When Kateri was 4, a smallpox epidemic claimed her parents and baby brother. She survived, but her face was disfigured and her vision impaired. She was raised by her anti-Christian uncle, who began to plan her marriage. But after meeting with Catholic priests, Kateri decided to be baptized.

Following her Baptism by a Jesuit missionary in 1676 at age 20, Kateri’s family and village ostracized and ridiculed her. She fled the next year to Canada, taking refuge at St. Francis Xavier Mission in the Mohawk Nation at Caughnawaga on the St. Lawrence River, about 10 miles from Montreal, and made her first Communion on Christmas in 1677.

Kateri astounded the Jesuits with her deep spirituality and her devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. She took a private vow of virginity and devoted herself to teaching prayers to the children and helping the sick and elderly of Caughnawaga.

She died in 1680 at age 24. According to eyewitnesses, the scars on her face suddenly disappeared after her death. Soon after, Catholics started to claim that favors and miracles had been obtained through her intercession. Native Americans have made appeals to the Catholic Church for her recognition since at least the late 1800s.

Documentation for Kateri’s sainthood cause was sent to the Vatican in 1932. She was declared venerable in 1942 and in 1980 was beatified by Pope John Paul II.

Records for the final miracle needed for her canonization were sent to the Vatican in July 2009. It involved the full recovery of a young boy in Seattle whose face had been disfigured by flesh-eating bacteria and who almost died from the disease. His family, who is part Native American, had prayed for Kateri’s intercession. On December 19, 2011, then-Pope Benedict XVI signed the decree recognizing the miracle, clearing the way for Kateri’s canonization.

“Kateri impresses us by the action of grace in her life in spite of the absence of external help and by the courage of her vocation, so unusual in her culture,” it was said at her canonization Mass. “In her, faith and culture enrich each other! May her example help us to live where we are, loving Jesus without denying who we are. St. Kateri, Protectress of Canada and the first native American saint, we entrust to you the renewal of the faith in the first nations and in all of North America! May God bless the first nations!”

Prayer

O Great Lily of the Mohawks, we ask that you take our intentions to the foot of the cross. Ask Jesus to bring healing to those who are heavily burdened. Through your intercession, may this favor be granted if it is according to the will of God. By your prayer, help us always to remain faithful to Jesus and to his Holy Church. St. Kateri Tekakwitha, pray for us. Amen.

At the Catholic-rooted, interfaith spirituality center I direct, we made a choice to be a public witness of hospitality in the face of anti-immigrant animosity. In partnership with Catholic Charities, we now work with several legally documented refugee families who have fled the violence and political oppression in their home country of Burundi. Together, we have created “New Hope International Farm,” a community garden program on our 21-acre property, which allows these families to grow organic fruits and vegetables for their own subsistence and, eventually, for sale.

Most of our new Burundian friends were small-scale farmers back in East Africa; they know what they’re doing and they work hard, trying to improve their lives and make a new home in their newly adopted country. Despite the trauma they experienced in Burundi and the multiple challenges they face in America, they are gentle, kind, and good-humored. Our land and our community are richer for them being here.

In tumultuous times, and especially in this red, white, and blue month of July, it’s tempting to equate patriotism with an insular “America first” worldview. Certainly, we should protect and promote American interests. But doing that starts with understanding that our country cannot thrive in isolation.

We are part of one earth, one global community. We are connected by ecological concerns, by the flow of goods and services and information, and by the common bond of humanity. We are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers, and we all rise and fall together.

Too much of our national rhetoric about immigration revolves around abstract—and almost completely unfounded—fears of criminals or terrorists and the concerns about losing jobs to foreigners. How different might that conversation be if more of us were able to spend time with flesh-and-blood immigrants, to swap stories, and to discover how much common ground we share?

What if to be proudly patriotic meant opening our minds, hearts, and homes to those most in need of welcome—the kind of welcome Mary and Joseph sought so long ago, when they were refugees? Who knows what amazing goodness could be born?

With the guidance of Saint Francis of Assisi, you can learn to ground your life in prayer.

Unlike Saint Ignatius of Loyola’s concentrated, step-by-step instructions for prayer in his Spiritual Exercises, Saint Francis of Assisi‘s guidance for those who wish to follow his example of prayer and devotion is more diffuse. It is true to think of Saint Francis’ writings as occasional and unsystematic. Nevertheless, taken as a whole, they offer constructive clues for what we might describe generally as Francis’ “instructions on prayer.”

For the sake of brevity, we will look at four such instructions: the need to prioritize prayer, reverence for the Eucharist, the importance of solitude, and the call to immerse oneself in sacred Scripture. All four of these themes are aimed at leading those inspired by Saint Francis’ pattern of life (forma vitae) to move from simply “saying prayers” to becoming a living prayer.

Grounding Your Life in Prayer

First, prayer entered early into the formal vision of the Franciscan way of life in the Rule. After the brief introductory section where Saint Francis announced the pattern of life is simply the Gospel of Jesus Christ and outlined the logistics of accepting would-be friars into the community, he then offered a chapter on prayer, fasting, and the general way the brothers are to live in the world.

It should come as no surprise, given the curial hand in the formation of this officially approved Rule for the friars, that the Divine Office canonical requirements for the friar-clerics would make an appearance. Yet Saint. Francis was also accommodating those who may be uneducated or illiterate, permitting them to pray a prescribed number of Our Fathers. One may glean from this inclusion that, although not everyone could be expected to pray the Liturgy of the Hours, all the brothers in the community were expected to pray together.

