A Review of "Rebuilt"

 The book Rebuilt is quite popular among local Catholics these days. Co-authored by Father Michael White and Pastoral Associate Tom Corcoran, the book recounts the story of parish transformation at the Church of the Nativity, a Catholic congregation in Timonium, MD within the Archdiocese of Baltimore, specifically the vision summarized by the phrases in the subtitle: Awakening the Faithful, Reaching the Lost, Making Church Matter.

   I’ll admit to an initial skepticism about the book; as I first skimmed it I suspected it represented a Catholic co-opting of the evangelical mega-church movement. Having left the evangelical world eight years ago, I am more familiar than most Catholics with many of the assumptions and strategies of the mega-church movement. Moreover, I spent a year travelling to and studying numerous large evangelical churches during my year as a resident doctoral student in Asbury Seminary’s Beeson program (1997-98).

  With that background, my initial impression of Rebuilt was that it felt like a trip back in time to the buzzwords of evangelicalism, terms like “relevance”, “innovation,” “small groups,” “core values,” “mission statement,” “seeker,” etc. We Catholics do have an unfortunate tendency to latch onto Protestant fashions only after they’ve become passé to our friends across the Tiber, like the parents who discover Facebook after the teens have moved on to Twitter. We did the same thing with the historical-critical method of biblical scholarship.

   Of course, it’s unfair (and ironically cliché) to judge a book by its cover, so I shelved my presumptions—as best I could—and read Rebuilt. What follows are a list of the pros and cons of this influential book.

   The positives qualities of the book are numerous, namely:

• Trying something, ANYTHING.
  Just recognizing and acknowledging the major bleed taking place within most Catholic parishes—four once-practicing Catholics out the back door for every new convert in the front door—is practically enough to redeem the whole book for me. Go into most local parishes and you’ll discover that this alarming reality is not even acknowledged, let alone discussed. Critics of the book should ask themselves, “Isn’t their way of doing it (i.e. making disciples) better than our way of not doing it?”

• Fairness to evangelicals.
  On my journey to the Catholic Church, many of my false perceptions about Catholics were corrected. However, upon becoming Catholic, I discovered that false perceptions can go both ways. Some cradle Catholics are unfairly and inaccurately dismissive of evangelical Christians and especially mega-churches, viewing them merely as offering “entertainment” for less-serious believers. The authors Fr. White and Corcoran readily affirm that evangelicals have much to teach us and therefore seek to emulate their approaches to outreach and disciple-making.

• The important of parish culture.
   Like a fish doesn’t know it is wet, most of us are blissfully ignorant that our parish has a particular culture and that it also affects us. Taking an honest look at the assumptions and attitudes that drive our local parish is not navel-gazing but a painful and necessary first step toward parish renewal.

• The difference between Tradition and traditions.
   Too many of us fail to discern the difference between Tradition (the unchanging deposit of faith handed once and for all to the apostles and their successors) and traditions (how we practically communicate and implement this unchanging Tradition). Rebuilt does a good job of challenging the need to always do what we’ve always done.

• The emphasis on making disciples.
  The authors of Rebuilt place a needed on emphasis on our commission from Christ to “make disciples,” as in mature, adult believers. Too many times our implied mission is to make Mass attenders, with little commitment and priority given to the systematic formation of lay Catholic adults. This, in my opinion, explains the troubling number of adult converts who stop practicing their faith within the first few years of becoming Catholic; after having a regular place of community and formation in RCIA, these persons find themselves floundering because of a lack of such opportunities once they enter the Church.

• The importance of outreach.
   To inculcate evangelization in the culture of the parish, it must be woven into the ongoing conversations of the community;  preached about in homilies, prayed about in petitions, planned for in meetings, and prioritized in budgeting. Rebuilt is an example of a parish that is doing just that. It's also refreshing to see a Catholic parish talking about "lost people," acknowledging both the aimlessness that accompanies unbelief and the danger of personal damnation, rather than the quasi-universalism and apathy that often leaves Catholics unconcerned about those outside the Church.

• Fostering stewardship, not fund-raising.
    Hands down, the best chapter in Rebuilt was #10, “Don’t Rob God.” While fund-raising through bingo, fall festivals, and raffles is a time-honored parish tradition, there’s a difference between fund-raisers that build community and fund-raisers that consume parish energies and becomes an end in themselves. The authors effectively identify parish addiction to fund-raising as well as the need for greater financial health and literacy among parishioners. Perhaps the best few lines in the whole book are these: “Successful church funding should be about planting fruit-bearing trees—parishioners who are givers. Fundraising raises funds. We should be raising givers.”

• The need for better preaching.
   Don’t know that there is much to add here, but the authors are piercingly accurate in their critique of the ineffectual aimlessness of much contemporary Catholic preaching.

• The need for better music.
   To slightly edit the immediately previous category, the authors are piercingly accurate in their critique of the ineffectual aimlessness of much contemporary Catholic music.

• Intentional hospitality.
    While Catholics do not have a monopoly on inhospitable faith communities, there is much we can do to more intentionally, effectively and authentically welcome newcomers and regular attendees to Mass and other parish events. Rebuilt offers some helpful, practical guidance for parishes to consider.
 
