About Marc Cardaronella

Marc Cardaronella holds an M.A. in Theology and Catechetics from Franciscan University of Steubenville. By day he's a parish DRE. By night, a Catholic blogger. He also manages the Catechist Training Track at Franciscan University's St. John Bosco Catechetical Conference. You can find him on his personal site, or on Google + and Twitter for the latest ramblings on catechesis and evangelization.

What the Olympics Can Teach You About Evangelization

By Marc Cardaronella

I’m not a big sports fan.

But I love to watch the Olympics.

Even the obscure sports are so much fun. I mean, who normally gets excited about curling?

But even with the more popular sports like figure skating–I don’t normally sit up on a Saturday night wondering who’s going to win the free dance competition.

But come Olympics time, I’m there! And I’m thinking there’s a few of you out there that get Olympic fever too.

So what makes the Olympics so cool?

How the Olympics create curiosity

Part of it is just because it’s the Olympics.

For goodness sake, it’s only on every two years and it’s really huge.

But the thing that really makes it is the stories. The commentators tell background stories about the athletes. Stories of sacrifice and emotion, of journeys back from injury, of rivalries, and titles lost and won.

Context–it sparks curiosity. And this is where we can all learn something about evangelization.

Evangelizing college football fans

In 1960, ABC had a problem. It had a contract to cover college football games but no viewers.

People loved their local teams, but didn’t care about games on the other side of the country. How do you get LSU fans interested in an Ohio State game?

Roone Arledge had the answer. He proposed providing enough of the missing background information so people would care.

Arledge instinctively used psychologist George Loewenstein’s Information Gap Theory. People are naturally curious. When they see a gap in what they know, they want to fill it.

How do you get people interested in something? Point out a gap in their knowledge. However, when there’s too much of a gap, people won’t make the leap. If it takes too much effort to fill the gap, most people will just drop it.

That was Arledge’s problem. He had an information chasm. So, he decided to give just enough information to make it a gap. Then people were interested.

Arledge set the stage. He showed the local fans, filled in the history of the two teams, talked about the rivalries, and played up the emotions. Viewers were riveted.

Arledge later used the same strategies for ABC’s Wide World of Sports. He got people to care about little known sports and athletes by giving the backstory–just enough so people would care. Then, they wanted to fill in their knowledge gap. They wanted to know who was going to win.

The Olympics coverage does the same thing. They give you the background of the athletes and their history competing against one another. You get glimpses into their lives and emotions–their struggles, failures, and victories.

They set the stage. And once we understand the context, we get hooked.

The Olympics and evangelization

Some things naturally lend themselves to knowledge gaps.

With the Olympics, we wonder who will win. With movies we wonder what will happen. With mystery novels, we have to know, “Who dunnit?” Can this work to evangelize people in the Catholic Faith?

Evangelization is about grabbing attention. Often through emotional appeal. Then once you get them curious, you back it up with the facts.

Too often, we want to lead with the facts. The problem is no one cares. An evangelizing catechist knows the real trick is first convincing people they need what we’re teaching.

We have to set the context so students become interested:

You might tell Old Testament stories that provide a biblical background to the doctrine.
If you’re evangelizing, your students probably don’t know much about Catholicism. If the missing knowledge is more like an abyss, fill it to the point where only a gap exists.
Highlight some knowledge first to prove a gap exists, then point out what they’re missing.
Set up the story so people wonder what comes next. Leave them hanging on mystery. That’s why mystery novels are so popular.
Or, pose a question that points to a gap in their knowledge.

Evangelization takeaway

One thing we can learn from the Olympic coverage is sometimes we need to open gaps before we can fill them.

In order to get our students interested in what we’re teaching, we have to first provide a context. Background sets the stage for understanding the relevance and need for our teaching.

Leaving gaps in what we present drives the curiosity to learn more. And, curiosity is the key to interest.

Next time you’re teaching, try setting the context with a story and posing a question that leaves your students hanging. You’ll find them riveted to what you’re saying and begging to know the answer.

Then, when you have their attention, you can deliver the good news of Jesus Christ.

Photo Credit: kenyee via Compfight cc

This post originally appeared on my personal blog. Find more stuff there about catechesis, evangelization, and the awesomeness that comes from the intersection of the two.

I Have a Confession to Make

By Marc Cardaronella

True confessions time. I hate confession.

Not the personal kind of confession but the sacramental kind.

Well, hate is a strong word in relation to a sacrament. Let’s just say I’m in a slump and I have a hard time going to confession.

I’ve read what all the Saints say about confession, and I know I’m supposed to love it. I know how important and freeing it is. I’m just not feeling it lately.

Not for a while actually.

My return confessions: the salad days

When I first came back to the Church I had a different relationship with confession.

