Cosmos-Liturgy-Sex

While we are on the topic of evangelization and catechesis…

I have been interested in the Alpha Course for some years now. I have heard a lot about it and many good Catholics have sung its praises as an effective evangelization tool. Many of these Catholic evangelists I know well and have much respect for. Interestingly enough, those who might be considered not so faithful Catholics join them in praising the course. However, there have been a lot of criticisms as well. Some criticisms come from Catholics who say that the course makes good Protestants out of Catholics and criticisms from Protestants argue that it is a tool for making Catholics. Well, recently, I finally the both the time and opportunity to view the videos that are used in the course itself and have formed some thoughts about them. I thought I would jot some of them down before I forget.

First of all, for those who are not familiar with the Alpha Course here is some background. It was begun in an Anglican parish in London back in the mid 1980s. This parish is a charismatic parish that was associated with the “Toronto Blessing” for those who are familiar Benny Hinn. Alpha is a 10 week course that begins the first session with a meal. After the meal is a lecture and then faith sharing. There are a total of 15 lessons that are given with five of them being delivered during a weekend retreat. After each lecture, the attendees break up into small groups led by a facilitator. The course is copyrighted and comes with the stipulation that must be given in its entirety with nothing added or removed if one is to use it. The presenter in the video is Nicky Gumbel, an English, Anglican “clergyman” as he calls himself. Gumbel has developed his course such that he believes that any Christian tradition can feel comfortable in using it.

Because it is therefore, essentially Protestant, a Catholic supplementary series is offered by ChristLife Catholic Evangelization Services in Baltimore. ChristLife has been promoting the course to Catholics in the United States for about a decade or so. They indicate that “hundreds of Catholic parishes” are now using it. ChristLife says that the course is completely compatible with Catholic teaching but does not present the entire Catholic faith so they offer three supplementary series that can be used to “supplement” the Alpha course.

The first is called Touching Jesus Through the Church, presented by Marcellino D’Ambrosio, with 8 lessons. D’Ambrosio by the way endorses Alpha. He is a solid Catholic and very effective evangelist and catechist. The second series is called Drink From the Wells of the Church, presented by Father Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM CAP, who was the preacher to the papal household for JP the Great. He also endorses Alpha for Catholics. Fr. Cantalamessa’s is a seven-talk series. Finally, they offer Catholics Listening to God, given by Bishop Mark Coleridge, an Australian Bible scholar. His is also a seven talk series.

O.k., so my thoughts. First, why is it so successful? I suspect that it has as much to do with environment and approach as it does with the way it proclaims the gospel message. I believe that the weekend retreats and the small groups are a significant part of this. The Cursillo movement, begun in the 1930s in Spain and now spread throughout the world, has had great success in employing these strategies as well. Nicky Gumbel is also a very good speaker. I know as an Irishman, I should not admit this but I find the British accent and phraseology charming and regardless of what is being presented, quite compelling for some reason. While that is not something US Catholics could adopt, I would say that his approach does provide several things that we could learn from.

One is just in style. I think one of the important things I find is that he does not overload the talk with information. He uses plenty of “white space” by using related anecdotes and illustrative personal experiences which I think are compelling for most people. He believes what he says and, while sensitive to his audience, is also firm about what he believes. He identifies his major points as he moves from one to the next and tells people how many he has to cover. Another very important strength is that after presenting a point, he continually invites his listeners to consider what this means to their own lives. In other words, he asks them to examine themselves and see how it might apply to them. There is a continual invitation to conversion. Alpha begins with Christ and helps the student to develop a personal knowledge of Him.

Now do I think that it is appropriate for Catholics, even as initial proclamation? I am sorry to say that I emphatically do not. Why not? I will start with its aim, which is to present the faith from the lowest common denominator as far as faith content is concerned. This by definition is Protestant and so it presents a truncated view of the faith as the essential Christianity. I also must disagree with ChristLife’s assessment that the way it is presented, the material is completely consistent with Catholic belief. It is not.

Here an initial concern is that the program of catechesis is clearly charismatic in focus. Charismatic spirituality is not bad in itself, but in a course like Alpha we are talking about providing the essential core of the Gospel message. While there are two lessons on Jesus, there are three on the Holy Spirit emphasizing the gifts and another session devoted to God’s healing of Christians. Because the weekend retreat is done something like a “life in the Spirit” seminar with the praying over people for the gift of tongues and for healing of any maladies, these become necessary for the Alpha program. However, it leaves the catechetical structure well out of balance and gives the impression that charismatic spirituality is the essence of Christianity.

A further problem is that it presents the faith from a Protestant Evangelical perspective with an emphasis on personal interpretation of the Bible and the suggestion that Scripture is the sole rule of faith. Although in places Gumble does seem to try to correct this impression, in the way he treats Scripture, the Church, becoming Christian, and obtaining forgiveness, he presents an unmistakable individualistic approach to Christianity and the false idea that there is no more to becoming a Christian than one’s personal proclamation of faith.

However, one might ask: can’t these shortcomings be overcome in a Catholic supplement? That is the claim. This is justified further in saying that the initial proclamation need not cover everything. To be fair, Catholics who claim this clearly do not think that there is anything problematic presented. I suggest they are simply not sensitive to the issues I present. However, even if this were the case, Alpha would still be problematic.

