what I mean by group spiritual formation, I want in this post to offer a justification for it as a potential area of lay ministry in the Church.

The tradition of the Orthodox Church is incredibly rich in not only theological insight, but also anthropological wisdom. At the same time the very depth and breadth of the tradition tends to lull us into a mindset that assumes--wrongly I would argue--that the tradition is (to use a contemporary phrase) turnkey. All I need to do, so the thinking goes, is simply listen to my spiritual father, go to church, keep the fasts, go to confession and say my daily prayers and I am living an Orthodox life. Most Orthodox priests, and not a few attentive lay people, will tell you that this approach to the spiritual life is at best naive and at worst self-deceptive.

Living a wholesome spiritual life requires instruction and guidance. This is why Orthodox Christians place such a value on the office of spiritual father or mother. We all of us need a guide in the spiritual life. In my own pastoral experience however, I've found that my own ability to guide people is somewhat limited. In part this reflects my own limits both profound and mundane. Even assuming that I could overcome the more substantial of my limitations, I often find (as most priests do) that I do not always have the time or energy to offer guidance to everyone who might want my attention.

Beyond my own limitations though, I often discover real limitations in the people who seek guidance from me. At times these limitations are benign; a lack of sound catechesis being the prime deficient to be overcome. Other times there are underlying psychopathologies that are more appropriately engaged by a clinical psychologist or psychiatrist. And for still others, their motivation in seeking me out has little if anything to do with growing in the spiritual life and more to do with an almost compulsive need to have an external authority figure in their lives.

These, and other limitations, aside however it seems to me that the biggest pastoral challenge we face as Orthodox Christians (and I think this is also a problem for Catholics, Anglicans and any other Christian tradition that takes seriously the demands of the inner life) is our tendency to want to limit the work of spiritual formation to as few people as possible. In a word, we have clericalized (or maybe more accurately, monasticized) the work of spiritual formation.

Partly this has happened because of a lack of sound catechesis for the laity. Though we are the inheritors of a rich theological tradition, few among the laity have even a basic grasp of the catechism. Absent this knowledge, much of the work of spiritual formation necessarily becomes remedial in nature and so limited to "experts" if I may use this term in reference to the spiritual life.

But I also think that our limiting spiritual formation work to the clergy and monastics also reflects a fundamental lack of appreciation of the Mystery of Holy Baptism and the call of each of us to serve as priest, prophet and king in Christ. Even absent moral, spiritual or educational reasons that would preclude a lay person engaging in the ministry, we simply they are not capable of engaging in the work of spiritual formation. We live as if lay people are not able to offer guidance for one and other. But whether true or not, if this is our working assumption, what does this say about the spiritual state of the Church as a body of believers in general and about the effectiveness of the clergy in particular as spiritual fathers for our respective diocesan and parochial communities? If the laity cannot serve as priests, prophets and kings within the Church (albeit with the guidance of the clergy) how can they fulfill these same offices outside the Church in evangelistic or philanthropic ministries?

Establishing and encouraging the work of group spiritual formation as a lay ministry guided by the clergy, or so I would suggest, is potentially a way for parish priests help lay people come to appreciate not only in a general sense the baptismal call of the whole Body of Christ to serve as priest, prophet and king, but also to do so in a specific sense within the context of their own daily lives. But this raises a question: How do we do the work of group spiritual formation?

Unus Christianus, nullus Christianus, one Christian is no Christian. The very word "church," reminds us that our Christian life is lived as a member of a community, of a group, or fellowship of believers, called together in Christ, by the command of God the Father, and through the work of the Holy Spirit. Further, as the Apostle Paul reminds us, we are all of us given gifts, charisms, for the building up of the Body of Christ, for those men and women with whom we have been gathered together. In fact, let me push this further, not only are we given gifts for the Church, it is only through these gifts and their exercise, that we can in truth claim to be in communion with Christ and His Body the Church. The charisms are given to each of us in baptism and are the links, or if you'd rather, points of contact and communion between the person and the Church. Failure to exercise these charisms means that we fail to live the very communion we profess.

In tomorrow's post I will briefly outline the "mechanics" of how we can offer these gifts to each other in a group setting.

As always, your questions, comments and criticism are most welcome.

In Christ,

+Fr Gregory

What is Group Spiritual Formation?

In the next several posts, I want to offer some theoretical and practical thoughts about group spiritual formation. Maybe the best place to begin is by asking what I mean by "group spiritual formation"?