Even though I had much more to confess, it was simpler. After 20 years away from the Church, I had quite a laundry list of things to tell. I pretty much exhausted the examination of conscience and even went beyond it a few times.

I’ve never heard a harsh word from a priest in confession, but I’ve certainly gotten a few raised eyebrows and one double-take.

Confession anxieties?

After that initial run on clearing out the sin closet, things got difficult.

I turned myself around and committed to living a Christian life. After a year or so, I no longer found my sins on the “biggie list” you get with a standard examination of conscience.

Had I stopped sinning? Hardly. I still felt very sinful. I just had to dig deeper to put words to my sins. They were mostly venial sins and faults. And, they were the same ones over and over again.

It’s interesting how you can get confession burnout from boredom. I know it’s not just me because lots of others talk about this. Does confession lose it’s appeal if you don’t have anything juicy to confess?

How ironic…interest in the sacrament that rids you of your sins thrives on a sinful life.

Confession as the Second Baptism

In the strictest sense, you’re only obliged to confess mortal sins.

Confession is the sacrament that restores the broken relationship with God. The Church Fathers called confession the “Second Baptism.” The first Baptism was by water, the second by tears of repentance.

This is why most examinations of conscience you find reference the Ten Commandments–these being the minimum requirement of right relationship with God. The Sacrament of Confession is still beneficial even after you’ve restored that relationship, however. It gives grace that’s targeted directly to the sins you’re confessing, so it helps you avoid them in the future.

Isn’t that nice?

Still, I do go to confession

Even though I dislike it, I still go to confession.

There’s lots of things I hate that I still do for my health. I go to the dentist every 6 months (do hate that). I go to the doctor for a physical ever year (really hate that…and sometimes I skip a year). My wife does mammograms and PAP tests (have to say, those don’t sound pleasant).

And, I go to confession every month or so. It’s not that it’s terribly unpleasant (not as bad as the doctor), but I would just rather do other things than bare my secret inadequacies and faults to another person…like go shopping.

But I have to admit, most of the time, after I go I’m glad I went. It does give me a good feeling…all fuzzy and warm inside. Also, it feels very good to know I’m forgiven. Even though I sometimes don’t feel forgiven or think I should be, I can be sure the sacrament worked. That’s nice. The good feeling is not the primary reason to go, of course. It’s a nice side benefit, though.

Perhaps someday, when I’m more fully converted, I’ll feel differently about this sacrament. I’ll rejoice in my weakness and celebrate that personal mini-redemption I receive every time I walk in the confessional. It’s the merits of the Cross poured out just for me, cleansing my soul through the ministry of the priest. That is powerful.

It’s something to look forward to. But for now…I just go.

So, you’ll have to excuse me. I have a confession to make.

Photo Credit: zgrredek via Compfight cc

This post originally appeared on my personal blog. Find more stuff there about catechesis, evangelization, and the awesomeness that comes from the intersection of the two.

Could Younger Confirmation Ages Ruin Religious Education?

By Marc Cardaronella

Confirmation should not be just a check in the box!

Middle school is the worst time to confirm kids.

They’re hormonal, disagreeable, argumentative.

They’re also trying to figure out their own place in the world and transitioning from blindly accepting the faith of their parents to understanding what they themselves truly believe.

Which often means they’re unsure of what they believe and their faith is shaky.

But is teenage Confirmation propping up the current religious education system? And, if it wasn’t there, would childhood religious education collapse?

Confirmation: the carrot on the stick

Confirmation is the proverbial carrot on the religious education stick that draws kids and parents through the system. It seems Catholic parents are hardwired for one thing when it comes to their child’s spiritual upbringing–get the sacraments!

For a long time I’ve fought against this. Merely getting the sacraments is not a real goal. The goal should be conversion and spiritual transformation. Confirmation is a vehicle for that…not an end in itself.

Despite that, in Catholic culture today, Confirmation is a kind of like sacramental graduation. Once you’ve got it there’s no need for any more instruction in the Faith. You can go on about the rest of your life.

Restored order and the reduction of carrot inventories

Recently, I was participating in a Facebook forum about Confirmation when the topic turned to restored order and the age of Confirmation.

Restored order refers to giving kids Confirmation before their First Communion. This is actually the correct sequence for receiving the Sacraments of Initiation–Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist. That’s the way it’s done for adults at the Easter Vigil. It’s the way it’s always been done.

Confirmation is tied to Baptism. It’s a completion and increase of baptismal graces. The Eucharist is really the pinnacle of Christian initiation so it should be received last. It is the summit of the sacramental life, and union with God is the goal of Christianity…what everything tends toward.

So, there’s been a push in many dioceses to “restore” the order of Confirmation to what it, theologically, should be. The byproduct, of course, is that Confirmation would happen a lot earlier because the norm for celebrating First Communion is 2nd grade. No more carrots.

