Next steps in ministerial and spiritual home improvement.  Larry Huber reflects on the differences between  “builders grade” construction   and quality home improvements and makes some important observations about a spirituality that will last for the long haul.

Larry has just completed his term as President, Philadelphia Archdiocesan Council Society of St. Vincent de Paul. He writes…

My wife and I met with some roofers recently to review our gutters and the estimator explained to us that the gutters were “builder’s grade” and that they should be replaced.  Oddly enough, those “builder’s grade” gutters had lasted 20 years, but with poor performance for more than half of that time.  Notwithstanding the sales pitch, it did cause me to think about my faith and my Vincentian vocation and I started to draw some parallels.   As an aside, I often wonder whether builders consider “builder’s grade” an insult or not.

I think most laymen understand the concept of builder’s grade to be that of something that serves a function but is not intended to last a lifetime.  Lesser grade appliances or surface materials (wall and floor coverings mostly) come to mind – they serve the purpose of making the home very functional  but they may not impress with their quality of workmanship or endurance.  Also, it seems silly to spend a lot of money on paint, carpeting or appliances that will probably be replaced by the new owners anyway.

In reflecting on my own life and the activities I have/had become involved in, both as a participant and as a facilitator, there is a large component of “builder’s grade” to what was done.  Perhaps, in our early faith formation, the builder’s grade version of instruction had been the catechism.  It clearly provided a basis for our early faith formation, but I wasn’t struck with the need to expand on it, at least not until high school and college.  The lessons learned as a youngster were functional enough to begin growth, but that evolution didn’t always happen.  Fortunately, I was encouraged in both high school and college to grow beyond that early formation and see my faith grow into new areas and concerns.  That helped later in life when the black and white world of the catechism got confronted by tons of gray and other colors.

With the Society of St Vincent de Paul, I can see so many Conferences that have had a modicum of instruction or activities to draw in new members, but there wasn’t the more permanent type of evolution to help sustain the initial enthusiasm over the longer haul.  The fire that drew in the members initially has long since turned to embers and doesn’t have enough life left to catch on with others.  That may be why it is so difficult to get younger members – there’s nothing attractive about dying embers (unless, of course, you were around when the fire was raging).

The Society’s approach in recent years has been to get the youth involved in activities. Then, after they have had some engagement in the activity,  giving them the faith foundation for the activity and why it is important to continue.  Some, unfortunately, aren’t getting that faith foundation.  When the activity becomes boring, as they all do when the reason behind it is less clear, they drop out.  The bigger damage done is that they often are left with the impression that the Society is only about the activity they were involved in and it’s boring.

We’re missing opportunities to have the young members progress to the next step, which could easily encourage them to desire a deeper relationship with the people being served.  (Ironically, I have heard of some situations where the younger members wanted to spend more time with the people they have come to know through their ministry, but were somehow discouraged from it by the more senior members of the group.  We have replaced some of our solid faith foundation with builder’s grade materials, not wanting to make a full-blown commitment to the ministry before us. )

I don’t claim to have all the answers, but am I now on the lookout for “builder’s grade” questions that come up – why should we have spirituality at our meetings? why should we try to get to know one another better? why should we reach out to those in need more than once?   We need to make some home improvements.  With the Spirit’s help, we can begin.

Peace,

Larry