Catholics in the Megachurches

Why do  Catholics  leave their churches and go over to the local megachurch?   Today, a poorly catechized Catholic may turn to the megachurch for what critics might call a form of religious entertainment. See http://www.catholic.com/magazine/articles/worship-the-way-god-commanded

Or, Catholics may join  these churches because of the many services and amenities which they provide, including vibrant music and emotionally uplifting sermons. Or, they may find that the megachurch provides better opportunities for Bible study and Christian fellowship. 

Compare today with the previous generation, when I was coming up and as the Jesus movement was just getting going.    At that time in my opinion,  Catholics left for Bible churches (some of which later became megachurches)  in part because  they had been well trained as children.  Recruiters from the Bible churches looked to Catholics as plants who had grown up in  fertile fields which were now white for the harvest. Catholics in the 1970's had a healthy faith nurtured in their pre-1968 formation years.  Now as young adults  they turned to the Bible churches because they concluded that the church of their youth could no longer help them to grow in their faith. 


Preface

There are many books and articles within evangelicalism debating the merits of the megachurch, and I as a Catholic layperson can't speak to that.  But as a preface to my titled topic here, I need to say three things:  1)  This is not a post against evangelicals. The Bible Christians are my brothers and sisters in Christ. 2)  This is not a statement against all large churches. Redeemer Presbyterian Church is a respected church in New York City, pastored by Tim Keller, who is one of the most effective Christian leaders and Bible teachers of our era. Redeemer is large church, but their people are working to help other churches, and they are doing a great job of outreach to the poor.  Having thousands of members does not have to be a negative if the church (like Redeemer) puts the emphasis on service.   3)  And this is not a Catholic lament. As noted at the end of this post, good things are happening in U.S. Catholicism these days.  

Formation Years 

In the last post I discussed  the religious formation benefits of learning the Old Testament, even if that learning  started with a simple Catholic picture Bible.   From the history of Israel Catholic school children in the early 1960's  learned  the great "metanarrative," the story of God's creation, the fall of man, and of God's dramatic plan and His actions to make things right.  To understand the words and deeds of Jesus, you need to know the history of Israel, and its main characters.  Well, growing up Catholic we learned these Old Testament stories, and  at the same time we experienced our first Eucharist, which was a powerful spiritual experience.

The Catholic school also helped in other ways. There we had religion class and Mass every day. Religion class included the Baltimore Catechism and memorizing church defined answers to questions like:  Who is God? What is man? Why did God make you?  I still remember the answer to this  last one, which was, "God made me to know Him, love Him and serve Him in this world, and to be a happy with him forever in heaven," or something close to that.   Word, sacrament and catechism provided a solid foundation of Christian faith.

After 1968

But after 1968 the Catholic church in Wisconsin lost its confidence, energy and its vision.  The church experienced a kind of "crack-up"  which continues to be a subject of discussion. See http://www.tikkun.org/nextgen/the-culture-wars-continue-catholic-church-blames-the-1960s-for-priests-pedophilia  The post-1960's decline is well documented.   Many of the  best priests and nuns were too old to teach or were  dying.  Some of the  younger clergy  lost interest in their faith and left the religious life.   As priests sought to make their preaching "relevant" you would leave Mass and be unable to remember a word from the homily.

  

Along came the Jesus movement which picked up steam after  1970.  Brian Zahnd  wrote, "The Jesus Movement began in the late 1960′s in the counterculture centers of California and throughout the 1970′s it spread across America and other parts of the Western world resulting in the conversion of multitudes of young people."   http://brianzahnd.com/2008/04/the-jesus-movement/    While the counterculture features of the Jesus movement faded out by around 1980, it is these "young people" who provided the leadership for the boom in evangelicalism with which we are all familiar - and which brought us the megachurches.

The most eligible recruits for the growing 1970’s Bible churches were Catholics.  Surveys of large evangelical churches show that over half of their members are former Catholics.  Why did so many Catholics flock to - and become leaders of - those churches beginning in the 1970's?  Most former Catholics from that era would not admit that their faith prepared them well for their adult conversions.  See e.g. John F. MacArthur, "Evangelicals and Catholics Together,"  Master's Seminary Journal (Vol 6 No. 1 Spring 1995), where Pastor MacArthur says, "I have heard testimonies from literally hundreds of former Roman Catholics who affirm unequivocally that while they were in the Catholic Church they did not know Christ at all."    But I argue to the contrary,  that the 1970's converts were ripe for the evangelicals because of their robust faith which had been  nurtured by their pre-1968 Catholic formation.  

Catholics of that era who were to become former Catholics  had learned the narrative of the story of Israel, the ten commandments, had been taught  strong morals,  and had clear ideas of the Christian faith learned from the creed and the catechism, and they had developed  spiritual sensibilities developed from receiving the Eucharist.  They also understood sin and repentance, which they learned from the Catechism and from  their experiences in the confessional.    Post 1968 the benefits of this spiritual history were eroding,  of course, because now a youth culture celebrating freedom from tradition - and religion - had come on the scene.   Serious young Catholics were looking for direction and guidance in that era.  Some Catholics wanted an alternative to the 'drugs, sex and rock and roll' culture.   But their church was in disarray.    Catholics  attracted to the Jesus movement  concluded that the Catholic church of their childhood  had lost its way.  (Was that a fair conclusion?  Perhaps the trouble for the decade after 1968 was that the priests needed some time to get their theological  sea legs after Vatican II.)

The way out for these young people in the 1970's often went like this:   Catholics on college campuses  met Bible Christian  'recruiters' who would ask them, "If you could know Jesus personally, would you be interested?"  You really can't blame the  thousands who answered, "Yes, I would be interested."   And out they went.  These Catholics were not poorly catechized believers whose weak faith made them vulnerable to such approaches.  They were  believers well formed in the old faith during their early years, but who were looking to grow - and saw no growth opportunities in their churches back home.   These young Catholics born in the late 1950's  were not just a fertile field. They were low hanging fruit for the evangelicals.

These 'former Catholic' evangelicals often went on to become pastors of Bible churches and some even became teachers in evangelical seminaries.  It's ironic that the evangelicals benefited from holy priests and nuns who taught the faith before 1968.  The old school Catholic teachers did the I Cor 3:6 planting and watering.  The evangelicals reaped the harvest.

This is my testimony of what I witnessed in the 1970's, and some subjective reflection on it.  For a research based take on it, see American Grace - How Religion Divides and Unites Us, by Robert D. Putnam and David E. Campbell with the assistance of Shaylyn Romney Garrett (Simon and Schuster 2010).

 The Story Continues

Things may be changing in this story of Catholics in the megachurches.   I'm pleased  to see that now many  evangelicals are returning to their  childhood faith. See http://whyimcatholic.com/index.php  

And thanks to Vatican II, and especially its document titled Dei Verbum,  Bible study is now a  'front and center' part of Catholic life. http://vatican2voice.org/92symp/murray.htm  There are countless ways for Catholics to encounter Jesus in the word.  The excellent published materials reflecting on the Mass readings are some of the best Bible studies that I have ever seen.  One example is the work of Don Schwager. 
See http://www.rc.net/wcc/readings/