March 24, 1999

Reading a recent issue of the Christian Century finally provoked me to register a concern raised by other reviews and articles over many months. It would help me a great deal if the editors and writers would delineate, if not define, the "liberal" we are "post" (see especially "The making of a postliberal," by Anthony Robinson and Martin Copenhaver, October 14, 1998). On the basis of my reading I gather that the word "liberal" has now come to stand for whatever it is that various current authors wish to define themselves against.

During a Lenten retreat, we were asked to reflect on the feelings and role of the father in the parable of the Prodigal Son. Though I had frequently thought about the parable over the years, I had not given the father much attention other than to consider him a symbol for God. Our retreat leader, however, asked us to think of the father as a real parent. We discussed parental roles, parents who cannot let their children go, parents who are overly critical, parents who are not available when their children need them.

The majority of the world's resources pour into the United States. And as we Americans grow more and more wealthy, money is becoming a kind of narcotic for us. We hardly notice our own prosperity or the poverty of so many others. The great contradiction is that we have more and more money and less and less generosity-less and less public money for the needy, less charity for the neighbor.

During the past 30 years various churches have begun to revive an ancient pattern for preparing adults for baptism and Christian discipleship. The Roman Catholic Church began the process in the 1980s by creating a Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults-now the way one becomes Catholic as an adult. The Episcopal Church soon followed with a process of its own. Many mainline Protestant churches, especially Lutheran, Methodist and Mennonite, are beginning to experiment with adult initiation-technically called the catechumenate.

1) Storytelling. Each person, whether a bishop or a new Christian, has experienced God acting in his or her life. Telling those stories connects the biblical narrative with our individual lives.

2) Questions. Both our gospel reading and the secular world present us with questions. We discuss the experiences that have elicited our queries during that week and try to answer them. Our agenda almost always can be put aside in order to answer the questions troubling people's hearts and minds.

St. Andrew Episcopal Church in Kokomo, Indiana, began its commitment to the catechumenal process by launching two experiments. In 1992 the church had an enthusiastic congregation eager to share with others both the faith and the rich liturgical symbolism of the Episcopal/Anglican tradition. And it had a priest who believed that liturgical catechesis and formation are at the heart of church growth and revitalization.