Seized by Christ

They are experiencing Christianity as joy and hope, having thus become lovers of Christ.

Category: Church Structure & Subsidiarity

  • Quiet Heart, Loud Faith: Three Sparks to Renew the Church

    Quiet Heart, Loud Faith: Three Sparks to Renew the Church

    Faith in the Noise

    World spins fast—tech, truth, opinions shift.

    Noise everywhere. Easy to lose what matters.

    • Church mission? Never needed calm.
    • Starts with faith—deep in the heart.

    Silence often anchors quietly.

    One breath of quiet = your next spark?

    Depth Over Activity

    Church today? Not more programs. Not louder voices.

    Needs depth—people who pray, meet God in silence.

    • Live the Gospel first.
    • Faith isn’t meetings or debates.
    • Comes from grace—God loved us first, fully.

    Let love move you daily.

    One quiet moment = instant recharge.

    Renewal & Shine

    Remember that love? Faith becomes a lens.

    See God in work, people, hidden places.

    • Church renews through awakened hearts—not new plans.
    • Christ: “Take courage; I overcame.”
    • Hope in Him, not results.

    Restless world? Still radiant.

    You’re the light—ready to glow?

  • Why Inner Life and Love Matter More Than Ever

    Why Inner Life and Love Matter More Than Ever

    How faith, purpose, and connection can guide you in a busy, chaotic world

    In today’s world, it can feel like everything is moving too fast. Social media, work, family responsibilities, and constant news cycles make it easy to feel overwhelmed. But what if the secret to thriving isn’t doing more, but living deeper?

    The Church has always faced this challenge. She must bring a message of hope to the world while nurturing her own inner life. And while you don’t need to be religious to take the lesson, the principle is universal: without a strong inner foundation, no mission or goal can truly succeed.

    Here’s the takeaway for modern life:

    1. Know yourself and your purpose. Just as the Church must understand her role, you need to understand yours. What drives you? What do you stand for?
    2. Faith can mean trust. You don’t have to be religious to see the value here. Faith, in a modern sense, is trust in what you know is right, and confidence in your ability to make a difference.
    3. Inner life matters. Reflection, mindfulness, and spiritual practice (whatever that looks like for you) help you stay grounded amid chaos.
    4. Balance action with depth. Doing good in the world—helping others, pursuing meaningful work—is powerful, but it’s more effective when paired with thought, reflection, and integrity.
    5. Beware of extremes. It’s easy to get caught up in outward achievement or personal ego. Both can be empty without inner depth and values to guide them.
    6. Love and connection are essential. Real growth comes when you care about others and invest in relationships. Empathy and compassion create the foundation for lasting impact.
    7. You are loved beyond measure. Whether you see it spiritually or simply as human connection, recognizing that you matter—and that your actions ripple out—gives purpose to everything you do.
    8. Your work matters, but your heart matters more. Success without integrity or care is hollow. Align your actions with values that elevate others.
    9. Small acts, big impact. Even small gestures of kindness or integrity can transform your environment, just as individual faith strengthens the Church.
    10. Hope fuels resilience. Knowing you can make a difference—even amid setbacks—keeps you moving forward, grounded in something larger than yourself.

    In short, thriving isn’t about doing everything; it’s about being rooted. Strong inner life, trust in what’s true, and a commitment to love and connection—these are what let you face today’s challenges with courage and purpose.

    Think of it this way: your life can become like a spark that lights a bigger fire, for yourself and everyone around you. Start small, start intentional, and let your inner strength guide your actions in the world.

    Ref: Pope Paul VI General Audience 25 October 1972

    With development and editing assistance from ChatGPT-5

  • Walking with Every Man:

    Toward a Synod on Subsidiarity

    In his first encyclical, Redemptor Hominis, Pope John Paul II made the striking claim that “every man is the way of the Church.” Christ entrusted the Church with the salvation of every person, which means the Church’s mission is always to walk with each man and woman and lead them toward Christ.

    Later, in Gratissimus Sane, John Paul II extended this truth to the family: every family, too, is the way of the Church. The family is the first place where a person’s character and uniqueness are formed, and it becomes the path along which the Church walks with individuals.

    But in the last fifty years, families have been shaken. Divorce has left many children without fathers. Mobility and smaller households have weakened extended family ties. Vocations to the priesthood and religious life within families — once a source of everyday moral and spiritual guidance — have greatly diminished. Today, with one priest often serving 4,000 parishioners, how can the Church realistically hope to walk with every individual, let alone every family?

    Learning from the Military’s Hierarchy

    Years ago, I compared the Catholic Church’s pastoral structure with the military. The military has developed, through centuries of experience, an efficient hierarchy that provides support at every level: no soldier is left without a small team, and every team has a leader to turn to.

