Editorial

By Paul Schratz

“Let Us Act!”

In the Archdiocese of Vancouver, those words at the beginning of the synod document might end up taking on the significance of another trio of opening words, those first spoken by the new Pope John Paul II and repeated so often during his pontificate: “Be not afraid!”

The parallel between the two phrases is appropriate, because if the Archdiocese of Vancouver is going to take the steps recommended in the synod document, Catholics will have to overcome the fear that too often holds us back from living Christ-like lives.

Fear is what often prevents us from properly instilling the faith in our children, as we instead make concessions to the world and its values.

The same fear leaves many of us gripping onto old and less effective ways of evangelizing simply because we’re accustomed to them. This is an area especially relevant to our pastors, who, as Proposition 1 notes, often find they must spend more time on administrative matters than spiritual. Sometimes we must let others share some of our responsibilities so we can be freed to take on new challenges.

Fear also prevents many of us from inviting others: parents, teachers, youth, and adults, to a firmer understanding of their faith, and encouraging them to put it into action.

There is the fear of facing new challenges, whether it’s the preservation and enhancement of the Catholic presence in health care, or the establishment of a Catholic university.

Fear can prevent us from helping married couples to develop a clear understanding of the Church’s teachings on openness to life.

Fear restricts us from venturing into the most devastated areas of the archdiocese such as the downtown east side to bring the light of Christ to addicts, women dealing with prostitution, and former prisoners attempting to re-enter society.

Although 1 John tell us, “There is no fear in love,” we often are living in fear, resulting in complacency that holds us back. Fear is an obstacle to love, and to the holiness that Archbishop Roussin has repeatedly said we’re called to.

(One newspaper last week reported on the synod with the headline “Vancouver Archdiocese plans to promote Catholic values,” prompting one priest to phone to inquire, “What kind of values did they expect us to promote?”)

Catholic values should be about holiness, and the synod’s propositions, particularly those it deemed most significant, offer a clear vision to holiness. As Archbishop Roussin said: “I see them as calls, calls to make our parishes true centres of holiness and union, calls to look more carefully at the challenges we face regarding the growing number of poor, both in our midst and elsewhere.”

At its outset, the synod was shaped by these words: “Our vision is to promote a new springtime of faith and Christian living.” The challenge now, in the words of the archbishop, “is to continue listening to the Spirit and to follow His guidance.”

That will require our replacing fear with love.

In conjunction with the momentous changes that will result from the synod, you’ll notice a few changes in the look of The B.C. Catholic, starting with this issue.

Some are more apparent than others, but all got their impetus from ongoing vision-planning that the newspaper has been conducting.

While our more-or-less-formal mission statement: Communicating the Good News of Christ’s Salvation to the World, hasn’t changed, the way we address it has come in for a revamping.

The changes will be fine-tuned over the next few weeks as, with the synod, we try to prepare to do our part to bring about a new springtime of Christian living. You’ll immediately notice a new design, new nameplate in front, a more up-to-date choice of headline fonts, and some other stylistic changes aimed at making the paper more readable. We’ve tried to incorporate more “white space” in an attempt to make pages look less dense and intimidating.

A new feature, Saints for Today, has been added, and others may follow.

We’re also trying to make our emphasis the telling of stories about people, rather than institutions. That often means trying to find the story behind the story.

We’ve tried to listened to readers who told us what they liked about The B.C. Catholic and what they didn’t. We won’t satisfy everyone, but we do want to hear from you. Don’t hesitate to call or write.