Denver Catholic

18 SEPTEMBER 12-26, 2015 | DENVER CATHOLIC Perspectives I n 2003, Elizabeth Maguire, pub- lisher of Basic Books, made a proposal: I should write Letters to a Young Catholic as part of a series she was doing that included volumes like Letters to a Young Contrarian, Letters to a Young Chef, Letters to a Young Golfer, Letters to a Young Lawyer, and so forth. Liz and I had worked well together on The Courage To Be Catholic, but I turned her down. I'd just done a small book of popular apologetics, The Truth of Catholicism and I didn't think I had another one in me. But Liz was nothing if not persistent, and she kept pressing the question whenever we met, trying on at least two occasions to weaken my resistance by standing me to barbecue and bourbon. I fi nally told her that, if I could come up with a scheme that got me interested in such a book, I'd do it – because I'd have to be excited about it if I were going to excite readers. Not a week later, on a coast-to-coast fl ight to Los Angeles from Washington, the light shone and the idea hit: do the book as a catechetical travelogue, tying basic themes of Catholic faith to specifi c Catholic places. And not just obvious places like St. Peter's, the Sistine Chapel, and Chartres cathedral, but funky, out-of-the-way places like Chesterton's favorite pub or the castle where Brideshead Revisited was fi lmed. By the time I landed at LAX, I had the book outlined on a legal pad, and the next six months of writing it were one of the happiest literary experiences of my life – and thus one in a long list of debts I owed the great Liz Maguire, who died far, far too young in 2006. Liz's worthy successor, Lara Heimert, suggested a couple of years ago that I try my hand at a revised and expanded Letters to a Young Catholic. And now the book I've thought of as Letters 2.0 is out – thoroughly revised, and with fi ve new tour stops added to my epistolary romp through the vast, endlessly fascinating world of Catholicism. The new letters in the new Letters to a Young Catholic refl ect my visits to places I'd long wanted to see but hadn't gotten to before the fi rst edition – like the remarkable Hill of Crosses in Siauliai, Lithuania – and places I hadn't thought of writing about before, but now thought it important to take my readers, like the cell in which Max- imilian Kolbe died at Auschwitz in 1942: there, we ponder the witness of the modern martyrs, the mystery of evil, and the Evil One. The "New Evan- gelization" was just beginning to be a prominent theme in Catholic life when Letters 1.0 was being gestated at the end of John Paul II's epic pontifi cate; now that it's become the banner behind which the liveliest parts of the Cath- olic Church march, I wanted to write about that and the related theme of the "inculturation" of the Gospel in di¨ er- ent human contexts. So the new Letters includes a tour stop at the basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, whose image provides an example of what St. John Paul called a "perfect inculturation." The new Letters also looks at the de-Christianization of much of west- ern Europe, through tour stops at two once-Catholic places, King 's College Chapel in Cambridge, England, and nearby Ely Cathedral; there, I probe the complex question of what happened to turn longtime, vibrant centers of Christian life into – you'll pardon the phrase – basilicas of the real absence. Letters 1.0 looked at the liturgy through the experience of a marvelous parish, St. Mary's in Greenville, South Caro- lina; Letters 2.0 looks at the possibility of living All-In Catholicism through another remarkable parish, St. Pat- rick's in London's Soho Square: a most improbably decadent neighborhood in which to fi nd the fullness of Catholic life on display – beautiful worship and nit- ty-gritty community service, evangelical outreach and pro-life witness, interces- sory prayer for lost souls. Come along for the tour, and be reminded that there really is nothing like Catholicism in the world. I recently read Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, by Daniel Pink. The basic premise of the book is that although conventional wisdom tells us that people are motivated by external rewards and pun- ishments, science tells us that people are most moti- vated by the intrinsic rewards that an action or activity awards in and of itself. Most of the world relies on external rewards and punishment in order to motivate—think performance based pay raises, losing weight for a wedding, and "If you are good, we'll go get ice cream after Mass." All scientifi c evidence indi- cates that although external rewards are e¨ ective in short term goals, they actually hamper the motivation to