July-August 2006By Donald Tremblay
Donald Tremblay, who is the Public Relations Director for Main Events, a professional boxing promoter, writes from Brooklyn, New York, and can be reached at dtremblay@mainevents.com.
"If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills and go in search of the stray? And if he finds it, amen, I say to you, he rejoices more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not stray." -- Matthew 18:12-13
Over the years, in her zeal to create administratively efficient parishes and dioceses, the American Catholic Church has forgotten the above Gospel lesson. It is a lesson the Church better quickly remember since the future of Catholicism in this nation may hinge on recovering those men of the flock who have strayed from the fold.How low are male Mass-attendance numbers? George Barna's Index of Leading Spiritual Indicators states the following: "Of Americans in the mid-1990s…women are twice as likely to attend a church service during any given week."
For years the American Catholic Church has operated with the attitude, "Our doors are always open," and "If people need us they know where to find us." Well, that approach has failed, and it is time the Church follow the evangelical examples set forth by Jesus Christ and by Pope John Paul II.
Jesus recognized that the only effective way to reach people is to meet them in their own backyards. Consider the recruiting tactics Jesus used. Case in point: Matthew's Gospel describes how Jesus visits the tax office of Matthew and eats with "many tax collectors and sinners" (Mt. 9:10). Imagine the shock and appreciation of those men and women upon realizing that this holy man was breaking Judaic law and risking slander in order to evangelize them. Needless to say, Jesus' outreach worked since Matthew became one of His 12 Apostles.
Pope John Paul II used the same approach with his Polish brethren, adding to the Church's flock by annually vacationing with a group of about 200 laymen. In Witness to Hope, a biography of John Paul II written by George Weigel, the late Pope explains why he chose activities such as kayaking, hiking, and skiing to develop bonds with this group of physically adventurous lay Catholics: "The duty of a priest is to live with people, everywhere they are, to be with them in everything but sin." Again, meeting people in their own backyard.
Thankfully, some of the clergy are beginning to recognize the necessity of shepherding -- particularly among men. "It is critical," says Msgr. David Cassato of St. Athanasius Church in Brooklyn, N.Y. "You have to go to the marketplace and talk to the people. Recently I walked along 18th Ave. [in Brooklyn] and visited the coffee shops where men drink espresso and play card games. I talked to the men and got to know them. They see you as approachable and they respond. God's graces work, but you have to help them."
In fairness to the clergy, it is difficult to play the role of evangelizer in the U.S. with the growing shortage of priests. Being one of only two priests -- or in many cases being the only priest -- responsible for the spiritual and financial health of an entire parish can be an overwhelming experience that leaves time for little else. Still, with Mass attendance low among males, and with the ramifications of the Church sexual abuse crisis (largely homosexual) yet to be resolved, which turns men off, something must be done lest the flock flee for good.
Part of the problem appears to be the insularity of the clergy. By and large, the majority of the clergy spend their days interacting solely with other members of the priesthood and with lay members who are active in the parish. The needs and desires of the lapsed male Catholic are alien to the clergy, as evidenced by the typical outreach programs they suggest, such as Bible study groups, prayer sessions, etc. These programs will never be successful in any meaningful way because they rely on the flock to voluntarily return to the fold, instead of forcing the shepherd to go out and retrieve the flock.
This year Msgr. Cassato will hold his fifth annual golf tournament. Golf tournaments provide excellent opportunities to interact with the male members of the community, both lapsed and otherwise. Many people don't realize the amount of business that is conducted and completed on the nation's golf courses. Men return from these outings feeling connected to those with whom they've competed. The Church can use a similar strategy to ingratiate herself with men.
Other activities such as "Cigar Nights" and "Monday Night Football Nights" can provide similar opportunities for a bond to form between the clergy and the male community. Msgr. Cassato has held 10 "Cigar Nights" and he describes these gatherings as "a man's night out." Over time, the clergy can take the next step and encourage those males to return to the Church.
Too often the Church has portrayed Jesus as effeminate. But Jesus, who flipped over the money-changers' tables, is the Jesus with whom men can identify. The Jesus who is portrayed solely as one who eternally "turns the other cheek" has little in common with the American male. Denver Archdiocesan Chancellor Francis Maier summarizes the feelings of many men: "Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ is a good example of male identification. It affected men because they looked at James Caviezel as Jesus and said, ‘That is a man.' He is a muscular carpenter; there are no doubts about his sexual identity." In the movie, Jesus was not the androgynous figure He has unfortunately been portrayed as in the Church. He was a man who faced down the authorities, antagonizing them, rebuking them, and challenging them to such a degree that it resulted in His suffering perhaps the cruelest death of all: crucifixion. Ultimately, He embraced the value that men hold highest: giving one's life for a cause. A man will sacrifice his life for his family, for his country, for his friends, and even for his religion. It is this Jesus with whom men identify, this Jesus who speaks to their masculinity.
Finally, the Church must reconsider how she interacts with men ceremonially, particularly at Sunday Mass. Many men fled the Church in response to the changes instituted by the hierarchy following Vatican II. Music is number one on the list of changes that disenchanted men. The general opinion of Church music today is that it is either of poor quality regardless of its message, or that it is sentimental at the expense of being reverential. Leon Podles, author of The Church Impotent: The Feminization of Christianity, points out that much of the Church's liturgical music consists of "love ballads" with Jesus' name inserted as the object of that love. This is particularly so, he argues, at Communion. Any man who attends Mass regularly can attest to this pathetic reality. The Church needs to recognize that no heterosexual man will sing love ballads to another man, even if that man is God incarnate.
The Church must return to more reverential music, such as Gregorian chants and monastic chants. Both are spiritually uplifting and inflame the fires of mystical awe that men feel toward Almighty God. That mystical awe can be further stimulated by recovering liturgical rituals that were forsaken following Vatican II (see Tom Bethell's Sept. 2005 Last Things column, "Refugees From the Vernacular Mass," where, of the Tridentine Latin Mass at St. Mary Mother of God Church in Washington, D.C., he states: "I tell you, this is a church men don't hate going to.")
Men also generally hold a natural distaste for praying aloud. They find it distracting, and would much rather pray silently and express their reverence through rituals such as burning incense and candles, genuflecting, and bowing. And men don't like to hold hands with other men at the Our Father.
Interestingly, according to Leon Podles, parishes that have provided these changes have witnessed a change in attendance: "Different writers have noticed that in churches where the old Tridentine Mass is practiced there is a 50% [attendance] split between men and women [in the congregation]."
Should the Church institute any or all of these changes, she will be sending a signal that it is time to recover the male flock that has been scattered and abandoned. Maybe then men will find the welcome they need to return to the Church.
DOSSIER: Fanatical Feminism