Unlike the monastic demarcation between the so-called choir monks and the lay monks (those whose responsibilities largely centered on manual labor), Saint Francis affirmed a more egalitarian vision of fraternal life and activity grounded in prayer.

The importance of grounding one’s life and activity in prayer is seen especially in Saint Francis’ explicit instruction on labor in chapter 5: “The friars to whom God has given the grace of working should work in a spirit of faith and devotion and avoid idleness, which is the enemy of the soul, without however extinguishing the spirit of prayer and devotion, to which every temporal consideration must be subordinate.”

That the work of the brothers, however conceived in terms of explicit apostolic ministry or manual labor, should always be subordinate to one’s individual and collective “spirit of prayer and devotion” attests to the importance of prayer in Saint Francis’ vision of Gospel life. Francis reiterated this prioritization in a now-famous letter to Saint Anthony of Padua, when he gave permission to teach theology to the brothers: “I am pleased that you teach sacred theology to the brothers, providing that, as is contained in the Rule, you ‘do not extinguish the Spirit of prayer and devotion’ during study of this kind.”

Prayerful Reverence for the Blessed Sacrament

Second, Saint Francis frequently reflected on the Eucharist and the importance that the brothers approach the Blessed Sacrament in a spirit of prayerful reverence. This personal devotion to the celebration of the Mass, his admiration of the office of the ministerial priesthood (distinct from particular priests who, as he noted with realistic acquiescence, are as finite and sinful as everybody else), and his reverence for the Eucharist are commonly found throughout his writings.

From the beginning of his ongoing conversion around 1206 to his death on October 3, 1226, Saint Francis’ writings do not include extensive instruction on the role of liturgical prayer in the life of the community apart from the clerical Daily Office. This is very likely reflective of the shift in friar demographics. In the beginning, those following Francis’ nascent way of life represented a diverse mixture of backgrounds and experiences. Toward the end of Saint Francis’ short life, a larger number of ordained priests began entering the community, which shifted the availability of the sacraments within Franciscan houses.

Correspondingly, his later texts tended to include references to the celebration of the Eucharist and a call for increased participation in the Mass and reverence for the Blessed Sacrament on the part of his followers.

Using Solitude to Reconnect with God

Third, the incorporation of a part-time hermitic life into the broader pattern of life was an important dimension of Saint Francis’ own spirituality and approach to prayer.

While a commitment to itinerant ministry is central to the Franciscan Rule, with Saint Francis emphasizing the importance of establishing relationships with others by meeting them where they are in the streets and villages of the world, he also believed in the need for the brothers to reconnect with God in an attentive and deliberate way. This was demonstrated by his own practice of regularly retreating to hermitages and quiet places. He also went to the trouble of composing a short “Rule for Hermitages.” It reveals at once the importance of experiencing and preserving solitude and the communal, fraternal dimension of lived Franciscan prayer:

“Not more than three or at most four friars should go together to a hermitage to lead a religious life there. Two of these should act as mothers, with the other two, or the other one, as their children. The mothers are to lead the life of Martha; the other two, the life of Mary. . . . The friars who are mothers must be careful to stay away from outsiders and, in obedience to their minister, keep their sons away from outsiders, so that no one can speak to them. The friars who are sons are not to speak to anyone except their mother or their minister, when he visits them, with God’s blessing. Now and then, the sons should exchange places with the mothers, according to whatever arrangement seems best suited for the time. But they should all be careful to observe what has been laid down for them, eagerly and zealously.”

The freedom with which Francis invoked the maternal imagery and the model of Martha and Mary from the Gospels is striking. Though not often well known among modern Franciscans, scholars have noted nonetheless the distinctive contribution that Saint Francis’ vision of non-dominating governance within the fraternity, frequently conveyed in feminine imagery, has made to Christian spirituality. Solitude was not only an important ingredient in Gospel life for Francis himself, but was also intended more generally to be a mainstay of Franciscan prayer by offering an opportunity for small communities to care for one another and provide the space for ongoing, deep encounters with the divine.

Recognizing the Life-Giving Quality of Scripture

Fourth, Saint Francis’ way of Christian living and approach to prayer were both deeply tied to sacred Scripture. Though the early sources recalled his self-deprecating identification as an idiota, or “unlearned person,” Saint Francis most certainly knew how to read and write. It can be difficult for modern people, living centuries after the invention of the printing press and used to mass-produced paper, to appreciate how important the written word was in Francis’ time.

For the most part, the material needed to write a copy of a biblical book or the prayers for the Mass was difficult and expensive to acquire. Unlike our liturgical books and Bibles today, Scripture was often copied out onto a variety of pages. These pages, usually unbound, had the tendency (as most loose papers do) to become scattered and lost. This even happened in churches.

