10 Reasons Why Catholics Don’t Evangelize

[Michie]

Preach the gospel at all times. The use of words is necessary.

At a priests’ conference not long ago, the speaker quoted some statistics. Christians of different traditions were asked percentage wise how important evangelization was to their understanding of the Christian faith.

Mainline Protestants answered 60%. Evangelical Christians answered 85%. Catholics said 3%.

We Catholics skate around this one muttering catchphrases like “The New Evangelization” and we trumpet the few evangelization enterprises that are going on, and we self-righteously quote St. Francis (who never actually said it), “Preach the gospel at all times. Use words if necessary.”

There are some very clear reasons why Catholics don’t evangelize, and they are difficulties that run right to the foundation of our understanding and practice of the faith.

There may be more reason than these, but here are 10 I can think of.

(P.S. I’ve saved the biggest and the worst for last.)

1. Cultural Catholicism. A lot of American Catholics regard their religion like Jews do. It’s something you’re born into. They scratch their head at the idea that someone would convert to Catholicism. “What, you mean you chose to be Catholic?” This is because they’re Polish or Irish or Italian or Lebanese or French. They’re Catholic in their bloodstream. It’s something you are, not something you do so much. I remember encountering a French woman in South Carolina who wanted her baby baptized. I asked her what parish she went to. She looked at me with bewilderment. “But I am French! It is different in France! Nobody goes to church, but we are very Catholic!” Cultural Catholics never imagine that they should evangelize. “So I’m supposed to make you an Italian?” You see what I mean.

Continued below.

10 Reasons Why Catholics Don’t Evangelize

Preach the gospel at all times. The use of words is necessary.

www.ncregister.com

 

[Michie]

10. Universalism. The ugly twin sister of Indifferentism is Universalism — the teaching that God loves everyone so much that he would never send anyone to hell. In other words, in the end, everybody will be saved. Why bother if we’re all going to get into heaven simply because God is such a nice Santa Claus-type figure in the sky who will make sure everyone succeeds? Like indifferentism, the Catholic Church is riddled with universalism and its cowardly half breed sister semi-universalism. This is the belief that there is a hell and there might just be a few people there, but there won’t be many and maybe even the ones who are there will serve their prison sentence and be allowed into heaven after all. Universalism is cowardly, un-Scriptural and un-Christian. It doesn’t take a St. Thomas Aquinas to figure out that this teaching means not only the death of evangelization, but eventually the death of the Church.

 

[chevyontheriver]

10. Universalism. The ugly twin sister of Indifferentism is Universalism — the teaching that God loves everyone so much that he would never send anyone to hell. In other words, in the end, everybody will be saved. Why bother if we’re all going to get into heaven simply because God is such a nice Santa Claus-type figure in the sky who will make sure everyone succeeds? Like indifferentism, the Catholic Church is riddled with universalism and its cowardly half breed sister semi-universalism. This is the belief that there is a hell and there might just be a few people there, but there won’t be many and maybe even the ones who are there will serve their prison sentence and be allowed into heaven after all. Universalism is cowardly, un-Scriptural and un-Christian. It doesn’t take a St. Thomas Aquinas to figure out that this teaching means not only the death of evangelization, but eventually the death of the Church.

Universalism is poison. It poisons our outreach to others but it poisons our own souls too. They might not be saved (because we do nothing) and we might not be saved either (because we did nothing). All because we don't want to think sad thoughts.

Read what Jesus said. Some people really do earn hell. He said the way was narrow to salvation. Maybe, just maybe, he was right.