I say they are in two respects:
- Courage. Certain Protestants groups are far more courageous about evangelization. It’s true that the older Protestant groups have run out of steam but there always seems to be something new in the Protestant world that keeps them going. I don’t have the figures handy but its not my impression that Protestantism is, overall, waning in numbers or share of the Christian world.
Evangelicals and so forth do seem to have more confidence or vehemence, and this, like that of Muslims, wins them attention and confidence in return. However, it seems to be founded on conviction in essentially their own righteousness. Most Catholic evangelists I know are calmer, quieter. Catholics can be quite confident and vehement in their arguments, but there is a difference. How many Catholics have the televangelist’s flair, the fire-and-brimstone intensity of other preachers, the publicity and showmanship of many more? These things catch the attention of many, but they are no substitute for truth.
- Potential. I was totally serious in my OP when I said that truth should be an advantage for Catholics. Catholic dogma is very well thought out. Reasonable people might disagree, I hesitate to accuse Protestants of believing in bad faith, but on those occassions when the best Catholics debate the best Protestants, the Catholics wipe the floor with the Protestants.
Again, I think a lot has to do with flair and publicity. We have short attention span cultures, and non-Catholics cater to that. Catholic catechesis requires more attention and thought, and challenges people. People don’t like that. I do think Catholics need to figure out evangelization better, since right now we try more catechization than evangelization–evangelization by persuasion of truth, if you will, rather than by inspiration of truth. I do think inspiration happens mostly through living out the Gospel and in the case of Catholics tends to be a lot more genuine and deep than a lot of Pentecostal conversions.
There is more going on, though. As has been pointed out, many lies and misconceptions have been spread about the Church. Satan has had 2000 years to practice at opposing it, and in recent generations he seems to have a tighter grasp on the hearts and minds of many people in our Western cultures than he has before. This can be seen in our cultures of death, atheistic scientism, and moral relativism. The devil opposes the Catholic Church with all he has, and one of the ways he does that is by encouraging the spread of falsehoods and divisions–which may well include encouraging the spread of many of these ever-fragmenting sects of “Christianity.” It may well not be the work of God that has those sects spreading.
Further, authentic Christianity as taught in Catholicism is hard. People don’t like things that are hard, that challenge their previous beliefs, or that challenge their behavior. Our sex-filled, materialistic, narcissistic me-first culture can’t abide authentic Christianity, and so Catholicism faces a harder battle than those sects that are more accepting of the culture, that are much less counter-cultural.
So I don’t think it’s any wonder that Catholicism has difficulty in evangelization. What is a wonder is that we’re still growing and holding to so many, and that
is attributable to the Truth and the Spirit.
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