I’ve always been in favor of the restored order and younger ages for Confirmation.

The primary benefit is that children receive the graces of Confirmation much earlier. The hope is, if they have those graces working for them longer, they’ll be better prepared for their teenage years and won’t fall away.

Sherry’s bombshell

In the midst of the Confirmation discussion, Sherry Weddell brought this up:

Sherry Weddell — On top of the theological issues, there is the real life burning issue which I’ve already had “confirmed” by local leaders. One of the consequences of our failure to evangelize our own is that children who are confirmed earlier, leave earlier. If we confirm them at 12 or 8, they are gone at 12 or 8. if we confirm them as infants, they will hang around only long enough to receive first communion and then they will be gone. The sad thing is: the earlier we give the the sacraments, the less chance we have to do any meaningful childhood catechesis. The rise of wide-spread infant confirmation will mean, at a practical level, the collapse of the entire child-oriented CCD/religious ed system. Which will leave us only one alternative: ad gentes-style, missionary evangelization of adults.

I had never considered these possibilities:

If kids aren’t evangelized the effect of Confirmation will be negligible. With little or no faith, Confirmation won’t do much for them. They won’t be any closer to staying Catholic than before. There goes that benefit.
If Confirmation happens earlier, will parents drop their kids out of religious education earlier?

It’s an interesting question to ask, if we have wide-spread restored order and kids get confirmed by 3rd grade, will that signal the collapse of significant childhood catechesis? Sherry seems to have evidence that this is happening in restored order dioceses.

Catechetical takeaway

I’m the last one to advocate for the carrot on the stick approach to Confirmation. I don’t like the implications.

However, with the culture the way it is, it might be the only option to keep the majority of kids in religious education.

Until things change that is. The challenge we have is to actively evangelize parents and children to reverse this trend. We need to change parent’s check in the box attitude toward their children’s faith development.

We need to convert our children while they’re young. We need to teach them that sacraments are transformative and give power to live well. They’re not just something you get because the time is right and they’re not graduation.

What do you think? Given these circumstances, is restored order a bad thing? Could it collapse the current religious education system? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

Image courtesy of Master isolated images / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

This post originally appeared on my personal blog. Check me out there to learn about evangelizing catechesis, the awesomeness that comes from the intersection of evangelization and catechesis.

Creating Encounters: Your Role as a Catechist

By Marc Cardaronella

I love seeing former RCIA students at Mass.

One, because it’s good to know that they’re still active in the Church and haven’t left.

Two, because they’re like my spiritual children. You don’t want your kids to leave the family.

Unfortunately, my first reaction when I see them is usually pride. I think what a great job I did converting them and initiating them into the Faith.

But that’s not completely correct.

The role of the catechist

My second reaction is usually to thank God for working so deeply in their lives.

Now that’s getting closer to the truth (and the right humility). It’s God who does the converting, not me…not us. He gives people faith and the strength to continue practicing year after year. But that doesn’t mean you, as the catechist, have no part in this. Your role is essential.

Catechists dispose people to receive the grace of conversion that God offers. That, when it comes down to it, is your job–to get people in the right frame of mind to receive grace.

The grace doesn’t come from you. The conversion doesn’t either. But you’re setting things up so that, when God moves, that person is open to receive him. It’s all about the encounter.

People encountered Jesus and were changed

When Christ walked the streets of Galilee and Judea, people encountered him and were changed.

Sometimes he healed them. Sometimes he delivered them from demons.

Other times he comforted them or preached about God’s kingdom in a way that opened up new possibilities of faith. But always, after meeting him they were never the same.

But usually, those people knew about him before they actually met him. Why? Because word had spread about him. People knew, long before he arrived, that he was a miracle-worker, a healer, a preacher with authority who could illuminate the workings of God.

They were primed to encounter him.

How did they know about Jesus?

Like a shockwave traveling ahead of him, thousands of unknown evangelists spread the word about Jesus to their family and friends. They told stories of who Jesus was and what he was doing.

News spread before him paving the way for those who would seek him out in faith and be changed forever.

It wasn’t the advanced news that changed them. It was meeting him that made the difference. But hearing about Jesus opened them up. Would that miracle or healing or conversion have happened if they didn’t know about Jesus and have faith in his power first?

After hearing they could hope for deliverance from whatever was oppressing them and believe. Then, when they met him, the encounter was life-changing.

Your role–set up the encounter

It’s your job now to spread the word about Jesus and make him known. You’re telling people about who he is and what he can do…opening up new possibilities and new hope for freedom from oppression. And then, you set up a meeting.

Catechists set up encounters with Christ in many ways–reading his words in Scripture, teaching and guiding conversation with him in prayer, and opening hearts to receive him more fully in the Sacraments, particularly Reconciliation and Eucharist.