Saint Francis was very concerned about the way these particles of Scripture were cared for (or, more accurately, not cared for). He was almost obsessed with making sure that all pieces of the Scripture were well taken care of and treated with respect and dignity. In a letter addressed to the entire order, he shared his vision of the importance of caring for Scripture, commanding the friars to go out of their way to gather, protect, and venerate even the most seemingly insignificant scriptural texts:

“He who is of God hears the words of God (John 8:47), and so we who are called to serve God in a more special way are bound not merely to listen to and carry out what he commands; in order to impress on ourselves the greatness of our Creator and of our subjection to him we must keep the liturgical books and anything else that contains his holy words with great care. I urge all my friars and I encourage them in Christ to show all possible respect for God’s words wherever they may happen to find them in writing. If they are not kept properly or if they lie thrown about disrespectfully, they should pick them up and put them aside, paying honor in his words to God who spoke them. For by God’s words many things are made holy, and the sacrament of the altar is celebrated in the power of the words of Christ.”

Though he did not outline any particular program or method of reading and meditating on Scripture (e.g., a formal process of lectio divina), Saint Francis did communicate in subtler ways the necessity of living by the word of God. This is seen in his emphasis on the Daily Office prayed in community as well as through the extraordinary frequency with which he cited the Scriptures in his own writings, Rules, and prayers. Saint Bonaventure, in his Legenda Major, described the unique way in which the poor man from Assisi was able to understand the meaning of Scripture, such that he astounded even the most learned and wise scholars of the day:

“Unflagging zeal for prayer with a continual exercise of virtue had led the man of God to such serenity of mind that, although he had no expertise in sacred Scripture through learning, his intellect, nevertheless enlightened by the splendor of eternal light, probed the depths of Scripture with remarkable incisiveness. For his genius, pure and unstained, penetrated hidden mysteries, and where the knowledge of teachers stands outside, the passion of the lover entered. Whenever he read the sacred books and something struck his mind, he imprinted it tenaciously on his memory, because he did not grasp in vain what his attentive mind heard, for he would mull over it with affection and constant devotion.”

Francis’ memorization of, reflection on, and constant reference to sacred Scripture led to his being imbued with the very narrative of God’s self-disclosure. In turn, he was inspired to draw on passages from the Bible, especially the Psalms, to compose his own psalmody and prayers. This is seen most clearly in his creative Office of the Passion, which was modeled on the personal devotional offices commonly found among monastic communities. Here Francis wove together various psalms from the Hebrew Bible with his own devotional interludes and psalm-like additions. The importance of Scripture in prayer was seen by him as an essential element of evangelical life.

Becoming a ‘Living Prayer’

Saint Augustine of Hippo famously remarked at various points in his expansive corpus that God is the One who is closer to us than we are to ourselves. This experience of divine immanence, of the presence of God among and within creation, was the keystone of Saint Francis’ whole approach to prayer, although it is safe to say that he did not realize this overnight. It is always important to remember the lifelong experience of ongoing conversion when calling to mind Saint Francis’ spirituality and form of prayer.

As noted earlier, he began his renewed commitment to Christian living in young adulthood with what we might anachronistically call a “literal” approach to discipleship. His focus was on the externals of affective religiosity, such as attending Mass and physically rebuilding churches. The increasing number of relational encounters‚ the living among lepers, the unsolicited brothers and sisters, the reception of Clare, and other experiences‚ shifted, over time, the poverello‘s vision of prayer. In the beginning, as Thomas of Celano noted, Francis of Assisi was one who merely “said” prayers, but over time became a “living prayer.”

If prayer is, as we might all agree, always a form of communication with God, then we are in some sense always praying because God is always already present to us (again, Saint Augustine’s insight about God’s immanence and proximity to us). It is, in a sense, a form of hubris to think that we can simply turn on or turn off the prayer channel, as if we had the ability to select when God is able to receive our missives. In truth, not only what we say or think, but how we act, what we prioritize, how we love, how we care for one another, and so on all combine to communicate something to the God who is at all times nearer to us than we are to ourselves.

Long before Ignatius and his successors in the Society of Jesus popularized the expression “finding God in all things,” Saint Francis of Assisi‘s understanding and experience of prayer were precisely this form of ordinary mysticism. He came to realize in time that the words said in the Divine Office, the community’s participation in the celebration of the Eucharist, and the charitable acts of love and mercy were not as distinct as one might first assume.

Instead, for Saint Francis, prayer was always a journey of growing more deeply in relationship with God and neighbor, including his nonhuman neighbors. There is no explicit strategy or instruction manual proposed as a means to achieve this mystical awareness.

And yet, Saint Francis’ own narrative of lifelong conversion and his model for how to prioritize the elements of one’s life‚ never extinguish the spirit of prayer and devotion, embrace regular solitude, and so on‚ provide us with a pattern of life, a guide for our own journeys, and a series of points for reflection.

The goal of prayer (if prayer can ever be said to have a goal) in the Franciscan tradition is, to put it simply, nothing more than for each of us, in our own way and in our own contexts, to become more and more a living prayer.

Pilgrimages may seem out of reach. California’s 21 missions bring this holy journey close to home.

At the heart of pilgrimage is a longing that has fascinated and compelled the human spirit from time immemorial. And this ancient practice is experiencing a growing attraction and taking on new forms today. In fact, America now has its own pilgrim way: the road connecting the California missions of Saint Junípero Serra, canonized in 2015.

In ancient times, pilgrimage often involved distant travel along hazardous roads and across perilous seas. Today, Christians continue to make long journeys along ancient pilgrimage routes—the path of Jesus through Galilee to Jerusalem, the way of the early martyrs in Rome, and the Camino of Santiago de Compostela—seeking the transforming power that seems to reside in these sacred places.

