Catholic Street Preachers - Where Are They?

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Xarto

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I’m seeing a lot more Street Preachers recently in Dublin (Ireland). Most seem to be Born Again Christians and apart from the odd attack on the Catholic Church, I’ve no problem with them, it’s great to see anyone spreading the Good News.

But it got me wondering , where are all the Catholic Street Preachers, is there even such a thing? I think we need a modern day St. Dominic or St. Francis to preach the Word.
 
Actually we had something more recent, in England…the Catholic Evidence Guild. Look up Frank Sheed, who got it going, before WW 2. They did extensive training in doctrine to their lay evangelists, then sent dozens of them out every week to street corners, and anywhere else they could attract a crowd.
Before the War they often had to dodge tomatoes and hecklers. It flourished after the War, until the late 1960s. What mostly killed it was confusion on doctrine among Catholics. It may still exist in some form. I think their training manuals may be available.

My US Diocese has a new evangelism program about every 3 years. They are all about hospitality, no doctrine.

Do I need to tell you the results?
 
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My take on it is that while we may have some sort of equivalent, the majority of our missionary work happens at the soup kitchens we run, the hospitals and hospices we founded, the pregnancy centers, by tiny sisters in poor countries helping the unwanted, at homeless shelters, etc. (I’m not saying other groups don’t do these things)

While we may not be preaching on the corners or knocking on doors in pairs we still should learn or faith well enough to defend it, explain it, and gently plant seeds if others are open to it.
 
There are Catholics who quietly visit the homeless on the streets. They may or may not bring up the Church. A helping hand is unusual out there, but it continues.
 
Thanks, good reminders of all the good we do but I think maybe sometimes we are too quite and people don’t realise we are still here and relevant. Would love to see a more active church.
 
I don’t find street preachers to ever be effective. In my experience, they are massively off-putting, and I’ve never been able to work out what denomination they are, nor am I particularly interested.

That’s my view as a non-Catholic, non-Christian though.
 
Lou2U said:
I don’t find street preachers to ever be effective. In my experience, they are massively off-putting, and I’ve never been able to work out what denomination they are, nor am I particularly interested.

That’s my view as a non-Catholic, non-Christian though.
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The problem is that it is harder and harder for Christians to get their message out in the Public Square. When I was a child in the US, the regular daily newspaper ran columns by Fulton Sheen and Billy Graham. The “regular” tv and radio stations - not specifically religious stations - provided explicit religious programs, and Christian values were woven into mainstream Hollywood movies.

Almost all that is gone. If the street corner is the only place Christians can contact non Christians, maybe that’s where we need to go.

I’m all in favor of outreach to the poor, and I do that. But this doesn’t reach the great majority of non Christians.
 
A great reply. I remember newspaper editorials about Christmas. And going through the streets, with at least one other person, is a way to say: We’re here. We never left. But the mainstream media has abandoned Christianity. That leaves those of us who are willing to pass out pamphlets, to spread the good news.
 
Whenever someone starts suggesting that Catholics talk more explicitly about religion in public, you can be sure someone will bring out that familiar quote attributed to St Francis, but really first found several generations after he died: “preach constantly. When necessary, use words”.

This likely has discouraged more explicit evangelism than any other 6 words.

The reality is that Christians can, and must, talk about God, as well as doing good works in a loving way.
 
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Lou2U said:
I don’t find street preachers to ever be effective. In my experience, they are massively off-putting
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Exactly what I was about to say. A street preacher tried to engage me in conversation once, following me down the road saying, ‘Are you a Christian?’ I didn’t want to get into a discussion with him, so I just said, ‘Yes.’ Then he said, ‘Are you born again?’ Again, I didn’t want to get into a discussion with him so I said, ‘Yes.’ After that he left me alone. Another time there was a Muslim street preacher whose core message seemed to be that we shouldn’t be doing our shopping, because today could be the day of judgement, and would we want Allah to find us doing our shopping on the day of judgement? Personally, I feared that there could be worse things for Allah to catch me doing on the day of judgement. I also hadn’t imagined that Allah disapproved so strongly of shopping. Given that we don’t know when the day of judgement is going to be, can we realistically abstain from shopping indefinitely, just in case I’m at the self-service checkout in Sainsbury’s on the day of judgement?
 
I am tired of reading about bad experiences. We need to get the Word out.

Romans 10:14

New International Version
How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?
 
It might not have an immediate effect but something they heard might give them food for thought.
 
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