Secularity and the Gospel: Being Missionaries to Our Children

by Ronald Rolheiser (editor)

In the recent past, "missionary work" often meant bringing our familiar Gospel to faraway places and other peoples. In secular America today, however, even our own children know little about the Gospel. In this important contribution, Ronald Rolheiser, author of The Holy Longing , offers original chapters on the question of secularity, then introduces leading voices in Catholic thought to show how Christian faith can thrive in a secular world.

Genres: Spirituality, Christian, Theology

237 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2006

About the author

OMI

Reviews

[Darryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is important as we consider what aspects of our culture are praiseworthy, and which are not compatible with faith. It is an aide to those who have a heart to bring the message of Christ to a world in need of his love and mercy. I found the following by Robert Barron(now Bishop) inspiring, as it gets to the heart of what it means to share our faith as Catholics.

“Because we are connected to one another as creatures and in Christ, because we participate in the primal communion of the divine persons, we must care for the needs of the brothers and sisters. Because we co-inhere in one another, we can never perceive one person’s suffering as uniquely his own; rather, we must claim his hunger or thirst or loneliness as our own."

The communio dimension of our faith is what the world is longing for, and is our impetus to love one another, as Christ has loved us. The book does not offer that one magical solution everyone is looking for, but it presents the framework for us all to get our hearts in the right place. Finally, the last chapter of the book necessarily reminds the reader that God does the work, and is doing the work presently, we just need to hope on board when we see how he is moving.

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a a searching inquiry into how Christians, particularly Roman Catholics, should approach the secular world. The papers in this book were originally papers for a series of conferences on how to interact with the secular world. The papers, from a wide range of Catholic scholars for the US and Canada, consider how to build a constructive Christian response to the secular world.

I found the discussion a helpful one, especially in light of the challenges of being a Christian in a secular profession. There are no easy answers in this book, but the various authors grapple with the issue in useful ways. It is a debate well worth following.