Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde encouraged diocesan
catechists to be men and women of prayer, to strengthen
themselves with the sacraments and to live as joyful and
faithful disciples of Christ.
“What a privilege and responsibility you have in passing on
the faith,” the bishop said.
He recognized that the work of catechists can be difficult
and challenging at times, but “you do it because you love God
and your neighbor. You realize that He alone can fulfill the
deepest longing of the human heart.”
More than 350 religious educators gathered in Reston Nov. 14
for the annual Diocesan Catechetical Conference. This year’s
theme was “Safeguarding the Dignity of Every Human Person.”
Bishop Loverde was the celebrant and homilist at the opening
Mass, while Timothy J. O’Donnell, president of Christendom
College in Front Royal, delivered the keynote address.
In his opening remarks, Bishop Loverde prayed for the victims
of the deadly terrorist assault in Paris Nov. 13. “I offer
the Mass for all of you in a particular way for the work you
do in passing on the faith,” he said.
In his homily, the bishop said that Jesus knows that every
human person seeks inner fulfillment, what we call happiness.
“The Beatitudes tell us how to be happy, how to search for
something else,” he said. “In the Beatitudes, Jesus is
telling us what we should be searching for.”
The bishop told the catechists that they need to have a
“right relationship” with God and others, and that they need
to preserve and strengthen these relationships.
Some people get preoccupied with rules and regulations and
miss the beauty and joy of a relationship with God and
others, he said.
“All they see are the precepts,” the bishop said. “I urge you
to put relationships above rules. Without faith and love,
learning the precepts can become dry and lifeless. We must
teach relationships before rules.”
When we live in a right relationship with God, then we
safeguard the dignity of every human person, he said.
In his keynote address, O’Donnell said, “There was so much
darkness in the world before the coming of Christ.” Even
today, there are so many broken and wounded people in the
world, he said.
O’Donnell called the catechists “beacons of light” who have
been given the duty of passing on the faith.
“Are we willing to die for that truth?” he asked. “Christians
in Iraq, Syria and North Africa are dying every single day
for the faith.”
Today’s world needs simple truths, he said. It needs to know
that faith is a light, a light that illuminates every aspect
of human existence.
“How precious our faith is,” he said.
O’Donnell said that modern man’s perceived indifference
toward faith shows a lack of intellectual maturity.
“Who are you? Where are you going? These questions are so
essential and important to modern man.
Unless you believe, you will not understand.”
Even though every human being has depth, our culture has
become superficial and shallow, focusing on the latest diet
fad and technology trend, he said.
“We’re starting to lose our humanity,” O’Donnell said. “We’re
trying to fill the emptiness, the gaping holes.”
There is a great chasm of emptiness in which we’ve lost the
vision of the horizon, of seeing beyond ourselves, he said.
“Without God there is no meaning in the universe,” he said.
“Christ alone gives light, meaning and purpose. Christ alone
gives man his God-given dignity.
“What a glorious and noble commission you have as
catechists,” he said.
O’Donnell warned the catechists about falling into a “pious
coma” in which we hear the Scriptures, but don’t really
listen to God’s word.
He told them to move their students from darkness into light.
“We all experience a strange stirring of grace, when we
realize that everything is a gift,” he said.
O’Donnell said that even the early pagans expressed this
melancholy, a deep sense of longing.
“We’re all going (from this life),” O’Donnell said. “None of
us are staying. It’s a simple truth. But with our faith in
Christ, we know we’re on the road and where the road leads.”
O’Donnell said we have to battle against three enemies: the
world, the flesh and the devil.
“Life is warfare,” he said. “It’s important to know what
victory means.
“Heaven is not a fable. Heaven is a reality. It is one of the
most profound truths revealed by Christ. We must think about
it. We must long for it.”
