As more than 50 young adults sipped brew and munched on appetizers at O’Lordan’s Irish Pub and Restaurant in Westminster, Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien urged them to follow Christ in all they do.
“Whatever you’re doing in life, see it as your discipleship,” said Archbishop O’Brien, speaking at a Theology on Tap session sponsored by St. John in Westminster and Sacred Heart, Glyndon.
“You are where you are because the Lord put you there,” he said. “You’re all disciples. A disciple is one who learns from the teacher.”
Archbishop O’Brien reminded his audience that Jesus was different from other rabbis of his time who had disciples choose them. Christ chooses his disciples, the archbishop said.
“Christ sent them to do the things he was doing – preaching and healing and forgiving,” Archbishop O’Brien said.
As they live out their baptismal call to discipleship, Archbishop O’Brien said, the church has a responsibility to help them. The church owes young adults good liturgy, a more distinctive sense of what it means to be Catholic and a lifting up of Catholic culture, Archbishop O’Brien said.
Warning against the dangers of relativism that finds no objective truth and secularism that denies all forms of divine revelation, the archbishop said it is challenging to live the life of a disciple.
During a question-and-answer period after his talk, the archbishop fielded queries about Catholic teachings on contraception, catechesis of human sexuality and lay ecclesial movements.
In response to a question about the election and issues surrounding abortion, Archbishop O’Brien said it’s critical to educate the population on the sanctity of life.
“To the extent that we seem to favor one candidate or another, it’s going to backfire,” he said. “I don’t think we should go after the individual. We should speak to the issues.”
Diana McCloud, a 27-year-old parishioner of St. John, Westminster, said it was good to see the archbishop reach out to young adults.
“His message definitively rang true,” she said. “He helped explain our relationship to the church.”