But such distant travel is not necessary to experience a pilgrimage. More and more people are discovering that a journey in the way of America’s great missionary saint, the apostle of California, is a superb way of absorbing his saintly passion and love for the Gospel. Travelers today, like pilgrims of old, are experiencing a transforming journey along the Camino—the pilgrim way.

Serra’s motto—Siempre Adelante! (“Always Forward!”)—expresses his courageous life, bringing the good news of Jesus Christ to the Native Americans of California. By traveling his Camino with a pilgrim’s heart, we can prepare ourselves to continue, in our own way, the journey forward that he began in California from 1769 to his death, in 1784. By embodying his spirit on pilgrimage, we can become more missionary in our discipleship and more evangelical in our Catholicism.

Traveling the Camino

The missions—21 in number, beginning in San Diego and stretching to Sonoma, north of San Francisco Bay—were the inspiration of Serra. As he envisioned them, the missions would form a holy ladder, with rungs placed conveniently up and down the coast. This “royal way”—El Camino Real—holds the tangible memories of the days when Christianity first came to California.

Serra’s Camino links these missions as a pilgrimage route. Begun as trails created by the California Native Americans for travel and trade, this roadway was adopted by the Spaniards as they explored and settled California. Today, while much of it lies under the asphalt of Highway 101, in other areas it can be traced along city streets, rural roads, and still occasionally as dirt trails on mission grounds.

Nowadays, this Camino is most conveniently traveled by car along the California coastal highways. The route is marked by a series of miniature mission bells originally erected in the early 20th century. These cast-iron bells have been hung from 11-foot bent guideposts, designed to resemble a shepherd’s staff and to be easily visible along the route. Travelers simply follow a map or set their GPS device to move from one mission to the next.

Each of the 21 missions is a unique jewel and a spiritual oasis. The sacrifices of the indigenous peoples who built these places and memories of the early missionaries and their ardor for the Gospel pervade these grounds. The walls and ceilings of the mission structures express the Native American culture, with bright oranges, reds, yellows, and blues in geometric patterns. Iridescent abalone shells, spiritually powerful objects for the Indians, hold holy water in wall niches and adorn the tabernacle for the Eucharist. Old Spanish mission art can be found next to Indian wall paintings, as symbols of piety from two centuries ago form a wonderful, holy mix.

Some of these missions are found wedged into cities; others are surrounded by mountains and valleys. They have all been shaped and reshaped for generations. The grounds are filled with bells, statues, fountains, and gardens, all symbols of life and feasts of color. Native American talents blended with European ways to create thriving communities.

Yet those who travel along this ancient road not only experience slices of history, but also gain opportunities to encounter the presence of the living God in tangible ways today. All but two of the missions are functioning churches, where Christian Baptisms, holy Mass, and beautiful weddings are regularly celebrated. The Sunday schedule of worship alternates between English and Spanish and sometimes includes services in Vietnamese, Haitian, Portuguese, and other languages for California’s immigrant communities Serra’s Camino is the ideal pilgrimage. It challenges the traveler to make an internal, spiritual journey that parallels the external, geographical trip. In traveling this road, pilgrims encounter holy places, communities of faith, occasions for meditative prayer, and prospects for inner healing—all opportunities to align their lives more closely with the Gospel.

The pilgrimage can be as rugged or as luxurious as you choose. My first trip through the missions was in a rental car, driving along the coast at my own pace, stopping to seek lodging at the end of each day. I’ve also led pilgrimages in luxury coaches, with nice hotels and dinners awaiting us each evening. And I’ve always admired hikers and cyclists trekking to one mission after another, as in the days before gasoline and electric power.

The Missions as Spaces for Encounter

Far more than museums documenting the past, the missions have always been places of encounter among peoples. They began as Native American and European cultures met. Two traditions wove themselves together: the Spanish Franciscan way—which affirmed the goodness of creation and the Incarnation of God in the world—and the California Indian spirituality—which practiced respect for the earth and the divine spirit that fills it.

Serra was part of a missionary team that went out to the peripheries—beyond the geographical, social, and racial boundaries of their time—to proclaim the Gospel. Yet in his encounter with the Native American people, he sought to understand their indigenous spiritual beliefs. His diaries show examples of how he used traditional beliefs as springboards for preaching the Gospel. He fiercely criticized the Spanish colonists and military, consistently protecting the Native American people from being mistreated or morally tainted. He poured out his life out of love for the California Indians, and they deeply loved him in return. 600 wept at Serra’s funeral, piling his bier high with wildflowers, and countless people testified to his sanctity.

At Serra’s canonization, Pope Francis said that he embodies a Church which goes forth: “He was excited about blazing trails, going forth to meet many people, learning and valuing their particular customs and ways of life. He learned how to bring to birth and nurture God’s life in the faces of everyone he met; he made them his brothers and sisters. “

Following Saint Junípero Serra’s Camino convinces us that all of the baptized have two fundamental callings: the calls to holiness and to mission. In the extraordinary life of Junípero Serra, holiness and mission were one, unified in the joy of the Gospel. As pilgrims in his way, we take on his joyful conviction, learning to leave behind our islands of comfort and witness to Jesus Christ in the modern world. And because of our call to holiness, we proclaim his good news not only with words, but above all by a transfigured life.

