Fear, anxiety and disillusionment can be better understood and subsequently combated with the help of the Gospel message, believes Fr. Kevin Belgrave. 

In a lecture titled Restoring Hope to an Anxious, Lonely & Fractured Generation, part of St. Augustine's Seminary's Spirit and Life series, the seminary’s director of the Institute of Theology and Lay Spiritual Formation hopes to shed light on how, even in today’s fragmented society, core truths remain as wells to draw strength from. 

“I  think, like many people, I have noticed the symptoms of a culture that's not doing well. Various forms of fracturing or anxieties that seem to be hitting not just certain generations, almost every generation,” he said. “My interest is to make sure our answers to what's going on are not superficial, that we aren’t blaming one person or political system, but getting to the root cause of what's really going on.” 

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Understanding that these feelings are not just caused by recent issues, but rather are connected to deep historical and cultural origins, has been a point of clarity for Belgrave that makes the Gospel message so much more applicable. 

 He plans to discuss how human pitfalls have led to a particular dissonance with ourselves in the image of God. Leaning on his understanding that we are made to be in an embodied relationship with others, whether with family, neighbourhood or parish, he sees the modern opposite of social isolation and mere virtual interactions has been a source of such fear and turmoil. 

“ To a large extent, we have created unintended consequences, as there is a certain dissonance with  social relationships. It has left us disembodied, working apart from the small scale, and dependent,” he said. 

“This is not a talk to wag a finger at technology, but rather to remember that it exists to serve who the human person is. That may require us to be a little bit more thoughtful about how we incorporate it into our lives.”

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By living in alignment with the Gospel vision of embracing our interdependence with God in His image, Belgrave believes hope and clarity can be obtained even amid cultural confusion.

Further than our social relationships in the modern age, our human autonomy, which promises freedom but often leads to anxiety when we confront our limits, is another contributing factor to the disenchantment he will explore during his talk on April 26 at St. Augustine’s Seminary.

“When we have our whole lives built around a vision of autonomy and of freedom in the sense of doing whatever you want, what happens is that when we see that we are not able to do that because of our limits, vulnerabilities and dependencies, we end up becoming even more anxious,” Belgrave said.

“There is, of course, a need for healthy independence, freedom of initiative and creativity, but the image of God is not autonomy, but three Persons in an interrelated communion. When we try to build a human life on a singular vision of autonomy, what happens is we inevitably return to a life in dissonance.” 

The Speaker & Life Series offers annual retreats in both  Advent and Lent, as well as talks on contemporary issues for both lay students and the wider Catholic community in the Archdiocese of Toronto.

While the series showcases the seminary’s many resources and faculty through faith-based reflections, Belgrave, who doubles as an associate professor of moral theology, notes his upcoming lecture is not some grand revelation or automatic cure to the issues in our society. Rather, he sees the talk as a solemn reminder of our own vocation to take part in healing a damaged culture. 

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“My first hope would be that those attending see that these cultural symptoms are unfolding just as they were planted, not as some crazy, arbitrary occurrence. Then, they may realize that the response to the challenges is not some new initiative or policy, nor an ultimate solution. The only ultimate response is to live those elements of the image of God in your own life,” he said. 

“ Live your relationships in communion and interdependence truthfully, help one another, get to know your neighbours, spend time with your friends in an embodied way. The actual solution is right within our reach, and while it won't be spectacular, the way forward starts at a very small scale, and that's really important.”