Internal Evangelization

I spent some time with Fr. Jim Wehner talking about evangelization. You can often hear Fr. Jim on the podcasts available through PowerBlog! on the right side of this page.

One of my concerns over the years is the lack of knowledge among Catholics. (Self included)
I can't tell you how many times I've cringed when a well meaning person tried to defend their faith without really know what they believed or why.

In this day and age any religious discussion can spiral into a heated emotional debate. The flip side is when we dismiss any differences and say "As long as you believe in Jesus, don't major in the minors". It sounds good on paper but what's major and what's minor?

Often protestants win the evangelization challenge hands down. If we as Catholics don't know our faith, how are we to live it much less share it with others? So we tend to to kneel when others kneel, mumble our way through the creed on Sunday morning and race for the door when we hear "this mass has ended...."

Yet when we are asked "Have you been born again? Are you saved?" we run for cover. This is where minors become major. NO ONE IS SAVED. Salvation is a life long PROCESS. It's not an instant event in life. If we don't understand this and our protestant brothers and sisters don't understand this, then it does not matter much who is evangelizing who if we all get it wrong.

We all posses pieces of truth. No human being has all truth, yet when you put the pieces together they become a whole. That whole is the Church. With over 2000 years of Scripture, revelation and tradition, we combine the knowledge of the earliest Christians with our faith today. Truth in it's entirety has been entrusted by Jesus to the Church he established. He prayed for our unity. For it is only when we come together as one body that the fullness of our individual Christian faith reaches it potential.

That word "evangelization" often has allot of baggage attached to it. I'm a Catholic so I can't be an evangelical. Evangelization is the responsibility of clergy. My faith is very private to me. Forget about all that. You have to know what you believe and share it once you do learn it. It's painfully clear it is the responsibility of all of us. Yet if we are to evangelize, we must start within our our parishes.

The time is now for all Catholics to spread the good news within three ever widening circles: 1) the parish itself, 2) those who are not active in a church or religious tradition, and 3) the family, neighborhoods, and workplaces in which Catholics live and carry out their lives. We can get so wrapped up in the need to spread the Gospel to the world, that we forget part of that world is where we stand.

No one in a parish can be an evangelizer if they themselves are not evangelized. Every teacher starts out as a student. Because growing in faith in Christ is a lifelong and ongoing journey, we must foster conversion and renewal for each parish member and for the parish as a whole. Then we can turn our sight to broader horizons.

How do we do this? We must be committed to ongoing formation, dialogue and study in groups and small communities, careful preparation for catechetical experiences. Not just for new Catholics, but for all.

Being a Catholic is not just something you are born in to. We must understand and accept the Catholic faith as a way of life. It's is how we choose to live our life that is the most powerful evangelization tool.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Well said and true.