Pope Francis said that this call to evangelize must be a normal part of a mature, authentic, and integrated Christian life. Evangelization is the urgent call of our Church: to renew, expand, and cultivate disciples. Serra’s Camino points the way forward for us. “The joy of the Gospel, ” the pope said, “is something to be experienced, something to be known and lived only through giving it away, through giving ourselves away. “

The response of Serra and his followers to the call to share the Gospel is a complex reflection of who we are and have always been as a Church: a sinful yet holy people, constantly striving to follow God’s will as best we can in light of our weaknesses and our strengths, with both our blindness and our zeal to be missionary disciples of Jesus Christ.

From our perspective today, we can see that the early missionaries of California were often too immersed in their own European culture to clearly see the richness of the culture they were entering. In their eyes, European culture was “civilized ” while the Native American culture was “primitive. ” As global Christians today, we have to learn to see how the Gospel lives in a multitude of cultural contexts, obliging us to be humble in examining beliefs and customs in order to bring Jesus Christ to another culture.

Today, Christian Native Americans in California seek ways of being equal participants in the life and mission of the Church—as indigenous people. They continue to explore ways to experience the freedom and spiritual power of the Gospel, while still fully embracing their tribal identity, traditional customs, and cultural ways in their expressions of faith in Jesus Christ. As we embrace a multicultural Church, as it exists today in California and in our own local context, let us celebrate our universal Christian faith, expressed through the languages, customs, art, music, values, and rituals of Native American, Spanish, Mexican, and a host of Asian, African, and European cultures. By doing so, we continue to follow the Camino of Saint Junípero Serra.

A Pilgrimage Worth Taking

Traveling along Serra’s Camino and enjoying the beautiful California missions, let us work for healing, lamenting what went wrong in the past and acknowledging the real pains that remain. But let us also recognize the heroism of Saint Junípero Serra and all the great men and women, Native American and Hispanic, who sanctified the missions of California and bear witness to their history.

Go to the mission churches with a pilgrim’s heart searching for God. Take the water of the font at each door into your hand, reminding you of Baptism and the water of new life that God desires to spring up within you. Bless yourself as a tangible sign of the saving death and resurrection that unites believers in one faith. Light a candle at your favorite altars as a sign that your prayer lingers in this place after you depart. If you arrive and the church is filled with people celebrating a Mass, Baptism, wedding, or funeral, don’t turn away, disappointed that your touring has been impeded. But stand to the side, grateful that the faith these missions represent remains alive for so many today.

The questions that arise along America’s pilgrim way become the challenges of our discipleship today. Can the missionary past be transformed into something new that speaks powerfully and challenges the era in which we live? Can the sparks of sanctity still alive from missionary California come to flame today to bring about justice and reconciliation for the people of our land? The rich spirituality of pilgrimage along Saint Junípero Serra’s Camino can arouse within Christian travelers today a deep desire to hope, work, and pray for a new civilization of love.

They still are experiencing phenomenal growth. What can Catholic parishes learn?

In this age of ecumenism and interfaith dialogue, churches and religions are working together on social issues and learning from one another. As a Catholic theologian and parishioner, I have been able to learn a great deal from other faiths and yet remain loyal to Catholicism. One trend I think Catholic parishes could learn a lot from is megachurches.

If you haven’t heard of them, megachurches, by their very name, are large churches, many with multiple sites and attendance on any given Sunday in the thousands. A number of these churches serve 20,000 or more members. Typically, megachurches are Protestant, often evangelical, and nondenominational. About 10 percent of Christian churchgoers in this country attend megachurches, the growing churches in the United States.

So what are they doing that is driving this growth? In this article, I don’t imply criticism of Catholic parishes, but I want to point to five areas parishes can benefit from megachurches that are enjoying such phenomenal growth today. The specific areas are mission statements, welcoming, worship services, multiple services and ministries, and fund-raising.

The largest of the megachurches is the Lakewood Church, led by the well-known Pastor Joel Osteen in Houston, Texas. Currently there are about 44,000 in attendance. In Lake Forest, California, the popular Pastor Rick Warren leads the Saddleback Church of 20,000 members. The Chicago area is home to the Willow Creek Community Church. Here, Pastor Bill Hybels serves 22,500 members.

In my own city of Cincinnati, Ohio, there is Crossroads, a church of 20,000, now with five sites, and led by a young and dynamic Pastor Brian Tome. I know most about this church because my son, Brennan John Hill, works fulltime as the director of client services, and attends there with his wife, Allie, and their new son, Grant. I have attended there several times myself, and had the pleasure of speaking with Pastor Tome for this article. Now let’s look at some of the areas where Catholic parishes can learn from megachurches.

1) Mission Statements: Carefully Crafted and Lived

Megachurches are conscious of their history how they got started as a community and their specific mission. With careful discernment, the leadership monitors the evolution of their church’s mission, makes appropriate adjustments when necessary, and keeps the mission ever before the staff and church members.

Bill Hybel, the founder of Willow Creek Community Church, recalls that his vision for the church started in a New Testament class when he heard the first church described in Acts 2: 42-47. He dreamed of starting such a church where the members devoted themselves to Gospel teaching, fellowship, breaking of the bread, and prayer.

The members would be filled with awe at the many wonders performed by the apostles. They would share all their possessions and give to all those in need. Now, 40 years later, Willow Creek’s members hold up the earliest faith communities as their ideal for following Jesus as believers who serve others.

