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Living out our call to authentic masculinity

4/2/2019

3 Comments

 
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Photo credit: St. Peter's, Calgary
It’s time for Catholic men to “man up” and truly follow Jesus Christ in their faith moving beyond the rut they can find themselves mired in when it comes to religion.

That’s the challenging message noted author and speaker Jeff Cavins gave during one of his presentations at the recent God Squad men’s conference - Be Not Afraid To Be A Saint - at St. Peter’s Church in Calgary.

Cavins said men need to understand what it means to be a disciple of Jesus and to walk with Jesus and be His representative.

“There’s a big difference between being a fan of Jesus and a follower of Jesus,” he said. 

“We as modern believers can get caught in a rut . . . Where are we at today as men? Are we fans or are we followers? Are we merely going after theology or are we in a real relationship? And one of the ruts we can get into as men is that we get really excited about studying this stuff. We really like to study the faith . . . But there’s a rut that we can get into if we’re not careful. And that rut is that our faith can be simply made up of studying the faith.”

So our faith isn’t so much having a relationship with Jesus, coming to know Him, becoming like Him and doing what He does on a regular basis but our faith is reading the latest book, watching Catholic television, listening to Catholic radio, etc.

“In other words, the rut is that our faith can become our hobby,” said Cavins as he related a story about photography and how initially he learned all there was to know about the hobby, but it took him a long time to actually buy a camera and to “take a shot.”

“It is possible to get into a rut where you know the faith well; you can converse with others . . . You’ve got the Bible, you’ve got the Rosary, you’ve got a Catechism, you’ve got novenas, you’ve got holy water. You’ve got all the equipment set up, but you’re not taking the shot. That’s the problem we can get into particularly I would say as men we can get into that rut.

“You might be interested in theology, and dogma, and doctrine and councils and everything else. And that’s cool. But that isn’t going to get you to grow spiritually. The only thing that’s going to get you to grow spiritually, the only thing that’s going to help you deal with the vices in your life, is not a CD - that can help with ideas - but the only thing that’s going to deliver you . . . the only thing that’s going to help you grow as men is a relationship . . . I’m not in love with theology. I like it. I enjoy it. But I’m not in love with theology. I’m not in love with doctrine. I’m not in love with dogma. I’m not in love with debates and apologetics. It’s all necessary and good, but I’m in love with Jesus.”

Cavins said everyone has been chosen by Jesus to become like Him. But you cannot become like Him without Him and your lifestyle has to reflect that chosenness.

“So men I’m challenging you tonight . . . Guys you’ve got to decide who you’re going to follow . . .  and you’ve got to man up and follow Him,” he said.

“You as men you are not called to complacency and you are not called to comfort. That is not the calling on your life . . . The calling on your life is not just to have your retirement plan established . . . The calling on our life is such that Jesus said to every man in here one thing more than anything else combined . . . Be not afraid. Why would Jesus say to men be not afraid more than anything else? Because He knows that what he’s calling you to will give you a reason to be afraid.”

Every man is called to go beyond themselves, to go into waters deeper than they’ve been before, to encounter challenges they have never, ever dreamt of encountering and avoiding.

In an interview, Cavins was asked why it is difficult for men to get out of the rut and become a follower as opposed to a fan of Jesus.

“One of the reasons that it’s difficult for men to get out of the rut is because in many homes, not all, it’s their wife that really is the one that is the leader of the spiritual activity of the home,” he said. “The wife is more relational. Men are more service oriented. They want to do things together. I think that’s one of the reasons why we see a lot of men not taking a leadership role.

“But I also think the point of entry into activity in a local parish is confusing to men. There are not a lot of natural points of entry. We don’t build on what St. Thomas said. Grace building on nature. Men do some things naturally. For example, men naturally lead. Men naturally provide. Men naturally protect. You don’t have to teach a man to do that . . . Then we want to bring that into the Church into the spiritual dimension of being a spiritual protector and leader and provider. There’s not a lot of points of entry into involvement in parishes.”

Cavins said many people have also been taught that their faith is a very private thing. One of the biggest problems with men getting out of that rut is that they have not been formed well in Scripture and they don’t want to talk to anyone about it. And unfortunately, many men have not grown up. They have not had other men take them and mentor them.

