On Catholic Evangelization — Twenty Years Later

When I wrote "On Catholic Evangelization" in 2004 I didn't really get into the "how to evangelize" or the priorities I learned in the Archdiocese of San Francisco School of Pastoral Leadership.

The "New Evangelization" is now over forty years old and still has not taken root in a broad manner. Certainly, there are some parishes that have vibrant communities with a very active parish life. My daughter's parish, Sts. Simon and Jude in The Woodlands, Texas, is a prime example.

I'm thinking that the problem with the lack of vibrant parishes as it relates to evangelization is due to the lack of understanding what Catholic Evangelization really is.

How Evangelization Happens - Go and Make Disciples

Number 36 of this document states, "there are two elements at work: "witness", which is the simple living of the faith; and "sharing", which is spreading the Good News of Jesus in an explicit way."

I think many people think of giving "witness" as something we hear some protestants do with "altar calls" or at revival meetings. That's not what this means.

Catholics evangelize by giving witness to the gospel by how we live our lives. In my 2004 essay I quoted Peter Kreeft who wrote, "the world is won for Christ not by arguments, but by sanctity: 'What you are speaks so loud, I can hardly hear what you say.'" [Handbook of Christian Apologetics - Kreeft]

The other way we evangelize is by sharing our faith with others. This doesn't mean going door to door and telling people what we believe trying to convince them to become Catholic. What it means is being willing to discuss our faith with others. If we are asked a question about our faith we should be willing and able to explain it. If we are challenged by someone who is attacking our faith or misstating it we should have the courage to correct them and defend our faith.

Who Do We Evangelize?

Those in the Pew

The starting point is those who are already practicing their faith. They also need to be reminded there is no specific ministry in a parish whose duty it is to evangelize. Why? Because every Christian, by virtue of their baptism, is called to evangelize. All ministries should recognize it is their duty to evangelize. However, before most Catholics are able to evangelize they need to be evangelized themselves. The love of Christ should be alive in each of us. Sometimes it needs a little rekindling.

Lapsed Catholics

38. The Holy Spirit also evangelizes through our attempts to reach those who have given up the practice of their Catholic faith for one reason or another and those who have no family of faith. Many in our Catholic community know family members, friends, and neighbors who do not have or practice faith.

39. Millions of Catholics no longer practice their faith. Although many of them may say they are Catholic, they no longer worship with the community and thereby deprive themselves of the gifts of word and sacrament. Some were never formed in the faith after their childhood. Some have drifted away because of one or another issue. Some feel alienated from the Church because of the way they perceive the Church or its teaching. Some have left because they were mistreated by church representatives.

40. As a community of faith, we want to welcome these people to become alive in the Good News of Jesus, to make their lives more fully a part of the ongoing story of salvation and to let Christ touch, heal, and reconcile them through the Holy Spirit. We want to let our inactive brothers and sisters know that they always have a place in the Church and that we are hurt by their absence-as they are. We want to show our regret for any misunderstandings or mistreatment. And we want to help them see that, however they feel about the Church, we want to talk with them, share with them, and accept them as brothers and sisters. Every Catholic can be a minister of welcome, reconciliation, and understanding to those who have stopped practicing the faith. [Go and Make Disciples]

The Unchurched

41. Our plan also asks Catholics to reach out to those who do not belong to a faith community and to invite them to consider the power of the Gospel of Jesus, which the riches of the Catholic Church can bring into their lives. Perhaps this may seem the most difficult of all the tasks evangelization asks of us. Yet if we have once seen the joy of those received into the Church at Easter, if we have ever experienced the growth of those going through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, if we have ever seen someone thrilled with the Gospel for the first time in his or her life, we know that this is, in truth, one of the sweetest gifts of the Spirit. [Go and Make Disciples]

How Do We Evangelize?

Before doing anything, we have to accept the fact that our actions will accomplish nothing if God is not with us. If we manage to evangelize anyone we must remember that God is providing the grace both to us and to the person who is evangelized to accept His invitation to follow Jesus. He is giving us the grace to set the good example. He is giving the other the grace to be drawn by our example.

