Dozens of parish catechetical leaders and catechists from across the eight-county Catholic Diocese of Cleveland spent June 28 in a day of reflection and contemplation of faith inspired by sacred Scripture and art.
The group gathered at Holy Rosary Church in Cleveland’s Little Italy neighborhood for morning prayer and the rosary before enjoying a continental breakfast and heading to the Cleveland Museum of Art for a special program where they were immersed in prayer and religious art inspired by sacred Scripture and guided by Jem Sullivan. Sullivan is the secretary for education in the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. She also is a wife, mother, professor, catechist and author of several books and articles. Sullivan has written essays on faith and the arts and is a docent at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
Bishop Nelson Perez offered some remarks after morning prayer, telling the catechists that “unpackaging the Church is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’ll get,” he said, using an analogy from the popular movie, “Forrest Gump.”
He told the gathering that they serve in the midst of a world that is always a mixed bag, where everyone thinks they are the center of everything. But having a tension between the world and the Church is a good thing, the bishop said, noting that without tension, a bridge would collapse. He said there is tension now with man wanting to decide what life looks like, when it begins and ends and what marriage looks like. “It’s all up for grabs,” Bishop Perez said. In 500 years, he said our heresy will be seen as radical subjectivism.
“What matters is my opinion. It trumps all. That’s the world we live in and you teach in,” he said, reminding the group that our rights are given to us by God.
The high-tech communication and information available to us today is good, as long as we process it in the proper way, he cautioned. “Just having access to the information doesn’t mean you know how to interpret and contextualize it,” he said.
The bishop tossed out a few figures, telling the group that official statistics indicate there are about 700,000 Catholics in the diocese. He thinks that number is low because many people do not register at a parish. Some only seek out the Church when they have a need. He estimated that about 25% of that 700,000 are school-age children, with about 42,000 attending Catholic schools and perhaps another 40,000 in Parish School of Religion programs.
“Where are the rest?” he asked. “How do we find and reach them?”
Sometimes we can be cynical and say that certain people only come to the Church when they have a need – baptism, a wedding, a funeral, etc. He called these occasions opportunities and told the catechists they need to find ways to reach out to these people.
The bishop asked what the Church of Cleveland will look like in 30 years. He also said that children “are not our future, they’re our present.”
He shared the story of a religious sister he worked with at one parish in Philadelphia. She didn’t sit in the office waiting for people to come to her. Instead, he said she travelled throughout the parish visiting homes and inviting people to come to church.
“She understood what she had to do; she was a missionary. If they weren’t coming to her, she went to them,” he said.
The bishop posed another question, asking the group if only 20 percent of people attend Mass and we’re very busy with them, “Are we really busy with the right thing, with the right people?” He said it’s time to get back to some basic evangelization. “We should become the catalyst,” he said, inviting people to church.
“The mission is simple. Pope Francis said we need to tell people some basic truths: Jesus loves them, he gave his life to save them and is now living at your side to enlighten and strengthen you,” he said.
“It’s all about knowing the shepherd and you’re the instrument for that,” the bishop added.
Sullivan presented two sessions to the catechists at the art museum, explaining the intertwining of faith, prayer and sacred art. Stained-glass windows, murals and other religious art have been used for centuries to help connect people to religion.
“Stained-glass windows may not seem like much from the outside, but when you come inside, you experience the beauty of faith,” she said, adding that we can move from being like tourists and seeing the beauty on the outside to experiencing the beauty of faith inside.
For centuries art has served as a tool of catechesis, Sullivan said, explaining that years ago many people could not read so they experienced biblical stories through sacred art.
“This visual culture (of today) demands that we retrieve the art and use it as a form of catechesis,” she said. Art – visual, music and spoken -- can be used as a way to open hearts and minds.
Even Jesus taught that way, she said, pointing out that he didn’t deliver lengthy lectures. Instead, he spread his message through stories and parables, “painting his story with words of God as the merciful father.” The Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son are two examples, she said.
Sullivan talked about a young girl who went with her grandmother to a church filled with beautiful art. The girl told her grandmother that “this church felt like we were in heaven. The art connects the earthly liturgy with the divine, heavenly liturgy,” she said, adding that Christian art is meant to point us in that direction.
“Even children can recognize in something of beauty that there’s something transcendent,” Sullivan said.
The group also spent time viewing and discussing with Sullivan some of the art in the museum’s collection.
Also, Patty Patterson, director of catechesis for the diocese, was recognized for 29 years of service. She retired after the June 28 event.