All Christian life then is communal and all of us have been called by God to help, each in our own unique and personal way, foster this share life in Christ. In light of this, group formation is simply a practical means of exercising this shared responsibility given to each of us in our baptism.

Unlike say group therapy or a support group, group spiritual formation is built on a shared adherence to tradition. (In the current example, this means the Tradition of the Orthodox Church, likewise for a Catholic or Protestant group. ) But while there is a shared commitment to a tradition, the exploration of this tradition as such is not the goal of a spiritual formation group. The goal rather is to allow that tradition, as expressed by the insights of the group members, to serve as a guide for how we live our daily lives.

One touchstone of group formation then is the tradition of the Church as an objective standard. Again unlike psychotherapy that is concerned with the identification and correction of psychopathological tendencies through the strengthening of the ego, group formation is concerned with helping people stand in appreciative openness and gratitude toward the tradition of the Church. Or, to put the matter more directly, the goal of group formation is to make Orthodox Christians who are Orthodox Christians not only in name but in fact.

The other touchstone of group formation is actual life experience and the concerns that emerge from daily life (therapeutic group or support stop here). One brings to the group then not simply insights about the tradition we share, but also how our understanding of that tradition and our life experience mutually interpret each other.

Let me explain.

The Orthodox Church has a very rigorous tradition of fasting. Followed strictly, this means that for something like half the year we don't eat meat, chicken or dairy products, we don't drink alcohol, use olive oil to cook, or (if we are married) engage in sexual relations with our spouse. At the risk of understating the matter, few Orthodox Christians follow this tradition rigorously but our lack of rigor does not admit to only one explanation and, for this reason, only one solution that can be expounded in a Sunday sermon.

In a group formation setting, however, the role of fasting in my spiritual life can be explored with more specificity. How? Well, say the group reads together the various biblical references to fasting, as well as a selection of works from the fathers on fasting. If this was all they did, this would be merely a "group" sermon or catechesis on fasting. What they might also do is have discuss on the demands of their daily life and how, within the limits of that life, they are able in good conscience fulfill the ascetical tradition of the Church. Going beyond this, they might also appropriately challenge each other to a more rigorous asceticism. But just as likely they might also challenge each other to a more balanced approach to asceticism that acknowledge the concrete demands of their own life circumstances,

The point here is this: One's adherence to the Tradition is shaped not only by one's own, personal, views and life circumstances, but also how they are discerned by a small community of brothers or sisters in Christ. As we will see, grounded in a common faith and the grace of baptism, in and through the group, through our times of corporate prayer, silence, reading and mutual reflection, there emerges in and through the group a direction for my life. This isn't to shift responsibility for my life to the group. Nor does it mean that my parish priest, as the spiritual father of the community, has no role in my life. It means only that the spiritual formation group serves to help me be evermore faithfully in the appropriate application of the wisdom of Holy Tradition (which includes the Scriptures and the Fathers) to the concrete circumstances of my own life.

In tomorrow's post I will offer a theological justification of group spiritual formation as a lay ministry grounded in Holy Baptism.

As always, your questions, comments and criticism are most welcome.

In Christ,

+Fr Gregory

Some Further Reflections on Why Converts Leave

The response to the post that looked at why converts leave the Church they have joined as adults were thoughtful and thought provoking. Let me respond here in turn to each of these comments.

Tony-Allen recommends an essay by Fr Seraphim Rose (Converts - Chapter 88 from Father Seraphim Rose: His Life and Works). There is here a great deal of very good advice for all concerned whether we were born into an Orthodox family or joined the Church later in life.

Stuart Koehl offers a number of very helpful observations. His distinction between those who convert TO and those who convert FROM is right on target. I have told a number of inquirers that I will not make them catechumens, much less receive them into the Church, until they resolve their problems in their tradition of origin. Basically my thinking is this: Angry, unhappy Evangelical Christians (or Protestants or Roman Catholic) are eventually going to be angry, unhappy Orthodox Christians. Again as Stuart's words suggest, left unhealed, this foster in the person a growing "sense of betrayal which either causes the convert to move on to something else (the perpetual seeker syndrome), or worse, to abandon faith altogether."