Without you paving the way, disposing the person to receive these divine gifts, the encounter with Christ would be fruitless. The person wouldn’t know who they’re meeting or why it was important.

With you, the encounter can be nothing less than life-changing.

Catechetical Takeaway

The role of the catechist/evangelist is to facilitate an encounter with Christ.

Do everything humanly possible to dispose your students to understand him and receive him with open hearts.

Then, remember to get out of the way so he can work.

P.S.

Can you think of some other ways catechists can help their students encounter Christ? Leave me some great suggestions in the comments.

Also, if you have a friend who struggles with how to share Jesus with their students, send them a link to this article and share it with them.

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To find more of me, check out my personal blog. I write about catechesis, evangelization, and the awesomeness that comes from the intersection of the two.

How to Teach What Your Students Need to Hear

By Marc Cardaronella

Think about how Jesus dealt with people.

He took the time to listen to them.

He asked them what they desired.

He spoke to their hearts and changed their lives.

Evangelization depends on you knowing what makes your students tick.

You can’t have the same insight into their lives as God, but you can listen to them. When you understand what’s going on inside, you can tailor your catechesis to meet their needs.

Here’s a story where listening made all the difference.

An atheist philosopher and an RCIA director walk into a church…

In my RCIA classes, I try to get to know all the candidates before classes begin. Usually I meet with them to talk about their faith life and religious background.

Once I had a pretty difficult case. We’ll call him Jim.

Jim’s father was a professor of philosophy at a prestigious state university. His specialty was Nietzsche–you know, the atheist existentialist whose most famous line was “God is dead.” That Nietzsche.

And Jim grew up thoroughly formed in this school of thought and adopted it for himself.

Jim was interested in the Church because his wife and kids were Catholic, and he thought he might share that with them. He wanted to learn and he might want to join, but he said there was no way he’d have faith and believe in God.

Of course, that wasn’t an option for me. To be baptized, he needed faith. The line in the sand was drawn.

The conversation

As we talked, Jim shared his story and his understanding of religion.

He believed that religion was a social construct. It developed in cultures over time as a way to keep people in line. If they believed in some higher power, they’d be happy and controllable.

However, as it turned out, the Holy Spirit had already prepped him for conversion. His wife’s brother was an Army Ranger who had recently done a tour in Afghanistan. When he left, Jim’s wife and her family prayed for the brother’s safe return. Surprisingly, Jim joined in.

Soon, he began to notice something different. When he prayed, he had peace about the situation. It was comforting. As well, it helped his wife’s family deal with everything. They were strong.

Jim made a deal with God. If his brother-in-law returned home safely, he’d take a look at the Catholic Church. Well, his brother-in-law made it home unscathed. He waited another two years, but eventually he came to talk to me.

The prayer and the inspiration

While Jim talked, I prayed. I was daunted!

How was I going to get through to him? What would I say? I asked the Holy Spirit for help.

After about 45 minutes, I got an inspiration. I took his idea and sort of inverted it.

I asked Jim to consider if perhaps religion was more than just a construct of society? What if something deep inside us yearns for union with God because that’s how we are made?

I told him about creation, original sin, and the separation from God after the Fall. I explained how the chaos and evil in the world were the effects of this.

I asked him to consider a different viewpoint. Perhaps religion wasn’t imposed from outside but welled up from within. Perhaps people long for relationship with God because they’re supposed to have it, but don’t. They feel something’s missing, so they search for it.

I told him Jesus established the Church to help us get that relationship. We don’t work right without it and the world doesn’t work right without it.

He listened and was intrigued! He joined the RCIA and, of course, I kept hitting the same points many times along the way. But I was only able to do this because I knew what was on his mind.

After a few months, he wanted to join the Church and surprisingly…he believed! When I asked him what did it, he said, “It was like that line from the movie Jerry McGuire…you had me at hello.”

Catechetical takeaway

Taking the time at that initial meeting to listen Jim and understand his point of view helped me to know where he was coming from. Then, what I proposed resonated with him and opened him up to consider faith in God.

The rest of my lessons hit home because I knew him and what he was thinking.

The takeaway? Get to know your students as best you can. Ask them about their ideas and how they see the world. Encourage questions and pay attention to what they say.

When you understand what makes your students tick, your catechesis can better meet their needs and help them to meet Jesus.

Image courtesy of Michal Marcol / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

This post originally appeared on Marc’s personal blog, Evangelizing Catechesis. A former Navy pilot, Marc Cardaronella gave up the fast life for a more rewarding career working for the Church. He writes about catechesis, evangelization, and the awesomeness that comes from the intersection of the two.

The 4 Reasons Christ Was Born

By Marc Cardaronella

Why was Christ born? To die for our sins, right?

