Should Catholic proclaim the Kingdom or wait to be asked?

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Yes. All true. But we are all called to lead others to give the glory to God.

But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? 15 And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!” Romans 10:14-15

All of our gifts are given so that we can propose Christ to those who are lost and fulfill the will of God who wills that all men be saved and come to knowledge of the truth. 1tim 2:4

Have we lost our sense of our need for salvation??
 
Yes. Mark 16:15. The Gospel of Matthew includes “baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.”
 
ISeekTruth said:
Have we lost our sense of our need for salvation??
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Extending kindness and help goes a long way in breaking the hard soil of the heart.

Catholics have a long history of praying for the conversion of sinners and offering their pain and suffering in union with Christ for this intention. Trust that there is a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes.
 
The Great Commission is to the Apostles. The passage in Romans also speaks to those who have been sent out.

We are not all given the charism of preaching.
 
I think you need to realize how off putting this would be to a non Christian or lapsed one. If you start preaching at them…even with love and good intentions…what have you accomplished if they turn and walk out the door…possibly headed to the abortion clinic down the street!

The women entering a crisis center are in a pregnancy crisis! This is not the time for conversions. Develop a gentle relationship with them and possibly they will ask later. If not, you have still shown them the love of Christ, have you not?
 
Pattylt said:
If you start preaching at them…even with love and good intentions…what have you accomplished if they turn and walk out the door…possibly headed to the abortion clinic down the street!
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That’s good strategy. It’s smart.
 
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I remember being a teen and riding the bus home and I saw a woman fingering a rosary. That stopped me in my tracks. Someone is talking to God. Right now. On the bus! That touched my heart like you wouldn’t believe. No words exchanged. Just an ordinary day.

I think Catholics in a prolife center know they are on the front line in a battle. They are waiting on the Lord with trust, do I fire, or hold my ground? Waiting on the Commander. Ready for battle, ready to take a hit. Trust that God has this. He sees the whole of it. I only see this small moment in time.
 
I truly think that it is at times when even we are unaware and are just following Christ in our day to day life that other people may see us praying, saying the rosary, crossing ourselves and praying before a meal…that other people see us exercising our faith and giving witness that is the most powerful for a lay person.

By exercising and living the cardinal virtues…Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, Temperance in daily life.

By living our Theological virtues, Faith, Hope, Charity…

1830 The moral life of Christians is sustained by the gifts of the Holy Spirit. These are permanent dispositions which make man docile in following the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

1831 The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. They belong in their fullness to Christ, Son of David.109 They complete and perfect the virtues of those who receive them. They make the faithful docile in readily obeying divine inspirations.

Let your good spirit lead me on a level path.110

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God . . . If children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.111

…that people see us…even when we are unaware that give the greatest testimony.

If I have not charity, I am nothing…
 
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ISeekTruth said:
True. But we are all called to bear witness by word and deed. I know many atheists who are very kind and patient. They see the beauty of the earth and believe it wasn’t created. Christ would not have asked us to do the impossible. He asks us to go out to all the world and tell the Good News.
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Yes, but not through proselytism.
 
One part of St. (Mother) Theresa of Calcutta’s statement which really resonated within me personally was:
“We never try to convert those whom we receive to Christianity but in our work we bear witness to the love of God’s presence and . . .”
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  • A helpful reminder to us all that we do not actually convert people - only God converts ; it may be in response to our persistent persevering prayer, and in concert with our own efforts (even when they may be overenthusiastic in relation to others), but only God gives the grace of conversion. And our first response should consistently be our efforts towards our own personal holiness - not to what we may perceive as lacking in others . And conversion is unique to the individual - as my dear dad used to say, “Each in his or her own way at his or her own time.” Moreover,for Catholics, true conversion is a lifelong process.
    1 Peter 3:15 says we should sanctify Christ in our own hearts and always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks the reason for the hope within us.
As @Pattylt has already pointed out , it hardly seems appropriate to start preaching to a woman about Jesus at the very same time that she is in pregnancy crisis. It would seem more as importuning than preaching. And the pressuring element is usually one we identify with proselytism - not preaching.

I was pleased to find out after digging around before posting, that there are dozens of Crisis Pregnancy Centres still operating across my own country. The secular media goes out of their way to drag the reputation of these Centres through the dirtiest mud they can find or fabricate. Perhaps it would be a wiser choice for us not to diss the Crisis Pregnancy Centres here at CAF , particularly in light of what these counselors, and moreover the pregnant women who visit them actually go through.

Allison Barron - a Winnipeg-based freelance writer, provides us with a nice clear window into the aforementioned in her article published by the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada entitled Into the Heart of Crisis Pregnancy Centres in Canada. It’s really worth the read for anyone who would like to have a true inkling of what these women actually go through.
 
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ISeekTruth said:
Thanks for responding. Unfortunately, St. Francis never said that, but I believe that people have been prevented from obeying Christ’s command to "Go out to all the world and tell the Good News on account of it.
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No but he said “It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching.” To me this conveys the same meaning.
 
