WHERE HAS THE BEAUTY GONE? PART I

It was always funny, everything taken just as it was said it is or is like. We couldn't think about what was said or even question; how would you question what is a very clear, interesting and factual truth. An instructor would come raise a question, teach its answer and we would all respond in loud choruses. A sample of it  is like;

1.      Instructor: Who Created us?

Learners: God Created us.

2.       Instructor: Who is God?

Learners: God is a Pure Spirit, He is the Creator of heaven, earth, and everything in it.

3.       Instructor: Where is God?

Learners: God is in heaven, on earth and everywhere, we do not see Him because He is Pure Spirit.

That was how we were introduced to the immense wisdom and the foundation of faith and life in the catechism classes. If you ask me about my experience during the Catechumenate, I would boldly respond, "the experience was wonderfully beautiful.

After each lesson, we were taught the history of Israel and our salvation based on Biblical teachings. This were done using beautiful songs which were not only easy to remember but also very enjoyable like "Kica Obanga ikomwa pe bino tum" rendered in English; 'God's mercy on us endures forever' a song which the Israelites sung after crossing the Red sea; another song recall Peter's healing of the lame begger in Acts 9:3 chanted; " wun jo a Kristo itye wunu kwene ... ya malo... ape kede ginoro aromo miyi, ento abino miyi gin ame atye kede; inying Yesu me Nazaret ya malo iwoti". These among other things made the lessons very enriching, no one would want to miss a session and the joy we would run to make sure we start the lesson early tells how attractive the session was for us.

Other events that made our young days in the Mother Church beautiful was participating in Liturgical dance/ procession, at the end of the Mass/Service there were always good educative presentations like dramatizing sections/parts of the Bible. I still remember very well the parts I acted (I was Joseph, when we acted the story of the 12 sons of Jacob, Andrew when we dramatized the experience of the 12 Apostles with Jesus etc). Today, all these are gone; where have they gone is the question.

A protestant Reverend once told me how they could loose a lot of their young members to the Mother Church because of the attraction of these key events which is both educative and entertaining; that, when these kids and young-lads attends one of the function, they would hardly go back to the Protestant Church even if they were to be coerced by their parents. For they would desire to remain in the Catholic Church forever, and that explains why the number of Catholics beats all denominations in our area. Still one wonders where the attraction have gone?

Seeing the current state of the Church one may wonder; what  is it that has taken the beauty of that Catholic experience that used to draw many young populace to the Church? Where has the beauty of Catechism, liturgical dance and procession, evangelizing drama, story telling and Eucharistic Crusaders gone? What really happened that took these and made many young populace prefer going to beaches and bars instead of the Church today? Can we restore these joy and beauty back these days?

I know most of us desire that we have a vibrant Church, a Church that would produce enough vocation to continue the mission of the Church and the Mission of God. A Church that would produce good productive, and dedicated Christians, a Church that would be the light that shines in today's darkened world and a Church true to its divine mandate. If we desire these, then we need to bring back the attractive traits of our faith especially those that deals with character formation among the young members of our congregation; let us raise up the Crusaders of the Holy Eucharist, bring back Biblical story telling, drama and liturgical dance; create avenues for making the Church the home for all.