Stuart's observation is also correct. He writes that:

I don't think, therefore, that catechesis is a the heart of the problem, unless you use the term to include discernment of a person's motives for joining the Church. I know a lot of pastors and catechists are reluctant to do that, given that converts aren't exactly falling off trees. We want to put the best possible face on the Church, we create the idealized image in an attempt to "sell" the faith to the seeker. Since most of us do truly love the Church, we tend to gloss over the grubby reality of parish life, focusing instead on the glories of the Liturgy, the spiritual riches of the Tradition, and that sense of koinonia that we sometimes manage to achieve despite our various foibles.

Where I might disagree in that (and S-P mentions this as well) catechesis includes (or should include) an examination of the person's motives for joining the Church. As I've mentioned before, the catechumenate is a graduate seminar--it is a formation process. After some initial failures, I learned not to enroll people as catechumens until (1) I was morally certain that God had called them to enter the Church and (2) that they demonstrated the necessary resolve and fortitude to remain faithful. The catechumenate itself, as I tell people, is meant to begin what should be a life-long process of repentance. In other words, the catechumenate is a school of repentance. Yes, there are facts about the Church to be learned, but (as with the whole Tradition) serve repentance. For what it might be worth, as I have become more and more consistent in my approach to inquirers and catechumens, I have never lacked for people to receive. I suspect that if converts aren't falling off the trees, or are staying once they arrive, it is because we have fundamentally misunderstood the catechumenate. (St Augustine has some helpful advice on all this in "On the Catechising of the Uninstructed." It is well worth a read.)

Theo's own story of entering and then leaving the Orthodox Church I think illustrates the importance of really scurtinizing the motives of inquires BEFORE they are made catechumens. The failure to do this is harmful not only to the inquiry but the parish that he joins and will later leave.

I think Stuart is right in his call for a more realistic, warts and all, presentation of the Church and how we live our Christian lives is something I have tried to follow since I first got into the evangelism and apologetics "business." While I have been criticized for it, since it seems to cause "some people to turn away," I have found that "those who persist will be entering the Church with their eyes wide open, less prone to disillusionment,[and] more willing to stick it out through the rough patches."

Finally, I would (maybe?) disagree with Stuart about the need for a Spiritual Father. At least in the Orthodox world that term carries a great deal of freight, not all of which is helpful. What we need, above all else (as S-P and Chrys both suggest), are well rounded, emotional and developmentally mature men in the priesthood. On this score I think the Orthodox Church could learn a great deal from the Catholic Church's emphasis on the human formation of candidates for the priesthood. You can read more about this here: Institute for Priestly Formation.

As part of this move away from catechesis as dogmatics (S-P) and the overselling of the faith (Chrys), and toward communities of mature mena and women under the leadership of clergy drawn from mature men, married to mature women, in good and sound marriages, we would do well I think to take our cue from Ben. The Orthodox Church (and I have Catholics friends who a similiar need there) needs to do more to encourage priest to share the load. That might mean more priests and deacons relative to parishioners. But it certainly means the encouraging a more active approach to lay ministry guided by the clergy. I am trying to do this at Holy Assumption Orthodox Church (the parish I currently serve) and, while it is early days yet, it seems to be working.

Michelle's observation about the Orthodox Church being a lonely place is often true. For several years I did supply work for vacationing and ill priests in the Pittsburgh area. While often people in the parishes were warm and welcoming, it was not uncommon for them to be cold and distant. That said, I have found in the main that the things Michelle wants parishes to do, are often done by many parishes, but still it is not uncommon to run into resistance from the "old guard." This, as AMM suggests, is not unique to ethnic parishes, nor (as my friends who are Evangelical and Mainline Protestant pastors have assured me) for that matter to Orthodox communities. While we might use different means of excluding others (as Chrys said), it happens in all communities. Yes, to return to Michelle's later comments, many, even most, Orthodox Christians are warm and hospitable. Where the problem develops, in my experience, is not so much that people are not hospitable as it is that parishes tolerate the lack of a welcoming attitude, or even a hostile attitude, in members of the community. The fact is, even if 9 out of 10 people in a parish are welcoming, if they do not correct that 1 person who is closed to new people, they end up colluding--and even encouraging--that negative attitude.

