“What’s virtue got to do with it?”

The 2019 Catechetical Congress took place at the Catholic Pastoral Center in Oklahoma City on Sept. 21. The day included Mass and three speakers to inspire religious educators and religious education directors.
 
Father William Novak, vicar general and pastor of Saint Francis of Assisi, started with the celebration of the Eucharistic Liturgy. He talked about Saint Matthew who was called by Jesus.
 
“I’m willing to guess many of you feel unworthy of the ministry of evangelization. I bet some of you feel unprepared to teach the faith and share your personal faith journey with others. You’ve read a few books, attended a few seminars and watched a few Bishop Barron’s YouTube videos, and if you haven’t, I highly suggest you do,” Father Novak said.
 
“But, God acts in mysterious ways and so you are here. My fellow disciples, our lack of knowledge, our weakness and our need for more training and experience is understood – we all fall short in these areas and that is why we offer such opportunities as this Catechetical Congress and why Bishop Barron has so many YouTube videos. God has entrusted us with the awesome responsibility of serving and sharing our faith with other by the grace given to each of us.”
 
The first speaker, Alexander Schimpf, Ph.D., the archdiocese’s director of the Office of Marriage and Family Life Ministries, gave a talk called, “Only You, Lord: Happiness and the Human Person.”
 
Schimpf spoke of Saint Thomas Aquinas and his response to God’s question, “You have written well of me Thomas, what reward would you have?” And, Thomas responses, “only you Lord, only you.”
 
Schimpf stated it was the smartest thing Thomas could have said because the vocation of a human person is life in the Holy Spirit.
 
“God calls us to a life-long relationship with him,” Schimpf said. “It is clearly stated in the beatitudes, not once but twice – 'theirs is the kingdom of God.’ If you and your students are made by God for God, then only God can make you happy. Without God we have this deep emptiness we try to ignore, fill up or medicate.
 
Because without God even the good things we have eventually slip away. Only one good thing makes sense and only one good thing fully satisfy the human heart and satisfies it forever, and that is God.”
 
Susan Selner-Wright, Ph.D., Archbishop Charles J. Chaput Chair of philosophy at Saint John Vianney Theological Seminary, followed with “What’s Virtue Got to do With It?”
 
She said, if “we were made for happiness, then why are we so unhappy?” This is not a new question, according to Selner-Wright, Plato and Aristotle explained the human soul via psychology and the soul included rational, spiritual, appetitive and vegetative forms. She also talked about the cardinal virtues on which everything else hinges, and include faith, hope and charity.
 
Selner-Wright recommended two books to the group, “Aquinas for Beginners, I and II.” Additionally, she suggested Endow, the Education on the Nature and Dignity of Women group. Information can be found on endowgroups.org.
 
The last session was with Karlo Broussard, apologist/speaker from Catholic Answers, who spoke on “Your Truth, My Truth,” a look at relativism.
 
Broussard gave tips to combat conversation stoppers such as “that may be your truth, but it isn’t my truth” and ways to help teachers and students handle incidents when labeled intolerant or judgmental because of their religion. Broussard explained the case for objective truth with examples of how to explain true and false, and that right and wrong are universal, because these are designated by God.
 
He recommended his CD by the same title, “Your Truth, My Truth, How to Understand and Refute Relativistic Thinking,” and his book “Prepare the Way, Overcoming Obstacles to God, the Gospel and the Church.”
 
Judy Hilovsky is a freelance writer for the Sooner Catholic.

Photo:  Participants at the 2019 Catechetical Congress Sept. 21 at the Catholic Pastoral Center in Oklahoma City. Photo Cara Koenig/Sooner Catholic.