By TARA CONNOLLY Staff writer
Abby Maria, Parishioner of St. Ignatius Loyola, Sinking Spring
Biographical background
Abby (Ross) Maria, 28, parishioner of St. Ignatius Loyola, Sinking Spring. Homeschooled for elementary school and high school. Earned a bachelor of science degree in education from the Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio.
How were you raised in the faith?
I was raised in a solid Catholic home. My parents were dedicated to my formation and education in faith. They provided a Catholic homeschool education and many opportunities for retreats, youth conferences, and other types of Catholic fellowship. I count myself among a blessed minority who has two passionately Catholic parents, witnessing the beauty and permanency of the sacrament of marriage.
As I approached high school graduation, it became very important to me to attend a Catholic university where I would further grow in my relationship with Christ and his Church through the sacraments, spiritual leadership, community and theology classes. Through my education at Franciscan University, I grew into my adult faith and it has helped me become the person I am today.
Why did you accept the opportunity to serve on the commission ?
When Bishop Schlert invited me to serve on the commission, I was quite honored and excited. I had already met the Bishop on several occasions and was impressed by his orthodoxy, humility and friendliness. I knew that as young adults, we would be heard and respected as we sought to address the needs in the Diocese of Allentown.
What are some of the issues you would like to see addressed and why?
I would like to see a greater focus and emphasis on the beauty of the Mass in our parishes. The Mass is literally heaven on earth, and our music, reading of the Scriptures, homilies, and reverence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist should reflect this. Young adults need to encounter this beauty in order to have the conviction to be part of the Catholic Church.
Why are young adults so important to the future of the Church?
Young adults are so important to the future of the Church because we live in a world that rejects the faith of the Catholic Church more than it did in any previous generation. We are completely counter-cultural, and young adults need formation and conviction so that they have not only desire to raise their children in the faith, but also the adamant dedication it will take to do so.
What do you believe has caused some young adults to drift from the Church and how can the Church reach out to them?
There are just so many reasons I have heard for why people of my generation leave the Church. I think the vast majority leave because, as I said, the Catholic faith is more counter-cultural than ever before. It is more convenient to live your life outside of the Church and be “free” to make your own decisions without any consequences.
And yet, we see the consequences of such a life in the staggering depression and suicide rates of young people. Without a sufficient education in the truths of the Catholic faith, it is easy to succumb to atheistic philosophies.
I think that many fallen away Catholics never grew into an adult faith, and therefore were unable to use apologetics, philosophy and history to defend their faith when it was put to the test.
The way the Church can reach out to these young adults is through catechesis. This should be in a variety of formats, from theological homilies to guided studies of the Scriptures and early Church fathers, to guest speakers and personal conversations.
In light of the clergy abuse crisis, how and why did you remain steadfast in the faith?
I will always come back to a solid Catholic education and knowledge of history and philosophy. Before the clergy abuse crisis was exposed, I knew about many other clerical abuses throughout the centuries of Church history. I knew that the Catholic Church had always remained faithful to Christ’s teachings despite these abuses and punished the abusers in a much more serious way than we do today.
But mostly, what helped me to remain steadfast in the faith was the conviction that despite the sinful people we have within the Church, it doesn’t change the truth that this is Christ’s Church – that he himself was abandoned by his closest followers during the most difficult moments of his life, and that to abandon him now would simply show my lack of love for him and his truth.
James Maria, Parishioner of St. Ignatius Loyola, Sinking Spring
Biographical background
James Maria, parishioner of St. Ignatius Loyola, Sinking Spring. I was born and have spent the last 30 years in Reading, where I work as a painter and tattoo artist. My wife Abby Maria, son and I are active members of St. Ignatius.
How were you raised in the faith?
I was raised by two loving, involved and impressively cooperative co-parents. My mother, an evangelical who attends an Assemblies of God church in the Reading area, raised me in her faith with a deep appreciation for the written word of God, for community and a courageous spirit of evangelization.
My father, now a priest in the Diocese of Allentown, Father John Maria, raised me in his Catholic faith, instilling in me a love for the Church that Christ established, for the rich philosophical tradition, the depth of doctrine and, of course, the sacraments, which were ultimately why I chose to remain Catholic full time rather than just every other weekend.
Why did you accept the opportunity to serve on the commission?
I accepted the opportunity to serve on the commission for young adults because, like many, I observed a need for the continued formation, the involvement and the active, loving pursual of an entire generation that is quickly being lost to modernism and moral relativism, a generation scourged more than ever by nihilism, hopelessness, anxiety and depression.
This is a whole segment of the population that I am confident God is actively calling out of darkness and into his light so that he can employ them, not to “reinvent” his Church as previous generations have foolishly endeavored, but to rebuild his Church with the blueprints that Christ and his apostles drew for us.
What are some of the issues you would like to see addressed and why?
I’d like to see the young adults of our Diocese make return to Christ’s Church, primarily because, even in the midst of the muck and mire, it remains the venue for the most profound encounters with transcendent truth, with timeless beauty and with the creator of the universe himself, in and through the live-giving sacraments and the enriching traditions of our Catholic faith.
Why are young adults so important to the future of the Church?
In a very practical way, the encounter, conversion and reconversion of young adults should be our Church’s priority, as they are and will be the next generation entering the years during which they’ll have families. Many of my peers’ parents were content to heap all of the responsibility in catechizing their children on CCD or religious education programs and (while, frankly, that’s not enough and we should work to improve those programs), I fear that even this opportunity will be lost if the next generation of parents lacks a real relationship with Christ, his bride the Church and her teachings.
What do you believe has caused some young adults to drift from the Church and how can the Church reach out to them?
I think that a lot of the mass exodus of young adults in the Church is a result of poor formation. Many don’t know or fully understand why we should stay. A recent Pew poll suggested that less than 30 percent of attending Catholics actually believe in the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Even if we teach our children intellectually that the bread and wine are transubstantiated into the body, blood, soul and divinity of our Lord, are we living lives, conducting liturgies, singing songs and maintaining dispositions that are affirmative of that truth?
If we, as individuals or as a church are not, then we are why they are leaving and God have mercy on us.
While we must accompany our young adults, and all of God’s children, we are called to accompany them back to truth, to beauty and to the deposit of faith, protected by Christ’s Church.
In light of the clergy abuse crisis, how and why did you remain steadfast in the faith?
To paraphrase St. Peter, “Lord, to whom else should we go? You alone have the words of everlasting life.” For all of its sinful members, even in the hierarchy), in all of its failures and faults, the Catholic Church has been protected providentially from teaching formal heresy as doctrine.
It is the responsibility of this generation to respond with gratitude to that protection and to make a humble, heartfelt return to God and his Church – to rebuild in the same way that St. Francis of Assisi, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Frances de Sales, St. Ignatius and others reformed from within. God will raise up holy men and women to restore his Church, his bride.
