Ilion priest joins theology and life

Theory and practice can be perceived as the apples and oranges of problem-solving methods. But Rev. Anthony Barratt, a native of England and pastor at Annunciation parish in Ilion and Our Lady Queen of Apostles in Frankfort, sets the record straight.

"That is a complete myth to make a discrepancy between theory and practice," he declared. "They inform and underpin each other."

Father Barratt recently published an article, "Evangelisation, Mission, and Pastoral Strate-gies," in Heythrop, a British journal of philosophy and theology. In it he presents a detailed analysis of the need for the new evangelization among marginal or lapsed believers, and describes how parishes can effectively bring them back to the practice of the faith.

Seeing results
It looks good on paper, but does it stand the experiential test of practical results?
"At Annunciation we have doubled our Mass attendance," he said, "and we've dropped our median age by ten years."

When pressed on his homilies, Father Barratt defers to the opinions of parishioners, who call him "excellent." When preaching, he said, scholarship helps but in doses.
"You have to keep it focused, but also unpack the Word, such as the reading we just had on paying taxes to Caesar. You should give the whole background to that, but [also] try to get on with it. It helps to give a context, which you can then relate to the modern day context, such as paying taxes, something we can all relate to."

And so he tries to debunk the dichotomy between theory and practice.
"Theory without practice is dry," he explained. "And practice without theoretical underpinning can be dangerous, peculiar, and all over the place. It needs solid underpinning."

Learned man
A veritable alphabet behind his name attests to Father Barratt's many academic de-grees, including a doctorate in theology. As a professor, he taught subjects ranging from Christian anthropology to canon law. His current research includes the interpretation of the documents of the Second Vatican Council, and the theology and pastoral applications of the sacrament of reconciliation.

In short, he knows the drill of identifying, analyzing and planning. But personal interaction is where the evangelical action is. He has seen that as a parish priest both in England and the U.S.

"Jesus does speak to crowds but there are also one-to-one encounters," he explained. "A movement of the heart is taking place. That's the Gospel model."

He insists on an atmosphere of welcome from himself and his parishioners. From the sanctuary he makes a point to welcome visitors to Mass. Parish activities invite people in, retreats and workshops renew and inform. But he advised further outreach.

"We're in a comfort zone in our committees and programs and buildings," he said. "Not to discount them but these things are a means to an end, not an end in themselves. We can't rely on programs. Everything we do should involve evangelizing. That is the Church."

He emphasized that evangelization is not a mission of the Church but that the Church actually exists to evangelize. He does not miss an opportunity such as during instructions for infant baptism.

From birth
"Tell them they are responsible without nagging them," he said. "Encourage them that this new life is here. What about your life? It's changed forever from having this child."
In addition to his pastoral positions in Ilion and Frankfort, Father Barratt is a spiritual director, an adjunct professor at St. Bernard's School of Theology and Ministry in Albany, dean of the Herkimer County deanery, and a member of the diocesan Vocations Board and the Pastoral Planning Advisory Council. He conducts retreats and acts as Chaplain for the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher.

He is writing a book on the priesthood and the Book of Job, and another on the development of the documents of Vatican II, the Church council of the early 1960s.
Whatever the topic or venue, Father Barratt stands by the crucial interplay of theory and practice to further God's kingdom.

"One might say then," he wrote in Heythrop, "that mission and evangelisation are part of ongoing and living Revelation: a making present of God in this age as in all others and the continuing interplay of the Gospel and human life."

SCHOLARSHIP
Thoughts on evangelization

In this sense, the parish is a place where evangelisation and mission should and could be taking place....one effective and central model of evangelisation lies in the renewal of parishes as centres of excellence; as places where evangelisation and mission receive their energy and strength, as well as being places where they actually take place. They can be locations where the necessary resources (both material and personal) can be found and where the Church, as a community, lives and breathes, most especially in and through the liturgy and prayer."
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These matters of identity and integration should be considered, not only in the formation of future priests, but also in lay formation. It is this sense of identity and integration that forms the basis and purpose for evangelisation, which, after all, is not about an ideology or concept, but about a reality that lives and breathes. In this sense, fostering and forming a genuine and authentic sense of identity is the prerequisite for true mission and evangelisation."

(Two excerpts from "Evangelisation, Mission and Pastoral Strategies" by Rev. Anthony Barratt, which appeared in The Heythrop Journal in September.)


(10/23/08)