Why Don't Catholics Evangelize?

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Fidelis

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I don’t mean by just being a good Catholic. That’s only HALF the equation if you don’t follow through.The St. Francis quote is often used as a cop out.

By evangelism I mean sharing the Catholic Faith in an explicit way by explaining it to someone, inviting them to Mass, giving them good Catholic literature or other media, distributing Catholic tracts, etc, etc. If not, why not???
 
I guess I am not stereotypical Catholic, nor is my parish in a sense if Catholics are nonevangelizers.

As a young Catholic in an insanely large youth group for a parish of its size, we all have become great evangelizers. We invite more and more Protestants that call themselves just plain “Christian” every week to our youth mass. The past two girlfriends I have had have shown a great deal of interest in the Catholic Church and both said that during mass, they felt the closest to God that they have ever experienced.

Also, just yesterday, I gave my girlfriend a copy of The Catholic Faith Handbook. She is eating it up. She even brings it to school!

I feel like the next generation of Catholics will become a great group of evangelizers. My sisters, who are both at college or grad school, have said that since the Pope’s visit to America, they have seen more and more kids from campus that they never even knew were Catholic attending mass. I guess people want to be able to say “Hey, thats my Pope! I’m Catholic… I guess I’ll go to church this weekend”

I wouldn’t label all Catholics as nonevangelizers… and especially with this next generation, I am highly optimistic that we might become as annoying (oh… stereotyping, forgive me) as the Jehovah’s Witnesses or Bible Baptists
 
I think you don’t realise how many of us DO evangelize! maybe not in your area or maybe you don’t notice but we are out there. Many people mistake me for a Baptist because I always have a Bible with me and also a spare one to give someone if they don’t have one. I am not afraid to go one on one with JW’s , but the sad thing is after a couple of “studies” they for some reason won’t talk to me.
 
'Cause the only people I hang out with are devout Catholics? 😉

Anyway, it’s a pretty lopsided poll you’ve got yourself there, Fidelis. But I’m half tempted to answer “That’s Father’s job”, 'cause it’s funny.
 
We do evangelize. There are many Catholic missionaries around the world. The media just doesn’t care to show it as much as they should.
 
People from one of the churches in the city where I go to school went out and knocked on people’s doors and invited them to mass for Easter.
 
CARI: its good to hang with devout Catholics but you need to hang with the wayward also and talk to them one on one you might be suprised that they will listen and ask questions. don’t be afraid to say I DON’T KNOW, find the answer and get back to them. you will come across people who won’t listen but sometimes they are not ready just yet.
 
I try my hardest to always plant seeds in peoples heart I do evangelize but God is the only one that can convert a persons heart. I dont proselytize I lump that with the mormons and jws trying to recruit people. That I do not like I dont want to force anyone and if they do not agree I am done with them. The seem futile to me.

But I must say your poll is very biased here and does not apply to most so I did not vote 👍
 
Me and a fellower parishioner from my parish go into downtown areas and evangelize. We also pray outside of Strip Club and talk to people that are going in.

It’s hard work, and we’ve come across some crazy Evangelicals that “witness” to us, because after all we are all “damned Catholics with a one-way ticket to Hell”!:rolleyes:

Al-Masih Qam!
Andrew
 
Peter was the first Pope…“No he wasn’t, show me Pope in the Bible”
Mary was assumed into heaven…"No she wasn’t, show me that in the Bible.
We pray to the blessed Virgin and saints for intersession…“Oh ya show me that in the Bible”

and on and on, I try my best but my patience isn’t that of Job.
 
celticcrusader said:
CARI: its good to hang with devout Catholics but you need to hang with the wayward also and talk to them one on one you might be suprised that they will listen and ask questions. don’t be afraid to say I DON’T KNOW, find the answer and get back to them. you will come across people who won’t listen but sometimes they are not ready just yet.
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Yeah, thanks for the advice. I was being, you know, kind of gently snarky in my post. I hang out with lots of non-Catholics, and am able to engage in “guerilla apologetics” fairly confidently.
 