do something long term. Pink highlights three elements which boost motivation: autonomy, mastery, and purpose. As I read his book and began to understand how these principles applied to the business world, I couldn't help but think about how these could be applied to the faith and, more specifi cally, to conversion. The fi rst principle which motivates people is autonomy. This is based upon the assumption that human beings are curious, self-directed learners who want to know things. If a person has the freedom to explore what it is that they are curious about, they are much more motivated not only to explore it but also to solve the problems they identify. From a ministry perspective, autonomy is incredibly important to conversion! To a large degree, everyone's spiritual journey is self-directed in the sense that God has put certain desires on your indi- vidual heart. People need to be able to ask the questions that they want to ask. The other day my mother said to me, "I heard your brother went to your talk at Church." "He did," I said. "What did you talk about?" she asked. "Marijuana," I told her. With eyes wide open she asked me, "Why did you talk about marijuana at church!?!" "Because no one talks about marijuana at church." There isn't a single aspect of our exis- tence that isn't touched by our faith, and as a result, there is no topic that should be "o¨ the table" at church. The main task of the Christian seeking to evangelize is not to present a predetermined set of topics, but to ask the question, "What are you looking for?" (Jn 1:38) and go from there. The second principle is that activities are ordered toward mastery. The allure of mastery is that we are always advancing toward a goal we will never reach. Many people fi nd this troubling when it con- cerns holiness, but acceptable when it concerns golf. Many Christians are tempted to think, "Well, if I'm always going to be a sinner then there isn't much use in battling vice or worrying about sin since Christ already died for it anyway!" This is the most unchristian (technically determin- ist) conclusion in the world! Jesus Christ did not become man and su¨ er for you to become a glutton or a sloth. He did these things so that you could grow into Him, "mature manhood" (Eph 4:13). Christianity is about becoming Jesus Christ. In the Church, this is called the doctrine of divinization. St. Athana- sius teaches us that "God became man so that man may become God." This is what happens as one moves through the stages of the spiritual life. With every act of virtue and grace, a person becomes more like Jesus Christ and realizes more fully the Resurrection. Human beings need to grow, and that is the essence of authentic Christian life. The fi nal principle of motivation is purpose. Everyone one knows that death is as inevitable as taxes. Today, we mistak- enly believe that everyone who dies goes straight to Heaven. Aside from demeaning the eternal implications of our actions, this false belief distracts us from the source of our actual hope—the second coming. Our purpose as Christians is not to get to Heaven, but to participate in God's work of building a New Heaven and a New Earth, which will be fully realized in the second coming! I'm here to build the Kingdom, not to live a mediocre life full of comfort and pleasant distractions that will somehow land me in Heaven despite the lack of any signs of heroic virtue. Our lives have ultimate purpose because we have a mission that we can freely and autonomously embrace and demands and leads to our perfection (mastery). The primary question we must concern ourselves with today is no longer, "what do we believe?" or, "Why do we believe these things?" but "Who cares?" I care deeply about Jesus Christ because I am incredibly motivated by Him and motivated to follow Him. I was empowered in my autonomy by a priest who would talk to me about anything. I have also been directed on a journey that is making me fully human and disposing me to the reality of Christian growth, maturity and perfection. Finally, as I look toward the second coming of Christ, my life is fi lled with purpose to prepare myself and the world around me for the fulfi llment of my hope. I am convinced that if we foster these three elements when sharing the faith, we will experience the fruit of motivated, creative and impassioned Christians driven by purpose. An epistolary romp through Catholicism George Weigel is a distinguished senior fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C. The Catholic Di" erence GEORGE WEIGEL Scott Elmer serves the Archdiocese of Denver in the Oµ ce of Evangelization and Family Life Ministries. Guest Column SCOTT ELMER Motivation and Catholicism

• Cover