    Here’s a simplified comparison:

    MilitaryNumber of PeopleChurch Parallel
    Region / Theater1,000,000+Diocese
    Army Group250,000Deanery Group
    Army60,000–100,000Deanery
    Corps30,000–80,000Sub-deanery
    Division10,000–20,000Parish Group
    Brigade2,000–5,000Parish
    Battalion300–1,000Priest Group
    Company70–250Deacon Group
    Troop25–60Small Community
    Patrol8–12Faith-sharing Group
    Fire Team4Prayer Partners
    Soldier1Parishioner

    The point is not to militarize the Church, but to recognize that the Church could learn from this structure of care. Subsidiarity — the principle that decisions and responsibilities should be handled at the lowest possible level — calls us to build up the Church at the smallest, most personal groups.

    A Call for a Synod on Subsidiarity

    The Church has already held Synods on Youth and on the Family. Perhaps the time has come for a Synod on Subsidiarity — especially on the sub-parish level. Such a synod could explore how the Church can better accompany individuals, families, and small communities, ensuring that no Catholic is left without support.

    Religious orders could play a vital role in this renewal. Catechesis, new models of pastoral care, and creative small-group structures could allow the Church to “walk with every man” as Christ intended.

    Today, there are about 1.16 billion Catholics in a world of 7 billion people — roughly one Catholic for every five people on earth. That ratio is strikingly close to Christ and the twelve apostles. If the Church could rediscover the art of subsidiarity, empowering Catholics at every level to care for one another, then we could truly begin to live out John Paul II’s vision: the Church walking with every man, in love.

    Edited with assistance from ChatGPT-5

  • If Love Is the Main Christian Message, Why Does the Church Seem So Strict at Times?

    Understanding how Church discipline flows from love, not contradiction

    This question gets to the heart of a common struggle: If Christianity is centered on love, why does the Church often feel like a place of rules, restrictions, and prohibitions?

    Pope Benedict XVI anticipated this very question in Deus Caritas Est, where he asks bluntly:

    “Doesn’t the Church, with all her commandments and prohibitions, turn to bitterness the most precious thing in life?”

    The answer, as Benedict explains, is not to dismiss the rules—but to reconnect them with love. When love is forgotten, rules can feel cold or burdensome. But when love is central, even the strictness of the Church is revealed to be a form of protection and guidance.

    1. Benedict’s Challenge: Love Must Ground the Rules

    Rules lose their meaning when disconnected from love. That’s why Benedict insists the Church must re-anchor every commandment in God’s love.

    Christian morality, then, is not a burdensome legal code—it is a path of grateful response to the One who loved us first. It flows from relationship, not performance.

    2. Rules as Protective Boundaries, Not Arbitrary Limits

    Church teachings are not random restrictions. They are moral guardrails, meant to preserve human dignity and protect the possibility of real love.

    Safeguarding dignity: Certain behaviors wound ourselves and others. Catholic teaching identifies and warns against them to prevent harm.
    Map to freedom: The Church teaches that true freedom is not doing whatever we want, but doing what is good. Love needs discipline in order to grow.

    3. Loving Discipline from a Spiritual Parent

    The Church sees herself as both mother and teacher. Just as a parent sets boundaries for their child’s safety and growth, so too the Church offers moral discipline for our spiritual development.

    Spiritual fatherhood and motherhood: Rules shape conscience and virtue. They help form people capable of real, sacrificial love—not just fleeting emotion.

    4. Historical Roots: Guarding the Faith

    From the early Church to the present, moral clarity has been essential:

    Councils and canons fought heresy and spiritual confusion.
    Medieval moral theology gave believers a practical roadmap to holiness.
    Today, Pope Benedict invites us to rediscover that path—not as cold rules, but as love in action.

    The goal is not legalism. The goal is love that is wise, ordered, and enduring.

    Follow-up Question:

    Can you think of a Church teaching or rule that felt restrictive at first, but later you saw how it protected or deepened your experience of God’s love?

  • Neighbor Definition

    I am in the process of trying to analyze what the Bible refers to as Neighbor.

    The Bible says to Love your Neighbor. It also says that whatever you do for the least of these, you do for me. In the days of the Bible, if it involved a distance of more than 20 miles, the best you could hope to do was send a package or a gift.

    The word Neighbor translates to Vecino in Spanish. Vecino is like the word Vicinity. And the direct literal translation from Spanish to English is Near.

    A Neighbor is a person who is near. I would say that a neighbor is a person within your Microsphere.

    The Bible says to whatever you do to the least of these, you do to me. The least of these would extend to those who you see regularly, but who are considered less by society.