In general, the argument that Alpha, as initial proclamation and the call to conversion, is not required to give the entirety of the faith. While initial proclamation in itself need not, the Alpha course is certainly catechetical as well. The General Directory for Catechesis in fact indicates that evangelization/initial proclamation are distinct but not separate. It goes on to say that any initial catechesis must be complete. The problem that is posed by incomplete catechesis is that in doing something partial, it provides a mistaken understanding of the reality you are trying to convey. I think that Gosta Hallonsten, former Carl Peter Professor for Ecumenism at The Catholic University of America, put this concern into another context that I think applies here.

Hallonsten said that Protestantism views, at best, the Catholic faith as “Christianity plus.” In other words, they think that Catholics have added unnecessary teachings to Christianity. He should know. He was a Lutheran theologian appointed to the Lutheran World Federation’s Lutheran-Catholic dialogue prior to his conversion to Catholicism. Gumbel affirms this idea of “Christianity plus” in his Alpha presentation. In his talk on the Church, Gumbel indicates that while truth is important, unity is just as important. He then cites a medieval theologian (whose name I did not recognize but it was something like Bertus Maldivius) who says that in essentials unity, in non-essentials, liberty (this is actually from St. Augustine but he goes not to say but in all things charity). Gumbel goes on to interpret this to mean that we all ought to have the freedom to believe whatever else we wish as long as we agree on the essentials. In the context of what he is saying, the listener takes him to mean that that as long as every Christian accepts the essentials as he has presented them, then Christians ought to be free to add and believe whatever else they wish. Gumbel finishes by saying what joins us in infinitely greater than what divides us.

Hallonsten is emphatic that Catholics must engage in ecumenical dialogue with this understanding of the Protestant view. He, therefore, promotes a more integrated approach to dialogue rather than allowing it to be separated into compartments because compartmentalizing it and then concentrating on issues that Protestantism sees as the essentials (e.g. Sola Fide) abets the mistaken notion that Catholicism is Christianity plus. This same concern can be applied to the Alpha Course. What the Alpha graduate has been both implicitly and explicitly set up to believe, is that if they choose to take the Catholic supplements what they will next be receiving is the optional extras of Catholicism. Trying to deconstruct this view is somewhat problematic because in doing so, one is going to call into question why he was given Alpha in the first place. However, there is more deconstruction/reconstruction to be done.

The course provides both partial truths that distort the entire meaning and false statements about Christianity such as the one about being free to believe whatever one wants as long as they hold to the essentials (though who defines these is left unstated). The course discusses Sacraments but only as symbols with no efficacy and then of course, only two of them (Baptism and the Lord’s Supper). Gumbel presents the Evangelical notion that one is a saved Christian by simply proclaiming one’s faith. He also talks about sin and reconciliation. However, forgiveness is obtained from the moment of one’s repentance. Gumbel discusses the Church at the end of the course. It is presented as a three tiered structure with small cells (like Alpha small groups), mid size groups (about 35 people), and large gatherings for worship. He does say that the Church is necessary, but not for what. He gives only the reason that Christians are needed support each other in keeping up their enthusiasm.

In the end, the Alpha course presents a truncated view of Christ, the Church, the Sacraments, and grace. The Church is understood to be just a community of believers and not an essential mediator of salvation. John Paul the Great in Catechesi tradendae (paragraph 5) says that all authentic catechesis is Christo-centric. But in being Christo-centric we must present the truth about the whole Christ. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (795), drawing on St. Augustine from his Confessions, refers to the Christus totus, the Whole Christ. Christ together with His Church make up the Whole Christ. The Church is not an add on, nor is it just a group of Christians who come together to increase one another’s fervor. The Church is the Mystical Body of Christ and is necessary for salvation. One can be saved only by incorporation into Christ’s Mystical Body through Baptism. The Whole Christ is necessary in order to receive the grace by which we are saved. Grace is a partaking in the divine nature (2 Pt 1:4) and it is only through this partaking of divinity that we can be transformed into Christ and so enter into eternal communion with the Blessed Trinity. However, it is not automatic. As Jesus continually warns, we must be fruitful. In other words, we have to cooperate with His grace in order to become like Him. This is what we call good works. Only Christ’s death and resurrection make any of this possible. Furthermore, the Church is visible (see Matt 18:17; 1 Tim 3:15) and it is hierarchical (see Matt 16:18; Acts 1:15-26). This is the essential Good News and it must be proclaimed in its integrity for an authentic understanding of Christianity and the requirements for a fruitful Christian life.

It is counterproductive to first advocate a presentation of the Good News, and then to essentially deconstruct the initial presentation in order to present the fullness of truth. The thought that Alpha is neutral suggests to me that those who support it unwittingly fall into the trap that Catholicism really is Christianity plus. At least this is the effect of the approach. The Alpha course may be successful, but its success is in creating a Protestant view of Christianity. We already have enough Protestant Catholics in the Church today. What we need for a new evangelization is not to borrow approaches from others when they teach error. We need to take what is helpful in method from them but spend the effort and apply these methods in developing a program with an authentic Catholic faith content.