That’s true, but I think it’s an incomplete view of Christ’s life and mission.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, in paragraphs 456-460, gives us four reasons why the Word become Flesh.

While you might have guessed the first three, the last one might surprise you…even seem a bit blasphemous!

But that one gives you the ultimate reason Christ came to earth and the true goal of the Christian life.

1. To save us by reconciling us with God

Mankind was separated from God by the defiance of Adam and Eve.

A representative of the human race had to make up for it. But no “sorry” that a man could say would be big enough to erase an offense against the infinite God. Only Jesus was in a position to pull this off.

Jesus was a man so he could represent mankind. And, he was God, so his sacrifice was enough to make amends and repair the damaged relationship.

Jesus Christ’s willing sacrifice was an expiation, meaning it made atonement, for the sins of mankind. Another way to think of atonement is AT-ONE-MENT.

Christ’s death reconciles God with man. It heals the relationship ruptured by sin, and it makes us “as one” with God.

2. So that we might know God’s love

People often ask, “Was Christ’s brutal suffering and death really necessary? Couldn’t God do it some other way?”

A standard answer is, “Yes, of course! God could do anything he wants. A pinprick would’ve been enough.” It may be true that one drop of blood was enough, but I think the Cross was really the only way.

God can do anything he wants but he can’t be who he’s not.

God is complete, self-giving, self-sacrificing love. The persons of the Trinity continually pour themselves out in love to each other, and the Cross is a Trinitarian event.

On the Cross, Christ does in time what he’s done for all eternity as the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity–offer himself in love to the Father. Could our redemption have been accomplished any other way? I don’t think so because that’s not who God is.

What does Jesus show us by this death? That God loves all the way…complete, total, nothing held back. That we have a God who would sacrifice himself in love to save us; who would give his life for ours.

That’s a God you could give your life to, as well.

3. To be our model of holiness

Think about this, every person you’ve ever met is flawed.

Even the most perfect Saint…even Mother Teresa, is imperfect. They’ve all sinned, and are all subject to original sin and it’s effects (with the exception of the Blessed Virgin). But there is one who was completely perfect.

There’s an amazing quote from Vatican II that was one of Blessed John Paul II’s favorites,

“Christ…by the revelation of the mystery of the Father and His love, fully reveals mankind to himself and makes his supreme calling clear.”

Jesus Christ is the perfect man. He shows us who we’re supposed to be. And what is the supreme calling he makes clear? That we are made for self-giving love.

Created in the image of God, our calling is to make a gift of ourselves in love to God and to others. Christ showed us this on the Cross.

In order to be holy, we have to imitate this self-sacrificing model of holiness.

4. To make us partakers of the divine nature

The total amount of sin from every human person for all of time is next to nothing compared to the grace of the Cross.

But it doesn’t do anyone any good unless it gets to them. That grace has to affect you, change you, transform you. It’s not enough to be redeemed, you have to be divinized.

Man’s reconciliation with God was a necessary step. But the ultimate goal was for us to become partakers in the divine nature.

Sounds crazy, I know. Maybe even a bit blasphemous. But from the earliest years of the Church, that was the understanding. St. Irenaeus, writing around 180 A.D., said,

“For the Son of God became man so that we might become God.”

The grace of the Cross distributed through the Sacraments is meant to truly make you like God. And, not just a façade or a covering. Truly changed. From the inside out. Changed to think and act and judge like him.

Catechetical takeaway

Christ’s life on earth was the perfect model of how to act like God.

No more did you have to wonder what it meant to be like God. There he was, God in the flesh…eating, drinking, talking, praying.

Christ showed us holiness in everything he did. But we see it most perfectly on the Cross. There, Christ revealed the depth of God’s love and the calling of our lives.

And, through this self-emptying we are meant to become like God himself. Not merely acting differently, but being transformed into his likeness through grace.

Now there’s a way to keep Christmas all through the year.

Image credit: Jacinta Iluch Valero

This post originally appeared on Marc’s personal blog, Evangelizing Catechesis. A former Navy pilot, Marc Cardaronella gave up the fast life for a more rewarding career as a Director of Religious Education. He writes about catechesis, evangelization, and the intersection of the two.

The Immaculate Conception & the Interconnectedness of Catholic Doctrine

By Marc Cardaronella

Interconnected Marian dogmas are like a tapestry

Picture a large, 10 foot wide, Medieval tapestry depicting some hunting trip in the English countryside.

What would happen if you pulled out one thread from the side of this tapestry?

Could you do it without affecting many of the other threads and ruining the whole picture?

The Catholic Faith is like a rich tapestry of intricately interwoven theological threads all connected, tied, and attached to each other.

No where is that more prevalent than in the doctrines concerning Mary.

