The Church Needs Reinforcements

Music written and generously provided by Paul Jernberg. Find out more about his work as a composer here: http://pauljernberg.com

Spanish translations by Vélez Translations, http://www.veleztranslations.com

ENLIST in the Reinforcements at: http://www.brianholdsworth.ca

I sometimes think about times and places where people like St. Albert the Great, St. Dominic, St. Francis, and St. Thomas Aquinas could be found virtually at the same time in the same place and I think, why are we so deprived? Even if we can’t have a contemporary version of these great saints, could we at least have “a this generation’s” GK Chesterton? Because, in case some of you haven’t noticed, the Church is in a bit of a crisis at the moment. Vocations of all kind have collapsed, scandals are the norm, the majority of Catholics don’t believe its most fundamental doctrines, and the appetite to root out corruption is non-existent.

In short, our best and brightest seem to be few and far between. So, as unattractive as it might be, our second or third-rate picks are needed to fill in. And that’s where people like me and maybe you come in. I think the time for standing on the sidelines and waiting for someone or something to renew the Church has expired. We have to stop waiting for the first-pick soldiers or workers or whatever analogy you want to use to save us. The vanguard is depleted, and it is now time for the reinforcements - as reluctant as we might be. And my experience of saying, “Yes, Ok, I’ll do something,” even though I’m insecure about it, even though I feel underqualified, even though nobody knows who I am, and even though I don’t think it will work, has turned into an astonishing realization that God can do unimaginable things with such crude raw materials.

I think it’s time for me (and you) to stop pushing those promptings off into an uncertain someday. Someday I’ll write my book, someday I’ll be available when people ask me if they can interview me, someday I’ll stop asking myself what I can do to help and actually do something. Well, someday doesn’t come if you only ever wait for it. But I’m also keenly aware that I can’t take the steps I’d like to take without your help. I can’t wrestle time away from my day job and continue to provide for my family. I can’t grow my publishing efforts without having a group of people that I can rely on for critical feedback and collaboration. And perhaps you can’t respond to that prompting to make a difference in the Church without the encouragement of a community of people where you can share ideas, resources, and experiences to draw from. So, in the interest of all of those things, I’ve developed an idea and a website for us to try to collaborate in the work that we all feel called to and the desperately needed renewal in the Church. And I’m calling it, the Reinforcements. It’s for those of us who are tired of letting things unfold the way they are and feeling helpless to do anything about it. It’s for those of us who feel called to do something, but don’t know how and maybe feel underqualified.
Well, perhaps this is one such opportunity where God is inviting us to do something and as long as we are willing to say yes, he’ll ensure that some good comes from it.