Reality Bites
Reality Bites
By Nick Teo
After studying in Major Seminary for about 2 months, I am beginning to feel the struggle. For every morning, I would engage in a battle of wills with the devil. It would tell me to sleep and just go for the next class, whereas my angels would frantically shout out that I am pursuing knowledge, and each day's absence would be each day's loss of information. And I will frantically drag myself up and rush for lessons. Indeed, that's the battle of the flesh.
And then reality stuck me! Unlike usual university degrees or those part time MBA courses, the seminary courses would take 6 years. That's like 2 times longer than my BA and 6 times longer than an MBA course. Would I be able to go through all 6 years? It's after all, my SECOND month. It's just so hard.
That's not all, what am I pursuing this degree for? Certainly, I know that my passion and personal mission is to serve the church, and I know that I would just be an empty vessel if I do not pursue knowledge. And I certainly hope to serve the church full-time, to assist the priests so as to allow them to fully undertake their greatest role of administering sacraments and providing pastoral care for the community. But alas, as I go through each day's lessons and speak with more religious brothers from the Archdiosces and other religious groups, I get more and more discouraged.
I am faced with the likelihood that the prospect of working full-time would be low. And even if they were to really employ someday, it would just be the bare minimum wage. Now, I'm not going to complain about wages here, but I have got to eat, my family would have to eat. Would the bare minimum be enough? Then I would have to look for a part time job, or retain my present job. Then I would not be able to function as a full-time worker. And eventually, we would go back to the present, which is to depend on volunteers or those 'with lots of heart'.
To be fair, some big parishes have already employed full-time workers. And the problem lies in that such staffs comes from the coffers of the parish, and not from the Archdiosces. Thus, poor churches would never be able to employ more than their usual admin staffs. That becomes a viscous cycle, for without a strong team mixed with a priest(s) and some full-time workers, good pastoral care can never be adequately administered to the people. And they wonder why people leave the Catholic church.
Recently, I went into the website of a well-known 'New Independent Church'. In that, I found information of a well-distributed network of cellgroups, 2 institutions providing spiritual studies and full-time employment oppurtunities, different ministries and activities for their congregation to belong to. As much as I do not feel for their church-service, I am very intrigued and impressed with their efficient and well-thought network. They are meeting needs of people who wants to participate and to make this religion theirs.
My girlfriend who is a social worker once said this, the delinquents whom she counsels, she is confident that they would be welcomed in one of those Christian (sic) churches rather than to invite them to any Catholic churches where they would be lost into oblivion. I'm sure Catholics readers can identify with that.
To say that our Mass is the crux of our religion would be giving people the wrong message, because to be catholic is to be a community. So if our 'drawing point' to non-believers or first time visitors to our church is the Mass, then no wonder these people are clueless of what our religion is all about. It must be with explaination and understanding can one appreciate the beauty and importance of the Mass, otherwise it is just an hour of rituals. And I suppose rituals can never be the main focus of any religion, especially ours. Jesus himself scoffed at that.
I have many plans, but I wonder if our traditional and unwavering religious model would ever embrace the modern mindsets.
I once told a good friend of mine who is a Methodist, "we are 1600 years before you, but yet we are 1600 years after you."
Now, do not misquote me nor get me wrong. I love my church and I love my religion, but it is simply because I do that I want to make it special for others as it is for me. I am very sure that Catholics deserve much more.
For years, we speak about how to tap sunday-catholics. But if the roots and branches are not reaching far and wide, no matter how thick and secure those short roots and brances are, they would not reach them.
Whatever the future holds, I will continue to persevere within my parish. Afterall, what better message to bring across if I can succeed in my parish first.
Jesus asked us to "Set (our) hearts in the Kingdom of God", I am sure He will then unveil His plans.
Nick Teo is currently studying in the Major Seminary, he is at the Philosophy Cycle and struggling with the vast knowledge of the Church. He gets asked by curious seminarians frequently if he would be joining the seminary. And his answer is always a No, and that is the reason why he pays for his own courses. Otherwise, he would had just entered the seminary to received free theological education....
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