His Eminence Robert Cardinal Sarah, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, recently commented on the fire at Notre Dame cathedral. He said, "the Church is only of interest because she allows us to encounter Jesus. She is only legitimate because she passes on Revelation to us. When the Church becomes overburdened with human structures, it obstructs the light of God shining out in her and through her. The Church should be like a cathedral. Everything in Her should sing to the glory of God. She must unceasingly direct our gaze toward him, like the spire of Notre-Dame pointed toward heaven." Encounter Jesus! Transforming Catholic Culture in Crisis is a call to rebuild a Catholic culture that has wandered from her spiritual root system. In the West and the United States, the light that shined, starting in the Acts of the Apostles, has become dim and in some places extinguished. The specifics to what apostolic spirituality embodies will convict, challenge, and call the clergy, consecrated religious, and laity to take seriously what it means to be a catholic Christian. Just as architects design the rebuilding of the Notre Dame Cathedral, may this book serve as a blueprint for transformation in the culture of the church.