Mission statements vary, but Jesus and Gospel living seem to be at the heart of them all. Crossroads in Cincinnati wants to be “for anyone who wants to seek God from those exploring whether or not God even exists, to committed Christ-followers. We present biblical truths and show how they apply to our everyday lives. And we have fun while doing it.”

West Angeles Church of God in Christ “seeks to be a biblical ministry of excellence designed to encourage life transformation through our threefold purpose to evangelize, edify, and equip the whole person to serve the community and reach the world for Jesus Christ.”

For megachurches, these mission statements are much more than words on paper. They are the driving force behind the community, the goals which they seek to fulfill in their personal lives and ministries.

2) Welcoming: Meet and Greet

Recently, while shopping, I met a stock boy and, during our chat, he mentioned that he attended Crossroads. When I asked him why he attended there, he said: “I want to be happy in church and free to express my love of Jesus. It makes me happy to attend Crossroads because the people there welcome me, care about me, and encourage me to reach out to others.” He said he is proud that he was able to help in the recovery after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.

When one enters a megachurch, there is usually a feeling that you are entering into an exciting and vibrant community that is glad you are there. Most people come early for the service and gather in a large area, where they enjoy coffee and conversation. It is a time to meet people whom you know and to make new acquaintances. It is time to congratulate, console, share, inquire, and chat with others.

There might be the excitement of an anniversary, a birthday, a promotion. It is a time to share concerns about a young person being deployed, to show off a new baby, or to congratulate a teen whose team has just won an important game. Here, church is community, where compassion is extended to one who is going through a divorce or desertion by a spouse, and where hugs of concern are offered. One comes to realizes that this is what church is all about the people of God sharing their lives, their love, and their closeness to Jesus, the Son of God.

If you have brought children, they can be taken off to the area where little ones can have fun, be taught, and be cared for by a competent and trusted staff. Then, often, ushers will greet you and take you to the seat of your choice.

If you are a new face, you will be welcomed by a member and introduced to others. If you have been there awhile, your participation in the services, small group sessions in homes, local and international missions, and courses will have already connected you with many members.

3) Lively Services: Exciting Music and Powerful Preaching

The worship service in the megachurch is the central event of the community. It is lively with full participation, including gestures and manifestations of praise. Evangelicals are not shy about expressing their feelings in church, and during the services they express their worship of God and their love of Jesus both physically and verbally.

Music is an integral part of the service, and is robust and loud. Singing is accompanied by a group of musicians and led by someone who is full-voiced. There is nothing half-hearted about congregational participation!

The words to each song are clearly visible on a screen before the congregation. The songs vary, but are mostly songs of praise and petition that express both the thoughts and feelings of the community. (Catholics have their own style of songs, and some might not feel comfortable with gospel rock and rousing acclaim.)

Preaching is central to the service in these churches. Megachurches are led by pastors who are accomplished preachers, trained and experienced in reaching people of differing backgrounds with the Gospel message. Sermons are well prepared, contain vivid stories and striking examples, and are designed to inspire and move the congregation. Usually these sermons are recorded and made available to those unable to attend or for later review.

The sermons focus on Scriptures, and apply biblical teachings to the challenges of everyday life. Relevancy is the key word here. As one woman commented to me: “It always seems like the pastor has been sitting at our breakfast table. So often he is addressing the very real everyday issues that we face in our family or in our personal lives.”

The preachers are expected to have a deep understanding and lived experience of the Gospels, and be adept at connecting the Scriptures with the everyday challenges that people face in their lives. This speaks to the very purpose of church: to help people relate to God, deepen their faith and spiritual lives, and inspire them to serve others as Jesus did.

The congregation is encouraged to become attuned to these sermons through Bible study that is provided by the church, to attend small faith group discussions, and become active in some of the many ministries offered by the church. Spiritual transformation is the overarching goal building a closer relationship with Jesus and with all the people of God in the local community, as well as worldwide.

Those planning megachurch services recognize that variety is indeed the spice of life. Sometimes brief dramatizations might be included, or perhaps PowerPoint visuals or a film clip. A witness from someone who has just returned from a mission trip in a developing country might be offered, or someone who has recently experienced a conversion might share his or her story.

4) Multiple Services and Ministries

The organizational structures of megachurches can boggle the mind. Many of the churches have a staff of over 100 women and men, who are professionally trained and well paid, as well as hundreds more of active volunteers.

Some staff provide services to the internal needs of the church. There are pastors and assistant pastors, leaders who serve specific age groups in the community: children, preteens, teens, young adults, adults, and seniors. Special events are provided for each of these groups: celebrations, socials, trips, and fun activities. Megachurches give special attention to the young, recognizing a valuable investment in the future of their ministry. Catholic parishes can learn much from their success with young and young adult members.

Some staff members attend to communication with the members, through both personal interaction and social media. Facebook, YouTube, blogs, and Twitter are employed to communicate with members, especially the young.

Specific staff members focus on the website, the finances, or human resources. Staff or volunteers attend to the many means for spiritual growth, including healing sessions, baptisms, organizing small faith groups, marriage prepa-ration, and counseling. Others visit nursing homes, hospitals, or hospice, and attend to many other areas of pastoral care (e.g., groups for divorcing adults and sessions for survivors of sexual abuse). Some staff are responsible for the planning of worship services and music.

Specific staff members attend to projects outside the church: provide food for the poor and shelter to the homeless, partner with other churches to serve the elderly, support those returning from war, assist those with disabilities. Some organize retreats, while others facilitate mission trips to serve in developing countries. These megachurches take Jesus’ command to “go forth and teach all nations” very seriously.