I'm not experienced enough to tell others how they should evangelize. Instead I will tell how I would approach this.

I think there are two things an evangelist needs to get started. The first is to be catechized.

I don't think you need to be trained to be an apologist for the faith. I think you just need to have sufficient knowledge and understanding of your faith so you are comfortable enough to share it with others. By sharing I mean being able to answer questions and even challenges from others who either have questions or are trying to cause you to doubt your faith.

You also need to be able to say, "I don't know" when you have to. There is nothing wrong with that. Just be sure to offer to get the answer and share it with the person later.

Adult faith formation can help with the knowledge and understanding part. I also think faith sharing groups can help people make people comfortable with sharing their faith. Those who have been in Marriage Encounter Circles or Cursillo Fourth Day groups would be familiar with the idea of faith sharing. Some parishes promote small Christian communities where individuals and families meet to share their faith.

I'm using the word faith here without actually addressing what faith is. I'm not talking about the theological virtue of faith. I'm talking about faith as a personal thing. What is my faith?

Faith vs. Belief

Faith is not merely believing in something or someone. Faith is knowledge. I can believe in the Easter Bunny, but I can't know the Easter Bunny. It does not exist. I can believe in God and I can know God because He does exist.

In my essay "On Faith", I quoted Fr. John Hardon as stating, "Faith is the power to know God as He has revealed Himself." He was referring to the theological virtue of faith.

How do we acquire this knowledge? First, the teachings of the Church. Second, Sacred Scripture. Third, prayer. Fourth, through our encounters with God in everyday life.

Faith formation classes at all levels help us with learning the teachings of the Church. Reading sacred scripture, or even just hearing the scripture read at Mass, provides us with knowledge of God as well.

The Need for Prayer

Catechesis alone is not enough. We need to pray. We need to make sure this knowledge is not just something we know and can articulate. We need to have it permeate our whole being; we need it to be centered in our hearts.

Why do I say this? We all know thought comes from the brain in our head. We know the heart is nothing more than an organ in the body that pumps blood. That is true. We also, though, refer to our hearts as more than just an organ. We talk about learning something important by heart. We talk about love coming from our heart. We say we gave our heart to someone else when we talk about our love for the other person. We talk about our heart being broken when our love is not returned.

Humans usually talk about the heart when we are talking about something that is beyond our analytical understanding. We usually associate feelings with the heart. However, when we are talking about God and our knowledge and love for Him it goes much deeper than just feelings. They are feelings, emotions, that are also mixed with our reason. Our will is formed by our understanding of the knowledge we have learned along with the love for and from God we have felt.

In prayer we ask God to help us understand what we have learned. We ask Him to show us what he wants us to know. In prayer we can ask God what He wants us to do. Prayer helps us to combine our knowledge we have received in catechesis with what we have learned in scripture. In prayer, lifting our minds and hearts to God, our love for Him and desire to do His will is multiplied.

Prayer is like what a baker does to make bread. He starts with the flour and adds other ingredients to it; water, salt, perhaps some fruit or nuts. He adds yeast to make the bread rise.

Prayer is the levin that makes our faith rise. Our knowledge deepens and our love for God increases.

As we grow in our knowledge and love for God we begin to recognize all He is doing in our everyday lives. This adds to our knowledge. Once you start looking for God it is amazing how often you see Him at work in everyday life.

Knowledge and love for God leads to our wanting to live our lives with Him and for Him.

Our knowledge of God has spread from our head to our heart.

Evangelizing Those In the Pew

If your parish has an adult faith formation program that is separate from the RCIA program talk to those involved to get ideas to promote the use of the program to the parish at large.

If you don't have an adult faith formation program talk to the pastor to get one started. If you have a deacon try to solicit his help in forming a program. 