“And they are still playing with toys. Electronics. Sports. And things like that. But they have not had this rite of passage into manhood and responsibility, and they don’t have a lot of mentors to follow,” said Cavins. “One of the problems is we’re just so inundated with entertainment, sports, finance, games, cars; you name it. They’re distracted. They’re absolutely distracted, and this is not the love of their life.”

Written by Mario Toneguzzi
3 Comments
David McPike
4/5/2019 09:02:58 am

Cavins seems to be one of those advancing a very basic, very widespread, very false dichotomy. On the one side, "theology, and dogma, and doctrine and councils and everything else. And that’s cool. But that isn’t going to get you to grow spiritually." On the other side: "The only thing that’s going to get you to grow spiritually, the only thing that’s going to help you deal with the vices in your life, is not a CD - that can help with ideas - but the only thing that’s going to deliver you . . . the only thing that’s going to help you grow as men is a relationship. . . . I’m not in love with theology. I like it. I enjoy it. But I’m not in love with theology. I’m not in love with doctrine. I’m not in love with dogma. I’m not in love with debates and apologetics. It’s all necessary and good, but I’m in love with Jesus.”
So what's the problem here? The problem is that Cavins implies that there is a merely *extrinsic* relationship between theology (for example) and relationship with/love of Jesus. And that idea is false. We can only love what we know, and when we love we seek to grow in knowledge of our beloved. The relationship is intrinsic. That growth - in faith that seeks understanding - constitutes the essential foundation of our loving relationship with Christ: "it is intrinsic to faith that a believer desires to know better the One in whom he has put his faith, and to understand better what He has revealed" (CCC 158). Likewise with dogmas and councils: these are the living expressions of the working of the Holy Spirit, sent by Christ to guide his bride, the Church, the mystical body of Christ, over the course of the centuries, into all truth. You cannot separate love of Christ, relationship with Christ, from love of his mystical body, the Church, and the precious truths which our loving God has revealed and taught us through the gift of the Church. Study has been fittingly called a prayer to the truth, and that is what it should and must be for the believer, an intrinsic part of loving Christ. 'Disciple' means primarily 'learner,' not 'follower.' It seems to me, then, that Cavins is perpetuating serious misunderstandings of the nature of Catholic faith.

Reply
Sean Lynn
4/14/2019 12:23:04 pm

Can an illiterate uneducated man know and love Jesus?

Jeff was suggesting that we need to get to know Jesus to love him and that it is not the theological debates that win people over to Jesus. It is the love and relationship that you show you have with Jesus that transmits the faith. Then all the dogmas and theology help explain it.

Reply
David McPike
4/14/2019 09:13:11 pm

Hi Sean, thanks for your question and objection.

It depends how uneducated and illiterate he is. A completely uneducated (and a fortiori illiterate) man - for example, an infant or someone raised by wolves - indeed cannot *actually* know or love Jesus, although through the grace of baptism it is possible for *habitual* divine charity (and saving grace) to be infused into his soul (so that if he died he *could* then come to *actually* know and love Jesus). Thus the vital importance of education (especially of parents in their role as first educators): education is precisely what makes it possible for us to know and love God.

[Which is why Pope John Paul II wrote, in Catechesi tradendae: "the Church is bidden by God and by events - each of them a call from Him - to renew her trust in catechetical activity as a prime aspect of her mission. She is bidden to offer catechesis her best resources in people and energy, without sparing effort, toil or material means, in order to organize it better and to train qualified personnel." Lots of other great stuff in that document addressing the false dichotomy being advanced here!]

And I see no reason to doubt that what Cavins was actually suggesting, indeed, what it is he *actually stated*, was precisely the false dichotomy which I've described and explained already (see above). And you're following him into the same error. Consider the life of Francis de Sales, or of Peter Canisius, for example (or many, many others, famous and otherwise!): it is surely just false to assert the dichotomy you've offered in claiming that "it is not the theological debates that win people over to Jesus." (I'd also caution you about moving goalposts: Cavins' original claim was about spiritual growth.)


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