Many people are tempted to toss aside the Marian dogmas because they seem insignificant. What difference could Mary make in the large scheme of things?

But toss aside the theological truths about Mary (in particular the Immaculate Conception) and you mar the whole picture of Catholic theology. That’s because, surprisingly, the truth about Mary is tied to everything, particularly the destiny and greatness of the human person.

What is the Immaculate Conception?

In 1854 by Pope Pius IX proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception:

“The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by the virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.”

This means from the first instant of her life, her conception, Mary had the fullness of God’s life in her soul. There was no time in her life when she did not.

To understand the implications of this, you have to understand original sin, what mankind was like before the Fall, and our destiny at the end of time.

Adam and Eve were different from you and me

We often think of original sin as something added on…a mark or stain on the soul. In fact, the definition above uses the term “stain of original sin.” But really, original sin is not something added on. It’s something taken away.

In the beginning, mankind was created with the fullness of sanctifying grace. God formed man from the muck of the earth and breathed life into him. Thus, the supernatural life of God dwelled in his soul from the first moment of existence.

This provided certain benefits. Adam and Eve had special abilities called preternatural gifts.

One was a special knowledge of divine things. Also, they could not suffer, or age, or die. And this is the most important part, their emotions perfectly obeyed reason.

No flying off the handle in rage, no temptation to overeat, no envy, no lust. Suffering, disease, death, all of those uncontrollable emotions that have a hold on us–all that comes from original sin. Oh…and also the frustrating tendency to sin and then sin some more.

What is Original Sin?

As I said before, original sin is more of a deprivation than something added on. When we’re created, at the moment of conception, God infuses a soul and makes a living person. It’s the soul that gives life to the body. If there’s no soul, the body is dead.

Unlike Adam and Eve, when God infuses a soul into a person with original sin, it’s a soul without sanctifying grace.

It’s like we inherit a debt. When Adam and Eve sinned, they lost a great treasure we should have inherited. However, since they didn’t have it when they died, it can’t be ours to receive…at least not naturally.

We get sanctifying grace back at Baptism. But even if a baby is baptized one week after birth, that’s still nine months and one week with original sin. And that means this baby will have the effects of original sin–suffering, death, uncontrolled emotions, and sin.

How does this relate to the Immaculate Conception?

Remember the definition? Mary was conceived without original sin. That means, at conception, God infused a soul into Mary with sanctifying grace.

She was created just like Adam and Eve. She had all the preternatural gifts and none of the effects of original sin.

Many things flow from this:

Death is the wages of sin. Since Mary had no sin, she didn’t have to die. So, she was assumed body and soul into heaven when her time on earth ended. This is our destiny as well at the end of time. We’ll be reunited with our bodies and live that way for eternity.
Pain in childbirth was one of the consequences of original sin. So Jesus was born miraculously with no pain and Mary remained a physical virgin.
Mary understood the things of God better than anyone in history, so when the angel said she would give birth as a virgin, she didn’t question.
Finally, because her emotions perfectly obeyed reason, she was able to remain completely without sin. She was probably tempted more than anyone who ever lived, but she never gave in. This is where her greatness lies.

Marian Takeaway

The Marian doctrines are deeply connected and interwoven throughout Catholic theology.

Sin, grace, redemption, heaven, holiness, and the Second Coming–you can’t remove Mary without removing them and what we know about the nature of the human person and salvation.

In Mary we understand who we are and who we’re supposed to be. She illuminates the mystery of sin and the truth about the conflict in our souls. And, Mary shows us our future…our glorious destiny living body and soul for all eternity in heaven.

Image credit: Randy Son Of Robert

Marc Cardaronella writes about catechesis, evangelization, and the intersection of the two. A former Navy pilot, he gave up the fast life for a more rewarding career as a Director of Religious Education. You can find more of Marc on his personal blog, Evangelizing Catechesis.

The Most Important Thing You’ll Never Do for the Year of Faith

By Marc Cardaronella

The Year of Faith is starting soon.

And, Pope Benedict has asked everyone to study the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

But you’ll never do it.

Oh, you’ve wanted to for a long time. You know you should do it. But it’s so big! And it’s kind of…dry.

I once read the Catechism all the way through…once! But I have to admit, I did it out of fear.

In the Catechetics program at Franciscan, you had to pass a test on the whole Catechism to get the degree. Anything was fair game, so I read the whole thing.

It was a killer test. Hardly anyone passed it the first time. But I did (grin).

How did I do it? Well, here’s a better question, how do you eat an elephant?

The Catechism is essential, if not bedtime, reading

The Catechism is an amazing book. It’s a marvelous compendium of everything the Catholic Church believes. But let’s face it, it’s not light reading.

And did I mention it’s big.

