Missionary territories aren't only in foreign, underdeveloped countries. In fact, the toughest mission field today is in the homes and suburbs of affluent, secularized cultures, said Oblate of Mary Immaculate Father Ronald Rolheiser at the recent Los Angeles Religious Education Congress.

In his March 1 workshop, titled "Being Missionaries to Our Own Children --- Today's Real Missionary Task," Father Rolheiser began by pointing out two religious realities in the secular world: "falling" church attendance and the growing marginalization of churches by the mainstream secular culture. Consequently, he explained, religion today is becoming much more privatized.

"Secular culture is more post-ecclesial than post-Christian," said Father Rolheiser, a syndicated columnist and author. "The issue is people aren't going to church. They believe in Christ, in fact, they even believe in their religious affiliation. They just don't go."

Key to understanding this situation, he said, is realizing that secularity evolved from Judeo-Christian roots, as did democracy. "The secular world is not the enemy of Judeo-Christianity, it's our child," he explained. "That's why it developed in the west. It didn't develop in Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, [or] Animism."

Compounding the situation is that those living in secular cultures such as the U.S. and Europe don't always recognize --- and sometimes denigrate --- the Judeo-Christian origins of their free societies. It's what anthropologists call "adolescent grandiosity," explained Father Rolheiser.

He described the secular world as representing the way an adolescent [know it all] child behaves towards its parents. "They seem like your enemy, but they're not, they're your kids. They're not bad, they're just not finished," said the priest, eliciting applause from the packed workshop audience.

Father Rolheiser warned those in attendance not to be put off by the secular world's hostility to Christianity. "One of the real dangers of churches when [they] experience opposition is to circle the wagons. Jesus never protected himself…. We're meant to try to save the planet.

Also, he strongly urged workshop participants to bless the goodness in God's creation. "Our kids are never going to hear us if our first reaction [to things] is denigration," he stated.

Deeper maturity
According to Father Rolheiser, children in a missionary, secularized society need committed role models of faith. "It's not a question of technique or language. We don't need a new formula. We need a deeper maturity. Our kids are constantly looking to us to show them how to do this," he said.

"We're affluent, educated and culturally mainstreamed. We're in a new world, a new sociology, and we don't know how to act inside that.… We need to be able to move beyond the allure of affluence."

Vital to this is learning how to have something and then let it go, he said, adding that Jesus was clear that riches can be dangerous to a person's spiritual health.

In response to an audience member's inquiry about coping with teens and young adult children who don't follow the tenets of the Catholic faith, Father Rolheiser urged parents not to concede their principles but to also be patient.

"We have to wait for our kids to get us," he stressed. He pointed out even Jesus told his disciples he had to go away before they could receive the Holy Spirit. "Our kids are going to get us, but sometimes they won't get us until we die. And, sometimes, we don't get our kids until after they move away," he added.