Navigating the Secular: Insights from a Catholic Catechist

Angelo Kurbanali, catechist, reflects on how Catholics can engage with a secular world that often seems at odds with Church teaching. These are the teachings he brings to his catechumens.

As a catechist, I encounter many with questions about our Catholic faith, especially in relation to how we ought to engage with the secular. An Oxford search of the word defines secular as “not connected with spiritual or religious matters”. Based off that definition, my mind experiences a bit of a dissonance, in the sense where I’m not sure how to process disconnectedness through a Catholic lens. In our sacramental world view, everything is connected.

I often find that we have a way of trying to categorise things as being either sacred or secular. More so, I often find that we believe we’re called to one way of being when we’re relating with the sacred, and another, often different way of being when we’re relating with the secular.

The Unity of Catholic Faith and Life

One of the many beautiful things about Catholicism is the fact that we aren’t people of separated dualities, but rather of unified oneness. Even if a matter may not be regarded as explicitly religious, our reality is that we can still relate to it in an explicitly religious way. Now obviously, that doesn’t mean we need to throw a bottle of holy water at challenging issues in our life [unless it helps]. What it does mean, however, is that rather than having to navigate between the sacred and the secular, between Church teaching and secular issues, we can navigate secular issues in a Catholic way, with Church teaching as our guide.

The thing with our teaching, we have such a deep tradition that we aren’t limited only to Scripture, or only to Tradition, or only Reason, or only to Experience. The fruits of these fundamental trees in our garden are supposed to be authentically mediated by our bishops on behalf of all the faithful. This entire process is balanced by the Holy Spirit and produces what we understand to be Catholic Teaching, a deep pool in which we can immerse ourselves. From these waters, we come up well equipped with ability to have answers to our most difficult challenges.

As of right now, reading is quite possibly the most accessible way for us to encounter the formative information we need, although there are a lot of good audio-visual resources too. Additionally, being involved in ministry is a guaranteed way for us to encounter opportunities to learn and grow in ways that teach us how to relate with secular issues.

The Authenticity of Catholic Engagement

We have a way of traditionally doing good and avoiding evil, or often, avoiding that which is secular. This isn’t an inherently bad approach. It just isn’t the fullness of our ability either. The reality is that no matter where we are, lay or religious, there’s no avoiding the secular. We might hear of times where a large majority of the Church didn’t necessarily have to directly face secular issues, but outside of [arguably] monastic life, we all must navigate. And there lies yet another beautiful thing about our faith.

Essentially, our faith is meant to support our lives (§3, Antiquum Ministerium), and for most of us as laypersons, our “apostolate is unquestionably ‘secular’” (§31, Lumen Gentium). The Church can only do its work through laypersons relating to the secular. Without laypersons following their calls, often meaning engaging with the secular, the Church is just a shell of itself. As the historical Christ reached out to those on the margins, the outcasts, the most secular or sinful, the Body of Christ can and ought to go out and interact with the secular, especially with the intention of sanctifying anything in Creation that we consider secular.

We might often come across things that go directly against our Creed or our Catholic ethics. Or, another issue is that ascribing to doctrines might seem tired and non-trending. Thankfully, our faith isn’t a trend, but rather a millennia-old tradition that encompasses absolutely everything we can imagine. There isn’t an issue that we can’t speak to. We can relate to the secular through our authenticity. And for anyone reading who laughs at the idea of the Catholic Church being authentic, it would do us good to remember that we are the Church.

Did Christ not come to redeem Creation through his Incarnation? While Jesus may no longer physically walk the Earth as an individual, He is still very much present through our presence. Through the embodying of our Christian values of love, compassion, integrity, etc., we bring the holiness of the Communion of Saints to all things secular. So long as we know what we’re about, then we need not worry so much about what we risk by interacting with the secular, or how we ought to act when it comes to secular issues.

Our Christian identity as blessed and beloved is enough.

Kurbanali went to Barry University, a Catholic university in Miami to pursue Graphic Design and it was here that he was introduced to theology. At the university, Philosophy and Theology are compulsory courses.