My toe was so painful, I could barely walk, much less continue training for a marathon. It was swollen to almost twice the normal size, and I knew something was wrong. So, I went to a podiatrist, who diagnosed overtraining as the issue. He gave me shots and a prescription (which helped in the short term). But, he misdiagnosed my underlying illness. It wasn’t overtraining, it was psoriatic arthritis (an autoimmune disease). Much later I was correctly diagnosed by a rheumatologist who helped me find an appropriate treatment plan, which took years to accomplish. It was a hard and painful time.

A misdiagnosis of an illness means treatments may not work and in some cases can even make the illness worse. In a similar way, this may happen in Catholic dioceses and parishes. The symptoms of our problems are obvious - decline in numbers, fewer young people, low priestly vocations, etc. But, many have misdiagnosed the underlying illness. We look at the symptoms and blame them on various issues (e.g., “we haven’t catechized well”, clericalism, loss of reverence, immorality, the sexual revolution, etc). While these are not unimportant issues, they aren’t the root cause of our illness.

One way Catholics may misdiagnose the situation is when blame is put on Catholic structures (e.g., diocesan offices, parishes, hospitals, schools, etc). But these are not the source of our problems. Rather, the problems come from having the structures without the right understanding of mission and/or the lack of understanding/implementation a proper identity that leads to a proper mission and then strategy.

Most of the people we (CMD) work with (Catholic diocesan and parish leaders), desire to be more fruitful. They want to evangelize, lead, and make missionary disciples - but there are major symptoms that clog up the system. We need to know what the symptoms are to find the underlying cause and then work on good health.

So, what is causing our problems? What is the proper diagnosis?
Here are five underlying illnesses The Catholic Church is currently suffering from.

1 - Catholic Identity Sickness

Some believe the Church exists to maintain the structures. Others believe the Church exists to give us the Sacraments, feed the poor, teach right doctrine, etc. These are important, but not why the Church exists. The Catholic Church exists to evangelize. The Church exists to make disciples. When we don't operate according to this identity - we can fall into maintainence mode and lose our deeper identity. Our identity is missionary. The structures are meant to support that identity and mission, not take their place. To treat identity sickness, we need a deeper understanding of the identity of the Church and a return to the core mission. You can diagnosis whether your parish or diocese is suffering from this by looking at where your priorities (in budget, calendar, staffing, etc) are.

2 - The Wrong Strategy Disease

The Church does not exist in order to run programs, events, classes, etc. If we don't have the right strategy, then we end up replacing the strategy of Jesus for programs, events, & classes. Too few Catholic leaders truly believe that deep investment in a few people is Jesus' strategy, but all the evidence tells us it is. Jesus knew all. He spent 75% of his 3 years in active ministry with 12 men. Did he mess up? Do we think we know better than God? I don't. But many Catholic leaders operate as if they do, because they don't do what Jesus did. Rather, they have become managers of parish machinery, not fruitful evangelists, who live it out in every aspect of life. Rather, we are investing in the crowds, with diminishing returns. This strategy has failed us. Jesus' strategy changed the world. It can do so again.

3 - This Is What We Know and Do Disorder

This sickness is related to "Lack of Faith & Courage to Operate Outside of The Norm sickness". Too often we don't want to be uncomfortable. We don't want to take a risk (either in relationships or in work). Therefore, we stunt our own growth and the growth of others. God WANTS renewal, way more than we do. He also revealed to us (in Jesus) a clear way we ought to operate. Still, God waits to work through His Church (us) until we choose to allow him to. He isn't going to force us to do something we don't want to do. God waits for us to be bold and courageous. This means somebody has to take a risk for God! Someone has to lead in renewal. Look at the Saints. They didn't become holier by being OK with being OK. They stepped out of comfort and into being abnormal. They operated differently. Faith and courage are required to do so. Renewal also requires courageous and visionary leadership, that moves a group of people toward God's vision. It doesn't settle for the way we have always done things.

4 - False Discipleship Sickness

The Catholic Church is using all the right buzzwords (discipleship, missionary disciples, evangelization, accompaniment, etc), and we are talking a good game. But we still need to understand that leading someone to conversion (making disciples) is NOT the FINAL goal. The final goal is to make disciples who make other disciples who make other disciples, etc. In other words it means they don’t stop with one conversion to Jesus, but continue to work until we are all holy evangelists for Jesus who can make even more disciples. That kind of goal is much higher than just getting folks to be a bare-minimum intentional disciple. We need to talk in much bigger terms of evangelization and discipleship with leaders. We need to shoot for a higher goal - the bar that Jesus set for us. He wasn't ok with the conversion of the 12. He sent them out to make other disciples and do what he did. So, they also deeply invested in others and sent out further missionary disciples. What about us? Why aren't we as fruitful as we can be? What is the bar of "success" in our context? Click here for more on this idea.

5 - Creeping Universalism Disorder

If you don’t believe Hell is a real possibility for someone or you don’t believe Jesus is the only way in which someone is saved, then you won’t evangelize. Unfortunately, most Catholics operate and believe as Universalists or semi-Universalists. That is, they aren’t convinced that heaven, hell, and salvation are what the Catholic Church says they are. If we really believe that salvation comes through Jesus Christ by faith, hope, and love of Him, if we really believe Heaven exists and the grace of God, through faith, is the way to enter heaven, then why would we ever withhold such a truth from anyone? Holding to a form of universalism kills our impetus to evangelize.

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These five underlying illnesses aren’t the only things that are causing our problems, but they are at the root of our problems. Let us start to properly diagnosing our sicknesses and then work to alleviate them with greater love of Jesus and others. Let us work for renewal and salvation. These are the things that can drive us to be a healthier Church. A healthier Body of Christ.