To be fair, it was meant to be a reference for priests and catechetical leaders–people with theological backgrounds. So, it’s written in a more technical style. However, everyone (including people without theology degrees) just found it so awesome, it became a best seller.

Even so, many people are daunted by the thought of reading the it all the way through.

I had a similar book as a Naval aviator. It was called NATOPS, the Naval Aviation Training and Operating Procedures Standardization.

NATOPS was everything you needed to know about an aircraft–systems, electronics, weapons, emergency procedures…you name it, it was in there.

We had to know everything in the NATOPS. Some things, like emergency procedures, we had to know cold. Not only were we regularly tested on it, our lives depended on it. As you can imagine, it was quite large…and quite daunting.

When I first saw it, I was overwhelmed with the thought learning it all.

How do you eat an elephant?

My NATOPS instructor in flight school understood my anxiety. I wasn’t the first to have it. He said, “It seems like an impossibly large task. So we’ll do this the same way we’d eat an elephant. One bite at a time.”

The Catechism is way better reading than NATOPS. And, it’s just an indispensable to your spiritual well-being as the NATOPS was to my physical well-being.

Love depends on knowledge. St. Teresa of Avila believed growth in the spiritual life required knowledge of Christ. For her, the only thing better for this than Sacred Scripture was doctrine. The Catechism is the source for Catholic doctrine.

The Catechism is important because it clarifies and sets forth the revealed truths of God in a systematic way. It helps you get a grasp on understanding who God is and what your response to him should be. That goes a long way toward deepening faith.

How to read the Catechism with Flocknote

I read the Catechism all the way through by starting early and studying it in bite-sized chunks. Some people tried to read it through a few weeks before the test and didn’t absorb the content. It was all just a blur. Or, they got totally burned out and stopped.

Flocknote is offering a great service for the Year of Faith. It’s a “Read the Catechism in a Year” program.

Here’s how they describe it:

For this Year of Faith, Pope Benedict has encouraged you to study and reflect on the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Well, here’s an easy way to do it. Simply enter your email address and – starting October 11, 2012 – you’ll start getting a little bit of the Catechism emailed to you every morning. Read that little bit every day and you’ll read the whole catechism in a year. Cool, right?

This is a perfect devotion to take up for the Year of Faith. The pope wants everyone to study the catechism. You’ve always wanted to read the whole thing but have never been able to make it work. It’s a perfect match!

And as you read a little bit every day, the truths of God will soak into your soul. You’ll gain new insights into how these things apply to your life. You’ll find yourself growing stronger in faith and closer to God as the year goes because the Catechism is truly light along the path of faith. Isn’t that what the Year of Faith is all about?

So prove me wrong! Read the Catechism this year! You can do it if you take it in bite-sized pieces.

Here’s the signup link. Go to that page, put in your email, and beginning October 11, you’ll get little bites of the Catechism delivered to your inbox for daily consumption.

Go now. Your soul will thank me later.

This post originally appeared on Marc’s personal blog, Evangelizing Catechesis. Marc continually studies the science of evangelization and conversion to understand why people believe…and why they don’t. Find more of him there to learn how catechesis can be more effective by being more evangelizing.

New Tool for Evangelization: Franciscan’s Faith + Reason Website

By Marc Cardaronella

I got an amazing education from Franciscan University of Steubenville.

Yet I missed out one of the best educational opportunities they provided.

The Faith + Reason website is a new online initiative from Franciscan University of Steubenville that makes great Catholic presentations given at the university available to the public.

It’s the stories that you tell…

There were a lot of great things about being a student at Franciscan.

One of the best was all the fantastic Catholic speakers that came to visit. Every week there was someone new.

I’m talking big names. Some of the best speakers around. Sometimes they were there for symposiums. Other times they were just passing through. And then, there were the summer conferences.

In case you didn’t know, Franciscan University puts on conferences…big conferences…all summer long. And they have some awesome speakers.

The Saturday night general sessions were always open to the students and it was amazing to drop in and see Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Benedict Groeshel, Fr. Stan Fortuna, Ralph Martin, or George Wiegel. One time I even met Fr. Groeschel walking the campus and he gave my wife a blessing when she was pregnant with our first child.

How I missed out

However, I was kind of a nervous student at Franciscan. I always studied way more than I needed to. I think it was the Navy that did that to me.

It was very good for grades, but unfortunately, I missed out on a lot of great presentations.

My wife always tells everyone how she got to see Alice Von Hildebrand, even though she wasn’t a student, and I didn’t because I was too busy studying. Sigh.

The Faith + Reason website

Well now all those great presentations are available to everyone…even poor, beleaguered students (like me) that study way more than they have to.

Franciscan University just launched a new website called Faith + Reason. It has videos and articles from Catholic speakers that visit the campus. And, some awesome speakers that are always there as professors.