5) Fundraising

Leaders of megachurches are not shy about raising money. Referring to the Hebrew Bible, they point to the custom of tithing, where 10 percent of one’s possessions are given to God. From this perspective, one’s material things are a blessing from God and a portion should be returned to God.

From another perspective, leaders of megachurches believe that, if their members experience pastoral care, spiritual transformation, a deepening of their faith, moving worship services, and opportunities to use their gifts in ministry, they will be willing to contribute the funds needed to provide these services. As further incentive to give, the leaders of these churches are transparent regarding the disbursement of donations. Members experience what their church is doing for them in their Christian lives and in the lives of their children. Most are willing to give generously to make sure these services continue and expand.

What Now?

Megachurches have been around for at least the last four decades in this country. They seem to be thriving and growing in their numbers: clear evidence that they have unique insights for building up the churches of the people of God.

Catholic parishes can learn much from these new models of Church. Parishes can develop specific mission statements and constantly keep these before the eyes and actions of the parishioners. Parishes can provide time and space where their members can go beyond anonymity, feel welcome, meet and greet others with their concerns, their good news and bad. Catholic communities can learn to better prepare their liturgies, incorporate more variety, or improve the music and singing.

Preachers can be reminded to prepare their homilies more carefully and see to it that their preaching more directly relates to the everyday lives of the people in the pews. With regard to multiple ministries, it is important that Catholic parishes improve their pastoral care, especially of the poor, teenagers, young adults, singles, married couples, people who can’t make it to church, those with disabilities, and the elderly.

Catholic parishes have many people with unique gifts and talents that can be better used to reach out to those in hospitals, hospice, or nursing homes. Parishes can learn from megachurches how to better organize small faith groups, Bible study, and expert sessions for married couples, the divorced and separated, and singles. More outreach can be developed for widows and widowers, gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and the transgendered. Much can be learned on how to serve the needy, the poor, and the homeless, both locally and internationally.

Finally, there are things to be learned from megachurches in the area of raising the money needed to support a professional and well-paid staff and to pay for the development of much-needed pastoral programs.

It is enlightening to realize that we all have the same goals: to imitate the life of Jesus and the early Christian communities. Thanks to megachurches for the new energy and passion with which you infuse this mission.

Vatican astronomer Guy Consolmagno explores the heavens in search of higher meaning.

Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno, director of the Vatican Observatory since 2015, finds it altogether baffling that some people still see science and religion as being somehow opposed. “The hardest thing I have to deal with,” he tells St. Anthony Messenger, “is trying to figure out where people are coming from when they don’t see them as a natural fit. That is mysterious. Why would anybody think they’re conflicted? It’s like asking, ‘How can you be a fan of the New York Knicks and also drink Coca-Cola?'”

People think of both science and religion as “big books of facts,” he says. “Everything about that description is wrong.” Our scientific understanding “constantly changes, constantly grows.” The same is true for religion. If it were a book of facts, he says, “You could just memorize it; you wouldn’t have to practice it. Both science and religion are taking what we thought we knew and trying to understand it.”

The Jesuit teacher wraps it up with a quick lesson: The “grand war” between reason and faith, he explains, “was invented at the end of the 19th century. It had nothing to do with Galileo. It had nothing to do with Giordano Bruno. It was a political invention to serve the secular interests of the day. In Europe, secular governments saw the Church as a threat and wanted to bash it. In America, the politics of the day was controlled by people who saw immigrants from central and eastern Europe as threats to the American way. The excuse to keep them out was that they were ignorant; their religion was against science.”

The science of the 19th century was profoundly influential in every area of life. “We had electricity and steam engines that looked like they were going to solve all of our problems.” While technology is terrifically useful, Brother Guy says, it doesn’t solve the real problems, the human problems. For example, “There was this wonderful understanding of how life evolved that Darwin had come up with, and people used that and abused that to support their own horrible ideas. Whether it was social Darwinism, which said helping the poor was hopeless because they are naturally inferior, or the hideous racism that said we can eugenically create the master race—we eventually found where that led. “

Looking Up

Even if science and religion go hand in hand, Brother Guy often hears from those who still think it strange that the Church has an observatory. People ask him, “Why does the Vatican have a space program?” He tells them, “The dangerous answer is: Why would anyone? Why does the US government care about space?”

Detroit-born, Brother Guy says his first love was science, but he always grappled with the big questions, whether astronomical or philosophical. “I was a researcher at MIT [Massachusetts Institute of Technology], 30 years old; I was a PhD, a postdoctoral fellow. And I would lie awake at night asking, ‘Why am I wasting my life studying astronomy? There are people starving in the world! Couldn’t I be doing something more useful than this?’ I quit astronomy. I quit science. And I joined the Peace Corps,” where he was sent to Africa, teaching astronomy at the University of Nairobi, in Kenya.

This seemed an odd turn for someone who had left research academia behind for a more hands-on approach to doing good in the world. Brother Guy says: “Every weekend, I would go up-country to where my fellow volunteers were teaching—in the small schools, in the little villages—and I would give a little talk about astronomy and set up my telescope. Everybody in the village would look at the moon through the telescope.