That said though, we do need to do better--we must move beyond a mechanical approach to our spiritual life. This, as Chrys points out, is the common human problem of nominalism. We all of us want to reap rewards without making an investment. He is right when he says that

The issue, it seems to me, is how to structure local parish communities so that they are able to prudently and faithfully tap into the tremendous resources of "the whole Body of Christ." This issue is urgent not only for the building up of the convert (whether cradle or otherwise), the development and exercise of each member's gifts, and the formation of tomorrow's leadership, but also to relieve the horrendous burden placed on our clergy. They should be "spiritual coaches" (as I have noted elsewhere), building up "the team" for the challenges entailed in a life faithfully lived. Clergy are not, can not be -- must not be -- the only active members of the team. So much more could be done for Christ if we could figure out a way to unleash the gifts of everyone in the parish. Yet so much care must be taken to do so in a way that is faithful to that which has been "handed on" to us. This, it seems to me, is one of the most critical challenges facing the Church today and would go a long, LONG way toward addressing the reasons (whatever they are) that cause so many to leave.

Trying to answer this question is why I was asked to start the Palamas Institute. We need to invest more resource not simply in training future priests, but studying and supporting the work of the parish, the parish priest and the ministry of the laity.

Again, thank you to all for your generosity in offering such thought provoking observations.

In Christ,

+Fr Gregory

The Contribution of the Social and Human Sciences to Spirituality

An earlier post argued that theological reflection is an insufficient basis for living a Christian life. Detached from a connection with not only the life or prayer, on the one hand, and a connection with daily life on the other, theology risks becoming a self-indulgent fantasy. We need the contributions and insights of the social and the human sciences. The best way to see that is to simply apply the insights of the empirical studies to a pastoral problem in the Church.

Think of the number of adults who join, and then, leave the Orthodox Church. If better than 50% of those who enter the Church as adult will eventually leave it would seem that we are overlooking something in our catechesis and reception of these people. What we are missing is not in the strict sense a theological but empirical question. Indeed theology as such, does not have the resources to even uncover the fact that many of our converts will later defect from the Church. This is an insight that we owe to the work sociologists.

I think it was James Fowler, who studies the psychology of faith development, who said somewhere that social scientists are professional gossips. What is meant by this is that the social scientist specializes in those sources of information that are not necessarily officially sanctioned, but which nevertheless "everybody" knows, but that they don't necessarily know that they know. Especially in matters of Church life, because we value unity of faith, we sometimes overlook or leave unspoken those things which would contradict our desire to appear as one.

And this then is the second epistemological element of the social and human sciences. Whether quantitative or qualitative in content, empirical work is often subversive in character. Owing to this subversive tendency, the social and human sciences are often allies of different political or moral ideologies such as feminism or gay rights. But this tendency toward what in American would be considered a more leftist or liberal agenda is not inherent to empirical work as such. It reflects as much the character and interest of the researcher as it does his or her science.

At its best, empirical work helps us call into question our own preconceptions and prejudices about the world of persons, events and things that make up our everyday life. For example, there is interesting research being done at George Mason University in the economic study of religion. Some of this research suggests that "strict" religions tend to grow while "non-strict" or "liberal" religions do not. Examining the research a little more closely and we see that "strict" doesn't mean authoritarian, much less abusive, but rather refers to those religious traditions that have relatively high expectations for who their members will behave. "Liberal" religions, on the other hand, tend to have minimal expectations for their members. Further, when we look at questions of ministry, "strict" religions tend to encourage members to be actively involved in some aspect of the form of service valued by their tradition. On the other hand, "liberal" religions tend to see themselves as providing services for their members.

In other words, a growing parish is likely to encourage young mothers to work together to meet their own, and other people's child care needs. A declining parish would simply establish a day care with paid staff. Or, to take another example, a growing church is growing because it expects, and makes possible, people's commitment to serve others both inside and outside the their tradition while declining churches tend to see themselves as there to take of their own members.

Interestingly enough, none of this is linked to whether or not the community is theologically conservative or progressive. Rather, and this is worth reflecting on at another time, it seems to be that growing communities are outward looking in their service and are so because they view God as actively engaged in creation. In other words, if we preach a God Who is actively engage with humanity, and then actively encourage and support each other in imitating that God in our personal and communal lives, we are likely to grow. And again, this has very little to do with the usual typology of "liberal" and "conservative" as those terms get taken over into religion from politics.

If over 50% of our converts leave, we might at least wonder if it is because we have no ministerial opportunities for them after we receive them. Interestingly, a large number of male converts who stay, go on to take holy orders (even as, I suspect, a large number of female converts marry to, or will be married to, men who are later ordained). But for the majority of converts, there is simply no place for them to use their own unique gifts and talents.

