Book Review: “From Christendom to Apostolic Mission"

This short book, 94 pages, by Monsignor James Shea, the president of the University of Mary (sponsored by Benedictine sisters) in North Dakota is worth pondering. “From Christendom to Apostolic Mission: pastoral strategies for an Apostolic Age” is not an easy read. It is an academic and theological presentation of Shea's vision of what Catholicism could be with the New Evangelization of the Church, which several of the recent popes have called for. 

Those who know medieval history will think the term “Christendom” that Shea uses means Christian Europe and the region of those days, but he is not referring to that term. He is using that term to refer to recent decades where some Catholics are Catholic because they were cradle Catholics and really don't know their faith as well as they should. 

Some of these Catholics do not believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. They don't see suffering or sacrifices as a good thing. They think a priest should break the seal of confession. They think the Church is all about rules and morality. Secular society can persuade them to think that many of the “good things” it does is what Jesus would approve of. Some of that could be true, but a lot of secular society is influenced by the enlightenment, which excludes God and relies more on humanity.
   
Many Catholics, according to Shea, have lost the vision that there are two worlds; the visible and the invisible or supernatural, which includes God. There is a battle between good and evil in the world and in the supernatural world. In some ways the devil and his minions are trying to convince us that there is no afterlife and that there is no God.
   
Shea did not write exactly the following, but it fits. He is concerned that something would happen whereby Catholics would quit going to Mass or doing Catholic things. This has sort of happened with the COVID-19 pandemic. Some Catholics have stopped going to Mass since they got used to not going when the churches were closed due to the virus. Another excuse is the sexual abuse scandal.
   
The “Apostolic Age” is Shea's vision of the Church and its members living up to what Christ taught. It is a time similar to the age of the early Church of the Apostles and the early martyrs where Catholics took their faith seriously and not in a nominal way. They would believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. That is a good thing to help the poor for the sake of Christ and not for prideful reasons. Shea's vision also concerns education, the arts, the liturgy and many other cultural and political endeavors. The vision is broad and calls for a New Evangelization through many avenues and aspects of society.

Again, this book is not an easy read, as is shown by what I have tried to write about it. It is very worthwhile to ponder, especially by clergy, religious and the laity as we are all called to the New Evangelization. 

Br. Benet Exton, O.S.B., St. Gregory's Abbey in Shawnee, is a freelance writer for the Sooner Catholic.