    That includes children, women, the poor  and the infirm.

    It also extends to strangers and your enemy. But even in these cases, it refers to a stranger that comes to you. And it also addresses an enemy who is near to you.

    None of these references for neighbor, least of these, Stranger, or Enemy is a reference to significantly beyond your microsphere. I think this also brings in what the Catholic Church says about subsidiarity, that we are to focus on taking care of things at the most local level.

    If we want to deal with what takes place in a foreign land, Jesus sent his disciples out with just their sandals, and not even any food to eat. He did not send  them out with goods as gifts that might influence the receivers.

    This model seems most like how the Amish and Mennonites live. The Mennonites have missions, but they mostly go live with the people and be an example. The Amish model does not allow for traveling great distances

    Regards

    Tom Neugebauer

    Seized by Christ

  • From Redemptor Hominis to a Synod on Subsidiarity

    In Redemptor Hominis, one of the first encyclicals of Pope John Paul VI, he made reference to the fact that every man is the way of the Church. This statement is to imply that Christ has entrusted to the Church the salvation of every man, so it is the duty of the Church to reach out to every man, and show them the way to Christ.

    In Gratissimus Sane, Pope John Paul II makes reference to the fact that every family is also the way of the Church.

    In addition, he said that the Family is the way that the way that the Church walks with every individual, because every person starts out as a member of a family that establishes their character, and makes them a unique person.

    However, in the last 50 years, the family has disintegrated, with more than 50 percent of marriages ending in divorce, and many children growing up without fathers. This actually creates more people with additional needs, and poorly formed character.

    100 years ago, before mobility was so common, more people lived with extended family, that provided the moral and spiritual support of an individual and of a family. It could to some extent pick up for broken family situations, but that is generally no longer the case.

    Even nuclear families are much smaller, so that is so much less the local support and council available.

    And it was typical for a family to have within it, an uncle or child or cousin that was consecrated to the priesthood. Or sisters or aunts that were consecrated. One of the most devastating effects of the reduction of the priesthood was the loss of their  moral and spiritual guidance of the family.

    With one priest for 4000 parishioners, substantially reduced family and reduced extended family, how can the Church realistically expect to walk with every family, much less every individual?

    Many years ago, I compared the organization of the military with the Catholic Church.

    In the military hierarchy, every group of 2 or 3 has a higher level to go to for support.

    Military                       # of Individuals            Catholic Church

     

    Region / Theater         1,000,000 +                       Diocese

    Army Group                    250,000                         (Deanery Group)

    Army                                   60,000 – 100,000        Deanery

    Corps                                   30,000 –   80,000        (Sub Deanery)

    Division                              10,000 –    20,000       (Parish Group)

    Brigade                                 2,000 –      5,000        Parish

    Batillion                                   300 –      1,000        (Priest Group)

    Company                                   70 –         250         (Deacon Group)

    Troop                                          25 –          60          (Small Community)

    Patrol                                            8 –          12          (Fire Patrol)

    Fire Team                                     4                          (Fire Team)

    Fire & Maneuver                         2                          (Prayer Partner)

    Soldier                                           1                          Parishioner

    I believe that the military has through many thousands of years developed the optimal efficient hierarchy structure, to provide support from the top, and successful execution from the bottom.

    For sake of reference, I added in parenthesis suggested groups where groups do not, or do not seem to exist in the Church.

    I am not suggesting that we imitate the Military, but I would like to suggest that we could do better than we are now.

    I have heard, for example, a deacon mention that there is discussion of housing priests in parish groups or subdeaneries so that they can have appropriate support and fellowship.

    I am focused on the lower levels from the deacon group and down. That is why I am working to assemble a “catechesis” related to providing support to the individual, the family, and to small communities. I’m not trying to make up anything. I am going to try to gather from the teaching from the Church. I will also make reference to articles that support it, that appear all the time in the media.

    On the other end, I am trying to inspire a Synod of Bishops to discuss Subsidiarity in general, and the sub-parish level in specific. Synods on Youth and Family  have established ongoing research of those topics. It would be worthwhile to define a starting point for developing a catechesis of Subsidiarity.

    I believe that it could, for example, lead to new projects for religious orders.

    I believe the current shape of the Church has everything to do with the resources available to work with. One can consider how many more resources would be available if the Church figures out how to walk with every man.

    Sometimes I think about the fact that if there are 7 Billion people in the world, and 1.16 B Catholics, then there are 5 persons in the world for each Catholic. That approaches a manageable group size, comparable to Christ and the 12 apostles. If only we knew how to carry that out, then we would really be able to have the Church walking with every man, in Love.

    Regards
    Tom Neugebauer
    Seized by Christ