Compare this to say the situation in a large Greek ethnic parish. The annual Greek food festival, to take but one example, provides an opportunity for a large number of lay people to share in a project that offers a valued service to those outside not only the parish but also outside the community's ethic and theological tradition. Often (in my experience at least) while the majority of those who participate in the food festival are Greek, a fair number are also non-Greek parishioners (whether converts or cradle Orthodox Christians). This helps me at least answer a question that I, and many have had for a while. Why is it, and contrary to what seems to be a general preference for English and a less "ethnic" (i.e., Greek, Russian or Arab) feel even among cradle Orthodox themselves, that ethnic parishes continue to exist and even grow numerically? I suspect that the parish institution of the food festivals are a significant factor in why even intentionally and heavily ethnic Greek parishes are successful (and they are, often fostering not only converts, but also vocations to seminary and monastic life).

My pastoral problem I have with food festivals is not with the festival as such. It is rather with the relative lack of other, equally valued and socially supported opportunities, for service by parishioners to those outside the parish. (If anyone is interested in working with me to generate ideas in how to build on the food festival and use it to expand the ministry of the Church, please feel free to email me privately.)

I hasten to add, that this is not universally the case by any means. There are, for example in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, several standout communities (for example, Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Church in Mount Lebanon, PA works extensively with the Orthodox Christian Mission Center providing both financial support and missionaries. Another stand out program is Camp Axios for inner city children sponsored by Saint Sophia's Greek Orthodox Church in Los Angles). But even in those parish that more oriented to outward service, there is a tendency to be more concerned with serving "our people" rather than in encouraging "our people" to serve. And again, it is important to emphasize that the specific content of service is less important than the fact that service, ministry, by the parishioners themselves and for others (especially, though not exclusively, outside the parish) is not only expected, but fostered, encouraged, and supported.

Theological scholarship can, and certainly does, support the findings of the social and human sciences. But left to itself, Orthodox theology does not necessarily have the resources to translate faith into action. This is not, I should add, to say that the social and human sciences should replace theology. Just as we aspire to a syndiakonia between clergy and the laity, likewise scholars in theology and the empirical sciences should work together for the sake of the building up of the Church.

Some of this work is already being started.

For example, Alexei D. Krindatch, who administers the "Parish Life Project" at the Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute in Berkeley, CA, has done several empirical studies meant to examine "the inner realities of Orthodox parish life in the United States and to investigate major problems facing American Orthodox Churches." While this work is valuable, more needs to be done. Sociological studies such as those done by Krindatch need to be extended up and complimented by studies that help us understand the experience of the faithful in the parish.

In my next post, I will examine how the findings of the social and human sciences can help the Church meet the need for the spiritual formation of both laity and clergy in the parish.

As always, your comments, questions and criticism are not only welcome, but encouraged.

In Christ,

+Fr Gregory

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Announcement: Board Nominations

A Request for Palamas Institute Board Members. As I mentioned in an earlier post, when I lived in Pittsburgh, PA I worked with other Orthodox Christians to develop the general framework for the Palamas Institute, an independent Orthodox educational and research ministry for research in pastoral ministry, especially clergy continuing education/training, adult religious education and spiritual formation.

After much prayer and research, I believe it is now time to take this project to the next level. To accomplish this, I am asking the prayers and help of those who read Koinonia.

As a non-profit organization, the Palamas Institute needs to have its own board. For this reason I am asking interested Orthodox Christians to submit their names and qualifications for consideration for inclusion on the founding board for the Palamas Institute.

Key board responsibilities will include setting and implementing the vision of the Palamas Institute.
Implementation of this vision will include fundraising and administrative oversight.
Setting the vision will include collaborating with the director to determine viable research and training projects for the Institute.

1. ­ As part of the research program, board members will be responsible for working with the director to develop venues for the dissemination of Institute research findings. A critical component of the Institute’s success will depend upon identifying productive networks that could develop into meaningful long-term distribution systems.
2. As part of the educational its mandate, board members will be responsible for developing and facilitating continuing education opportunities for Orthodox clergy and lay leader. Ideally, board members will contribute to the research and/or educational mission of the Palamas Institute will be “hands on” as either researchers or teachers.

The invitation to the work of the Palamas Institute, is I believe, an invitation from Christ to build on what the Church does well and correct ourselves where we are less than our best communal and personal selves.

In Christ,

Rev. Fr. Gregory Jensen, Ph.D.
Director
Palamas Institute

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