“It finally dawned on me: this is an important part of being a human being, to have this curiosity—about the universe, who we are, where we come from, how it all fits. We have to feed that curiosity. We have to feed our souls. You have to feed your intellect, or else you’re nothing more than a well-fed cow.”

After all, he says, “we don’t live by bread alone.” And we have to admit, too, “that the answer is not simply, ‘God did it.'” The religion that offers that simplistic answer for every question, he says—brace yourself—is paganism. “But we’re Christians; we have rejected the pagan gods. We believe in a God who decided to create and the first thing he creates is light—so he’s doing nothing hidden, nothing in the dark. God says that everything he has created is good. He invites us, his creation, to enjoy it, and one way of enjoying it is learning how it works.”

The sense of wonder at the created world is certainly familiar to Franciscans. Brother Guy thinks Francis of Assisi can teach us a lot about how to look at the world. “G.K. Chesterton said that the way the pagans looked at nature was to view it as a cruel mother; and the way that Francis looks at nature is as a sister—and not just a sister, but a little sister. A dancing, joyful little kid who you can laugh at and love.

_{It was Albert Einstein who said, “The amazing thing about the universe is that it can be understood.”}

“Nature is not something that controls us or that we control,” he says, “but it is our sibling, to be loved and cared for. More than that, science teaches us a really important lesson: even things that look chaotic can be understood. That there are things that seem to be out of our control, but that we can control. When we encounter problems in life, you don’t blame the gods. You ask, ‘How can I make things better?'”

It was Albert Einstein, reminds this astronomer, who said, “The amazing thing about the universe is that it can be understood.”

How to Understand the Universe

A century ago, Consolmagno says, while the most influential thinkers and leaders of the day were generally in favor of going wherever science might lead, there was one strong countercultural voice: “The Church. Because whether the science was right or wrong (it turns out the science was wrong), it was horribly immoral. The Church has always had the task of reminding people that just because you can do something doesn’t mean it’s a good idea.”

Science, he explains, was invented by the monks in the medieval universities, and was supported by those institutions. Then he says something that might seem counterintuitive today: “Most of the skill of doing science is skill that you learn in a theology class. It’s rationality, it’s trying to understand things you couldn’t understand—by using reason.”

Until the end of the 19th century, he explains, scientists were either noblemen, medical doctors, or the clergy. No one else had the education—or the free time—to go out and gather leaves, or sort and file.

“What do we call that work of sorting and filing?” he asks. “It’s called clerical work, because it was done by clerics. They were trained to record the data of births and deaths in their parish and they used that same skill to keep track of births and deaths of animals and plants, to keep track of the weather.” Knowing the longtime weather patterns was the result of record keeping by the parish priest. “Anyone who suggests that science and religion are opposed is trying to sell something that has nothing to do with science or religion,” he concludes.

The Scientist in the Pew

“I became a Jesuit after I’d been a scientist for 20 years,” Brother Guy says. When he “came clean” about his religious convictions, “I did wonder what my scientist friends would think. But the most common reaction was ‘let me tell you about the church I go to.'”

Citing findings by CARA (the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate), Brother Guy says, “People in church on Sunday tend to be better educated than the general population.

As a result, they’re more likely to be scientists, doctors, and engineers. If you want to find the atheist on campus, you don’t go to the astronomy department.” Consolmagno urges Catholics to cherish science as part of their birthright. He says, “Science is a gift of God to the Church. To try to take it away from religious people deeply damages science because you’re cutting it off from the majority of the human race, who might otherwise be great scientists. And any religious person who is afraid of science, first, has no faith in their faith, and second, they’re losing their very heritage, what our Mother Church has given us.“

The Big Bang Theory: The Other Side

In his talks, Brother Guy often amazes audiences by telling them that the Big Bang theory—that the universe is expanding from an original, single mass—was actually formed and named by a Belgian priest, Georges Lemaître. He reviewed the theories of Albert Einstein and realized that the universe must be expanding, and therefore must have once been condensed. Lemaître told Einstein, “Your calculations are correct, but your physics is atrocious.” At first, Einstein himself ridiculed both the priest and the theory; later, he came to share Lemaîtres views, and the two became lifelong friends.

In a series for the BBC on how the universe will end, A Brief History of the End of Everything, Consolmagno offered a bookend of sorts for Lema√Ætre. He covered some of the most cutting-edge astrophysicists’ theories, but as a Jesuit, Consolmagno sees another dimension.

He says: “The science of the end of the universe is very different from the science of the beginning. We have data from the past; we have no data from the future. So everything is a wild guess. It’s an extrapolation. Everything that we’ve thought of is probably wildly wrong in some way.”

Like the Virgin Mary (in Luke 2:19), he says, we are given lots of wonderful things to ponder in our hearts. “The important thing—in science or religion—is never to stop because you think you have the answer. You never have the answer. If you think you understand the Trinity or quantum physics, you’re wrong.

“We realize in a beautiful way that all the simple answers don’t work.” If we take the Gospel account of the Resurrection at face value, Brother Guy says, “then that means that this body actually matters.” He strikes an ecological note, true not only to the Franciscan spirit, but to everyone, including this Jesuit: “What I do with this body matters. This physical universe matters. What we do in the universe matters. You can’t say it’s OK to trash the planet because we’re going to go off to heaven somewhere else. You can’t say it’s all right for me to abuse someone because God will save their soul later. It’s frightening, because it means it matters. And it’s reassuring, because it means it matters to God.”