10 Reasons Why Catholics Don’t Evangelize

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Q: Why don’t Catholics evangelize? Your thoughts?


10 Reasons Why Catholics Don’t Evangelize

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

Fr. Dwight Longenecker

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 percent. Evangelical Christians answered 85 percent. Catholics said 3 percent.

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.

2. Over-Sacramentalization. That’s just a long word way of saying that Catholics put so much emphasis on the sacraments that it is difficult for many of them to see that in and through and below the sacramental system is a genuine encounter of the person with Jesus Christ, risen ascended and glorified. Because you have to be a Catholic to receive the sacraments of Holy Communion and confession, and because for so many Catholics that is the only way to practice their faith, the sacraments actually keep them from evangelizing. “I can’t bring my Baptist neighbor to Mass. She wouldn’t know what was going on and besides, she can’t come forward for Communion anyway.” This is a good point. If you invite a neighbor of family member to Mass then tell them they can’t receive the Lord the whole exercise is likely to collapse into them feeling excluded.

(see full article in link above…)
 
I would agree most of the above. I don’t think the problem of “professional Catholics” is as great now as it was 50 years ago. Younger Catholics may almost go to the opposite extreme, not see the importance of the priest or religious.

I think his #5, social gospel, has done the most damage. For many, the primary religion is really Equality. The Church is just one more institution, like the factory, or the store. We “save” people by making them same, or interchangeable with everyone else. The only sin is Inequality, or being dogmatic.
 
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Regarding the point of introducing people to Jesus, most of the people I meet in USA are already familiar with Jesus. One can certainly talk about improving the relationship with him, but a Catholic is not going to get far with the average Protestant who believes he knows Jesus better than the Catholic does.
 
I was introduced to evangelization by another Catholic. It was not difficult. Most of the time, I talked with homeless people who usually knew about God but had drifted away. When I mentioned going to Church, I often heard, “Yeah, I need to get back to that.” Other times, passing out pamphlets telling people about Jesus was a good way to get those who may know about Him or didn’t know about Him engaged. If someone refused to take a pamphlet, it was never forced on them.

When Christianity was more popular, meaning pre-1970, there didn’t seem to be much of a need in the United States. We kept hearing about missionaries in foreign countries. Now the United States and Western Europe are turning into mission territory. I read that “Too many Catholics are living like pagans.” from a Church official. In Africa, that mission territory is now bearing much good fruit.
 
I heard a story that a French man was asked if he’s Catholic and he said “Of course, I’m French!” then he was asked if he went to Mass every Sunday and he said “No, I’m not a fanatic”.
 
Evangelization isn’t something I consider to be important either. Because to me, evangelization means spreading the gospel by ‘preaching’. But in the US, pretty much everyone has heard it. Chances are they haven’t heard a very good version of it, Catholic or not. And I’m not going to go around to strangers trying to explain why they need to repent.

When anyone approaches me with a “can I talk to you about Jesus” approach, I cringe at what I know I’m going to hear, which is usually a bunch of nonsense. Why would I ever go around “preaching” or handing out pamphlets when no one wants to hear it?

I will stick to what I’ve been doing, and what has worked, which is to live the gospel and use words when necessary.
 
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I think the issue is a lack of coordinated effort. Going in a group with official pamphlets and plans would, I think, move us to more evangelization. Canon 771 says something like that priests are to proclaim the Gospel to nonbelievers in the territory, as well. So I think a church mission within a parish would be excellent to this end.

If you think your parish could use such a thing, don’t be afraid to ask your pastor.
 
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I was listening to a local priest on Catholic Radio. He was talking to a meeting of the Parish’s Men’s Group. “If you aren’t evangelizing, why not?” He made it a point to get people in the Parish out there in an increasingly hostile to Christianity United States.
 
Catholics who grew up with relativistic religious education can’t evangelize. They don’t know the dogmas of the Faith, they can’t differentiate between that which is absolutely true or right, and that which a matter of personal taste.

I happen to like chicken better than beef. That’s a valid preference. But it would a mistake to conclude all nutritional information is a just a matter of opinion, just because some things are.

My Diocese has started a new evangelism program every three years in so. All of them focus exclusively on hospitality, trying to lead people to the Church.
None include doctrine, try to lead people to the Faith.
The programs have not succeeded in either.
 
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Kei said:
Going in a group with official pamphlets and plans would, I think, move us to more evangelization.
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There are groups like Legion of Mary that are specifically set up to perform evangelization in a group and according to a particular plan.

There are also many forms of evangelization. For example, if you make rosaries for the missions or donate money to them, you’re evangelizing even though you’re not personally going to Haiti and preaching the gospel there. “Some go by giving to the Missions.” If you are going around visibly being a Catholic, for example if people see you going to Mass regularly or praying a Rosary, or doing a service project with a Catholic group, you’re evangelizing.
 
I was thinking on a more parish by parish basis, but that’s good to know. Thanks.
 
I wonder if you read this post:
commenter said:
My Diocese has started a new evangelism program every three years in so. All of them focus exclusively on hospitality, trying to lead people to the Church.
None include doctrine, try to lead people to the Faith.
The programs have not succeeded in either.
Click to expand...
 
Too many Catholics confuse evangelization with getting people to join the Catholic Church. The primary task of evangelization is meeting people where they are introducing them to Jesus Christ.
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He lost me here. Did the missionaries of old not evangelize by bringing souls into the Catholic Faith?

Me thinks he smacks a bit of universalism here.
 
anon48198893 said:
Too many Catholics confuse evangelization with getting people to join the Catholic Church. The primary task of evangelization is meeting people where they are introducing them to Jesus Christ.
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Not necessarily. Fr Longnecker is a convert to the Catholic Faith. He is reliable on Catholicism. But I think he is rightly concerned about the efforts to minimize doctrine in RCIA and other programs. I have seen too many programs that say “come as you are, stay as you are” or imply everyone is welcome, regardless of belief (as long as you are friendly and open minded).

We .need to put the emphasis back on the Catholic Faith. Starting with Jesus.
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I think a lot of the “parish evangelization” efforts are more directed to fallen-away Catholics than to non-Catholics or people with no exposure to Catholicism. A lot of times people with some past exposure to Catholicism are open to being led back to the Church, and they often know at least the rudiments of basic doctrine.
 
No argument here. But there are a lot of never-Catholics like Scott Hahn, Peter Kreeft, Edith Stein, Dale Alquist, and so many others who read their way into the Church. If you made a list of the strongest apologists and evangelists today, half would be converts.

The doctrines of the Faith are true. Many are looking for the truth. I wonder how many others would have entered the Faith if we actually intentionally put Catholic doctrine out there, made it easy to find. How many more Fr. Rutler’s would we have now?
 
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The fact that he makes a distinction is what causes me pause.

It seems to be a continuation of Vatican II stating that the Church of Christ “subsists in” the Catholic Church. Why these distinctions?
 
If you could preach the gospel without using words, there’d be a lot of non Christians accidentally preaching the gospel
 
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