Right now there are videos there from Scott Hahn (of course), John Bergsma, Jeff Cavins, Peter Kreeft, and Fr. Andrew Apostoli. There’s also articles and commentaries on the Sunday readings.

Faith that’s reasonable

I think this could be a great tool for enriching catechists formation. Having access to great Catholic thought from some of the best minds around will definitely increase their faith and give them greater insight into what they teach.

Even more so, it could be a great resource for those considering, or re-considering, the Catholic Faith–a place where they can be exposed to the best teaching the Catholic Church has to offer.

St. Augustine didn’t convert until he found someone who could make Christian faith reasonable. Someone who could talk about it eloquently. Until he heard St. Ambrose, Christianity was just a crude, underdeveloped philosophy to him.

Years ago, I saw a comment on one of Fr. Barron’s You Tube videos that really struck me. The commenter couldn’t believe they’d heard their favorite French philosopher mentioned on You Tube…and it was by a Catholic priest!

Hearing real, faithful, and reasoned teaching on the Catholicism is one of the best ways to draw people to the Faith. Catholicism is so misunderstood. Sometimes it takes hearing the best speakers to open someone’s eyes to it’s beauty and wonder.

The Faith + Reason website will be a fantastic tool for the New Evangelization. Point someone to it today at www.faithandreason.com.

And maybe now I can catch up on all the good stuff I missed.

To find out more about catechesis and the New Evangelization, visit my blog: Evangelizing Catechesis.

Why I Don’t Like Palm Sunday Mass and You Shouldn’t Either

By Marc Cardaronella

I’m always a little uncomfortable at Palm Sunday Mass.

No, it’s not because the gospel is so long.

But it is because of the gospel.

You know how there’s all the different parts for the gospel reading on Palm Sunday?

There’s a narrator and the bystanders, the priest is Jesus, and then there’s the part for the congregation.

I hate saying, “Crucify him!” I don’t much like the “Hail, King of the Jews” part either.

I’m never quite sure–should I say it with conviction and really play the part? Or, is that bad. Maybe I should downplay the whole thing and say it sort of…monotone.

In giving me that part, it seems like the Church is implying that somehow I had something to do with this. That makes me uncomfortable.

I mean, I’m innocent in this right? Right???

Palm/Passion Sunday?

The other thing about Palm Sunday is it seems to have a bit of an identity crisis. Is it Palm Sunday or Passion Sunday?

Are we happy about Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem? Or, are we sad that he’s put to death?

The mashup of these two themes seems kind of contradictory.

But this one I get.

The long road from Sunday to Friday

On Sunday Jesus enters the city with shouts of joy. Everyone is in the streets proclaiming him king!

“Hosanna!” they yell. That’s the traditional greeting for a Davidic King returning triumphant from battle. In those days, a thousand years before Jesus, the people would line the streets waving palm branches as the warrior king passed by shouting, “Hosanna!” or “Savior!”

The chief priests and scribes knew exactly what the people were saying. They’re proclaiming Jesus the new Davidic King, the Messiah! That’s why they tell Jesus to make the people stop!

But Jesus comes back saying there’s no stopping this. “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out,” he replies.

However, the same people that were shouting his praise on Sunday were shouting his condemnation on Friday. In the span of five days Jesus went from king to criminal.

That’s just crazy, right? You’d never do that would you?

Ah, but don’t you?

You are the man!

How many times do we profess belief on Sunday and then betray that belief throughout the week? We’re unkind, selfish, and resentful. We lie, gossip, judge, and manipulate.

Maybe there’s even bigger sins like the use of contraceptives in your marriage.

We are those people! Who killed Jesus? It was every one of us!

It’s unfortunately fitting that I wave my palm at the beginning of Mass and then shout, “Crucify him,” later when I read the gospel.

It’s my sin that put him on the cross. It’s my betrayal of him in a thousand little ways that made it necessary for him be there.

And, maybe it’s good that I feel uncomfortable about it. Maybe it’s good that I’m reminded of my weakness, my lack of courage in the face of temptation, my fickle nature.

Spirituality takeaway

So I challenge you to say those verses every year and let yourself be uncomfortable.

If you don’t know your weakness, then let this gospel reading be the reminder to you. You are not alright. You’re broken inside, and you need what happened on that day.

And yes, you’re partly to blame. Own it! Because if you don’t, then you also can’t receive the gift that comes from it.

If we all recognized in humility our discomfort in the Palm/Passion Sunday gospels and open ourselves to it, we’d all move light years forward in understanding we’re not innocent, we’re not self-sufficient, and we’re not in control.

We need the guilt in order to claim the prize–new life in the one who truly saves us from ourselves.

Image credit: Christyn

This post originally appeared on Marc’s blog Evangelizing Catechesis. You can visit Marc there for more articles on catechesis, evangelization, and spirituality.