Religion As Participation

“Some are calling theology right now ‘a turn toward participation.’ … The religion I grew up with — I was raised in Kansas! — was very much not religion as participation. It was religion as observation. You observed the theater of the Mass. You observed the doctrines of the church, as something to be intellectually assented to. But it wasn’t an emphasis upon practices whereby you experienced it for yourself. And this is happening in all of our groups: the moving toward practices whereby you can experience your true state for yourself.” —Father Richard Rohr