So ISeekTruth. Here you came in with your guns firing. How did this campaign go? Were you successful?

Do you like football? The ball is snapped, the quarterback falls back and his eyes are looking down field. Who’s open? He fires it. The other team is working hard to make sure the pass fails. You know the big guys, who are like mountains? They hold the opposition back while the quarterback is looking down field. Not once in a game are they throwing the ball. Do they share in the success of the team? Do they get credit for the win as well? They neither throw the ball or catch it. This is what a team looks like. They all share in the win. What’s key? strategy strategy strategy. There’s an enemy, and he’s smart. Learn. Adapt. Know what works. Most of the time busting in with guns firing gains nothing. More likely the enemy adapts and learns how to bunker down and then you’re the one out in the open, an easy target. Got to be smarter than that.
 
No. Not at all. That’s not true. I am not condemning anyone. I believe that Christ spoke to countless suffering people but He never hid Himself from them. He shined the light on them. He healed them in order to proclaim Christ to them. Luke 4:43. The local president told me they make no attempt to propose baptism. They do not evangelize. They make no attempt to shine the light of Christ in the women’s lives. They are gentle and kind, but they do not fill the void with Christ.

No, we don’t want to beat someone on the head the minute they walk in the door. That strikes me as a very poor idea of what evangelization is, but when women leave a Catholic mission after months of counseling and postpartum classes and don’t know the counselors are Christian, that is a problem. Christ’s word should not be neglected. Countless pro-life clinics propose a prayer, as the Holy Spirit inclines them. Many have intake forms that slowly shine the light of knowledge of God.
Women in despair appreciate it! When souls are distressed, they are so open to think transcendent thoughts. Who am I? Why am I here? Why is this happening to me? We need to let our light shine before men so that they see the good that we do and give the glory to God. That isn’t happening.

I am not making too big a deal out of this. I have assisted many women in crisis pregnancy. Some had never prayed before. Some did not know God. All wanted to know God. Only one knew how to ask.
Many babies were baptized. All learned how to pray, and even the most hardened among them came back after he and his girlfriend had left, and he asked me for a Rosary and a booklet on how to pray it. He later called to tell me he was praying. Are souls being lost because of our silence?

Evangelization is the slow awakening of the soul to God. It is the atheist coming to the realization that he has a soul or the abused woman forgiving her abuser, going to confession and receiving the Eucharist for the first time in 20 years. It is helping souls to see that the wounds in our heart can be the source of love poured out on a world suffering the burden of sin in every way. It is helping a person to see that they are loved and created in love by Love. Every crisis pregnancy I have met is a woman searching for love in all the wrong places. Out of love for the other person, do we require that they ask us about God before we give them the light, as this clinic does? Do they have to ask before we offer a prayer? St. Teresa of Avila writes that prayer is the doorway to God.
 
But should we place an impediment to the Holy Spirit by telling people they cannot speak of Christ or offer a prayer? I know people who have offered a prayer in obedience to the HS, and they were told to stop. They quit the facility.
 
And an even more vast difference between proselytizing and Proclaiming the Kingdom of God.
 
They aren’t allowed to pray in the presence of the women or show any sign of Christ.
 
ISeekTruth said:
Yes, that is what I said. Counselors are prevented from initiating a conversation of Christ. Christ never waited for people to ask to know about God. In fact, He came to earth for the purpose of proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom of God. Luke 4:43. Mother Teresa imitated Christ. According to the local prioress of the MC’s, every mission Mother Teresa opened had one purpose: to make Christ known. When we fail to give the glory to God, we have taken the glory for ourselves.
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This presumes that talking is the way to give glory to God that is given to all of us. The New Testament does not teach that. As stated above:

Now you are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it. Some people God has designated in the church to be, first, apostles; second, prophets; third, teachers; then, mighty deeds; then, gifts of healing, assistance, administration, and varieties of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work mighty deeds? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts. 1 Cor. 12:29
and also:
Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and reverence, keeping your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who defame your good conduct in Christ may themselves be put to shame. 1 Pet. 3:15-16 This teaching obviously implies that there is no sin in failing to initiate a conversation.

As for Mother Teresa:
Our purpose is to take God and his love to the poorest of the poor, irrespective of their ethnic origin or the faith they profess. Our discernment of aid is not the belief but the necessity. We never try to convert those whom we receive to Christianity but in our work we bear witness to the love of God’s presence and if Catholics, Protestants, Buddhists, or agnostics become for this better men—simply better—we will be satisfied. It matters to the individual what church he belongs to. If that individual thinks and believes that this is the only way to God for her or him, this is the way God comes into their life—his life. If he does not know any other way and if he has no doubt so that he does not need to search then this is his way to salvation. --Mother Teresa, Life in the Spirit: Reflections, Meditations and Prayers
 
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