Mangy_Donkey said:
Peter was the first Pope…“No he wasn’t, show me Pope in the Bible”
Mary was assumed into heaven…"No she wasn’t, show me that in the Bible.
We pray to the blessed Virgin and saints for intersession…“Oh ya show me that in the Bible”

and on and on, I try my best but my patience isn’t that of Job.
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It can be tuff when talking with an individual and their response is “where does it say that in Scripture” or “show me that in the Bible.” I have noticed that as long as you can give a clear and concise defense that they walk away thinking “wow . . . I never thought that Catholics knew what they were talking about.”

My parish has a wonderful evangelization ministry. When in a discussion with a non-Catholic, where do you all start? I usually begin with the canon of Scripture. It seems like a good starting point. If not that the Eucharist.
 
OntheMount9 said:
Yeah… can we add a “We do evangelize” option?
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Yup, you guys are absolutely right! I should have added a “But I do evangelize!” or at least prefaced the question: “For those of you Catholics who don’t evangelize…”

I don’t think I can re-do the poll, but how about continuing this thread with the above provisos in mind? 🙂
 
Fidelis said:
Yup, you guys are absolutely right! I should have added a “But I do evangelize!” or at least prefaced the question: “For those of you Catholics who don’t evangelize…”

I don’t think I can re-do the poll, but how about continuing this thread with the above provisos in mind? :)/QUOTE

Just trying to be positive. 1 in every six people you meet will be Catholic.😃 Not bad numbers, I share The Faith when someone is open to recieving. 👍

Pax,
DCD
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Catholics do evangelize. Why some people (Catholic or non-Catholic ) don’t? I don’t know.
 
I can’t answer the poll. I DO evangelize, and the fact is that generally, Catholics evangelize at about the same rate as n-Cs and others do. Most in all these faith communities actually do not share their faith. I know this from personal experience. (There are host of reasons for this, but that is not what I am talking about)

Real and effective faith sharing is vastly more involved and time consuming than most people realize. Though popping out a tract somewhere is one way, most people are won to Christ by the investment of the “witness’s” time and friendship in the person they are sharing with. In order to effectively share one’s faith one has to make a personal commitment and investment in the relationship that you have with the person you are sharing with. You have to be the willing instrument that Christ uses to meet that person right where they are. That’s just how Our Lord works. 🤷

If one is unwilling to do that then one is better off supporting evangelism by prayer, fasting, and alms giving.
 
If by evangelize you mean sharing the religious side of your life, I’m all for it. But the second it turns to wanting your friends, family, and perfect strangers to believe the exact same thing you do, there’s a problem. A big problem. We live in a pluralistic society, and not only will your attempts at conversion not work, they’ll also turn many people off from “religion” in general.

Most people don’t care about each other’s religious beliefs, and I think that’s a very good thing. There are more important things in life than getting everyone to agree on the doctrine of the immaculate conception (or whatever). And I have a feeling getting into heaven won’t mean passing a theology exam.
 
Exalt said:
If by evangelize you mean sharing the religious side of your life, I’m all for it. But the second it turns to wanting your friends, family, and perfect strangers to believe the exact same thing you do, there’s a problem. A big problem. We live in a pluralistic society, and not only will your attempts at conversion not work, they’ll also turn many people off from “religion” in general.

Most people don’t care about each other’s religious beliefs, and I think that’s a very good thing. There are more important things in life than getting everyone to agree on the doctrine of the immaculate conception (or whatever). And I have a feeling getting into heaven won’t mean passing a theology exam.
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Hmm… well my attempts at converting others have resulted in bringing two people into the church, working on a third, and have convinced many of my pentacostal friends that Catholics are indeed not that crazy. Your making a false delemia, either we dont try and convert people and they will stay religious, or try to convert them and they will leave religion. Thats not true, we must fulfill our mission that Christ gave to preach the good news to all nations. We must always evangelize. To not spread your faith is to lose it. Those who are strongest in their faith are that strong because they spread it, they dont spread it cause they have strong faith. Without sharing you loose it. Faith is like love, you cant keep it to yourself and expect it to stay strong.
 
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