Try to keep it simple. By that I mean offer classes of about six weeks in length. The idea is to get those who are coming to church to be willing to commit to coming to a class. Six weeks is short enough that you don't feel you are committing yourself for life. You can also offer more classes of a shorter duration rather than a longer duration.

Try to identify topics to offer that will fill the needs of those who are going to come and you are trying to evangelize.

Try to offer classes during the day as well as the evening. People who work can come in the evening. Older people, or parents at home when their kids are in school, might appreciate classes during the day.

Offer some social gatherings to the parish. Maybe a pancake breakfast after the Sunday morning Masses. Maybe a wine and cheese social after the Saturday vigil Mass or Sunday late Mass. Not every week. Maybe every two months or quarterly. Focus on attracting families.

Explore the idea of discussion group programs that can be done in people's homes. These would create opportunities for developing faith sharing.

Maybe consider a parish mission in the fall to introduce this to the parish.

Evangelizing Lapsed Catholics

Start by offering prayers for those who are no longer practicing their faith. That is a key element. St. Monica should be our model for what prayer can do.

There are many reasons people give for why they have given up the Catholic faith. Trying to be prepared for every reason would quickly discourage any evangelist.

The hardest to deal with are those who are closest to you. Many of my extended family are not practicing Catholics. I think it is important we make sure we let them know we love them and not exclude them from our lives because of this.

As a parish I think a good place to start is identifying those people who are registered in the parish but who are not attending Mass in the parish. It may be difficult to identify individuals. One way to start is to see who is registered but there is no record of any donations either to the parish or to the diocese. This is not proof they are not practicing, but it is a place to start.

I think it might be good to come up with ideas for programs or presentations that could be offered that might appeal to those who have left the church. I think one of the reasons people have for not going to Mass is because there may be an impediment to their marriage that makes them stay away. Or perhaps a woman has had an abortion and is afraid to come to a priest for absolution. Providing resources or programs that would provide information might help. Sending out announcements to all registered in the parish might provide someone with an opportunity to get information without appearing to be targeted.

There can also be programs of a more general nature. Perhaps invitations to "Come and See" may attract people who have been away from church.

A parish might even develop teams to go to the homes of people registered in the parish just to make them aware of the parish. If the house visited has people who are at mass regularly if can be an opportunity to thank them for being there.

If the people visited are not practicing it might be an opportunity to make a personal invitation to return.

These last two suggestions need proper planning and preparation. They need to be well thought out.

Evangelizing the Unchurched

Catholics should not proselytize. That is, we should not go out and try to convert people from other religions. If someone is drawn to or attracted to the Catholic faith from another religion we should be willing to help them by answering their questions and providing them with information about the RCIA program.

There are many people out there who are not committed to any religion. Recent surveys have shown larger numbers of people identify themselves as "spiritual" and not religious. That scares me. There are a lot of spirits out there who are not good spirits.

Attracting people who are unchurched is, I think, a more challenging production. I think the way to evangelize the unchurched, other than on a personal, informal level, requires a greater commitment than a parish may be able to give. It may require advertising programs to a broad and diverse area. I think any formal program should be coordinated either with the diocese of surrounding parishes.

Where Do We Go?

For the individual I would say to learn more about your faith. Read the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It actually is a good resource.

I make some other suggestions in my essay, "Being Freed from That Which Divides Us." That was written in 2000 when finding books and information on the internet was not as easy as now.

Another essay of mine, "On Prayer", has some suggestions for prayer. One of my quotes in that essay is, "Let's get very, very basic and very, very practical about prayer. The single most important piece of advice I know about prayer is also the simplest: Just do it!" (Peter Kreeft, The Angel and the Ants)

Almost a quarter century ago my spiritual director asked me what I wanted to do after making my retreat. I blurted out, "Evangelization". Her response was, "Well, that's a way of life." At the time I didn't even really know what evangelization is. Her response implied it is not a ministry or a vocation.

For Catholics it should be part of our way of everyday life. As Peter Kreeft said about prayer, Just Do It!

March 1, 2024

Edited March 30, 2024

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