Moving forward: what to do in an ever shrinking church

I think all of us watching the implosion of a huge part of the church in Germany where only a small minority remain faithful to the church's teachings on all subjects (even including the second reading on a Sunday) have wondered: where to from here?

Ever since I entered the adult world of work I have felt pulled between working in secular institutions or focusing on faith-based ones. In recent years, encountering people brought up Catholic in different countries one commonality stands out: their lack of formation that is deep, well-informed, and aligned to the actual teachings of the Church. Sometimes full lack of formation has been less damaging than the poor and diluted formation that is sometimes received in some parishes or communities. 

One thing became clear to me living in Germany, that a society as broken with people as emotionally scared and stunted as the German society is, could only be a product of spending so many decades walking in darkness. Only a small group of Germans that I met, who are a minority of Catholics that do not make headlines, are living out of the Catholic faith in a very hostile environment. A hostility that comes principally from people calling themselves Catholics but who don't even know what a proper mass looks like. In this minority, I encountered happy, emotionally healthy human beings. They were the few that did not come from broken homes. The few who weren't afraid of commitment and were looking to do more than make a living and survive. The few that actually found joy in the different feast days throughout the year. They are the Catholic church in Germany, not the group that is currently making headlines, as one reporter covering the synodal way's fifth meeting: they are a group who self-identify as Catholic but don't go to mass. 

From this experience in Germany, and now that I currently share a house with a lapsed Italian Catholic, who like many from traditionally Catholic countries has no idea about what the Church really teaches, the idea that we need to focus our energies in rebuilding the Church from within becomes stronger. More and more, those of us who have been blessed with a faith education that is better than most get, really have a calling to stand up in these troubled times and pass on this formation. While at times it has been important to evangelise those that have never heard of Jesus those are not the times we are living in. We are in a time in which ignorance of the most basic tenets of the face has become an all too common reality of those that would identify as Catholic because they come from a Catholic family or went to a Catholic school. If this internal problem is not addressed the implosion we are witnessing in Germany will reach our shores. We are called to be missionaries now inside our very house. Pope Benedict was aware this time would come when he spoke of small, well-formed communities as the future of the Church, we are at the doors of that time.

In all of this, we are to turn to Him who is our Saviour and Redeemer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiwA0ini854&list=RDmneZjdcZjc0&index=3