And now, several negatives:

• Throwing parishioners under the bus.
     One irksome thing about the book was the consistency with which the authors portrayed long-time parishioners as rigid, narcissistic consumers. Obviously, many of those referred to so harshly are either still parishioners at the Church of the Nativity or still living in the community. Is there nothing positive the authors could say about the previous ministry at Nativity? It’s as if no one the parish gave any thought to outreach or disciple-making before the authors arrived. Meanwhile, those parishioners who were critical regarding parish changes are largely dismissed as selfish obstacles to growth.

• At the same time, annoying self-promotion.
    Though the authors include occasional self-deprecating remarks about the things they learned from failure, it doesn’t negate the impression that much of the book is self-congratulatory in nature.

• A sprinkling of Catholicism.
    Despite the pains the authors take to insist that their model is not simply a co-opting of the evangelical mega-church model sprinkled with some Catholicism, I’m afraid that they are protesting too much. The message seems to be “We have everything they have at Saddleback/Willow Creek, and we have the sacraments, too!” For example, reading the “core values” of the parish, the first insists that “we value our Catholicism” followed by the remainder that could easily fit any evangelical community without any editing whatsoever. I’m not even sure what “we value our Catholicism” is supposed to mean.

    It’s one thing to glean valuable insights from our separated brothers and sisters, but it’s another to shoehorn an evangelical approach into a Catholic parish. Not only does Rebuilt, in my opinion, uncritically adopt a 1990s mega-church model, but it treats the mysteries of faith, particularly the sacraments, and two millennia of Catholic devotional, liturgical, musical, and architectural patrimony as fringe benefits rather than central to Catholic faith and identity. Would it not be more effective and authentic to root a parish model more firmly in sacramental Catholic soil, especially the Eucharist?

• Blurring of the distinctive claims of Catholicism.
   In talking about the previous criticism with a good friend (and cradle Catholic), he suggested that evangelical models look especially attractive to us because “we don’t know who we are.” He makes a valid point. The authors sometimes refer to the Catholic Church as a denomination, recommend evangelical small-group resources without critique or reservation, and largely mute if not omit the assertion that Catholicism represents the fullness of the Christian faith. Poorly catechized Catholics who read this book might conclude that if their local Catholic parish isn't doing the things the authors endorse, they'd be better served to find the nearest mega-church who is, since there isn't any substantial difference across "denominations." And they might even have better coffee!

• The “weekend experience.”
     I was particularly frustrated with the chapter entitled “It’s the Weekend, Stupid!” Yes, we can do much more to encourage active, conscious participation in the liturgy, and there’s nothing intrinsically virtuous about boring people.  But referring to the Mass as the “weekend experience” reduces the Holy Sacrifice to a well-oiled exercise in customer service. While hospitality is certainly a Christian virtue, and one that could be strengthened in most Catholic parishes, we fundamentally err if we view the Mass as an evangelization event. The Mass is qualitatively different than Protestant approaches to worship; there’s a reason, after all, that catechumens are dismissed before the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Not that the Mass doesn’t have an element of evangelization, but it is typically a by-product of its intrinsic beauty and mystery rather than a strategy.

    That being said, I believe parishes can and should provide more non-threatening avenues and opportunities for persons who might desire to explore the Catholic faith and ask questions. There is nothing in canon law that prohibits a preaching/teaching event that could be crafted to be more appealing to outsiders.

• Oriented around the parish facility or staff.
     During his time as the Cardinal Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Bergoglio (aka Pope Francis) spoke of the “clericalization” of the laity, referring primarily to the tendency to reduce lay ministry to service at the altar (as lectors, extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist, etc.) or parish staff. He reminded the laity of their vocation of carrying the gospel into the world where they live and work. One aspect of the 1980s/1990s mega-church model that has been rightly critiqued within evangelicalism was the tendency to measure church success by the number of people hovering around the church facility. At times, I sense the authors of Rebuilt falling into the same trap, as ministry seems primarily envisioned as programmed activities centered around the parish buildings or staff.

• Criticizes consumerism, and then baptizes it.
   As frustrated as White and Corcoran seem with the consumer mentality they found upon arriving at the Church of the Nativity—where convenient parking was the number one draw of the parish—the approach they endorse, despite their protests, seems to be driven largely by consumer concerns. The many references to "Timonium Tim," the typical parishioner they are trying to reach (a shameless knock-off of Rick Warren's "Saddleback Sam") are not only gag-inducing, but equates evangelization to targeted marketing and reduces the beautiful diversity of a local Catholic parish to bland homogeneity. While there’s a fine line between hospitality and pandering, I’m not sure the authors effectively clarify the difference.

  So, in short, would I recommend the book? Yes, but with reservations. I would see Rebuilt less as a guidebook and more as a conversation starter. Despite my initial misgivings, there is much that is helpful and thought-provoking within the book, certainly too much to reject it. At the same time, in my opinion, parish pastors and other leaders should not simply distribute the book without solid catechetical guidance and commentary. Rebuilt can provide one particular perspective within the larger question of how Catholics and local parishes can faithfully embody the new evangelization.