One thing that many Catholics today don’t realize is how controversial ecumenism still is in many Orthodox circles. Sure, the Catholic Church has pockets of resistance to ecumenism, and there can be some legitimate critiques about how ecumenism is practiced within the Catholic Church, but by and large most Catholics accept ecumenism as a valid activity of the Church. This is not the case inside Orthodoxy. Most Orthodox believers, after all, do not live in the West, where there is a great diversity of religious beliefs and dialogue between differing parties is considered ideal. Your typical Russian, for example, may never have met a Catholic, and only knows about the sad history between the two Churches, which is usually told from a decidedly pro-Orthodox viewpoint (as it is told from a decidedly pro-Catholic viewpoint in the West).

Ecumencial Patriarch Bartholomew, on the other hand, has been a prominent supporter of ecumenism. Over the years, he or his representatives have engaged in a multitude of ecumenical talks, ranging from encounters with Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans and other Christian communities. Not surprisingly, this has opened him up to severe criticism within his own Orthodox Church. This past Sunday, he decided to respond to his critics in an Encyclical for the Sunday of Orthodoxy (the date is telling, for the Sunday of Orthodoxy is when the East liturgically celebrates the triumph of Orthodox Christianity over heretical groups).

A few excerpts:

Orthodoxy is not a museum treasure that must be preserved; it is a breath of life that must be transmitted and invigorate all people. Orthodoxy is always contemporary, so long as we promote it with humility and interpret it in light of the existential quests and needs of humanity in each historical period and cultural circumstance. To this purpose, Orthodoxy must be in constant dialogue with the world. The Orthodox Church does not fear dialogue because truth is not afraid of dialogue. On the contrary, if Orthodoxy is enclosed within itself and not in dialogue with those outside, it will both fail in its mission and no longer be the “catholic” and “ecumenical” Church. Instead, it will become an introverted and self-contained group, a “ghetto” on the margins of history…

Today, Orthodoxy is called to continue this dialogue with the outside world in order to provide a witness and the life-giving breath of its faith. However, this dialogue cannot reach the outside world unless it first passes through all those that bear the Christian name. Thus, we must first converse as Christians among ourselves in order to resolve our differences, in order that our witness to the outside world may be credible…

These dialogues, together with every effort for peaceful and fraternal relations of the Orthodox Church with other Christians, are unfortunately challenged today in an unacceptably fanatical way – at least by the standards of a genuinely Orthodox ethos – by certain circles that exclusively claim for themselves the title of zealot and defender of Orthodoxy. As if all the Patriarchs and Sacred Synods of the Orthodox Churches throughout the world, who unanimously decided on and continue to support these dialogues, were not Orthodox. Yet, these opponents of every effort for the restoration of unity among Christians raise themselves above Episcopal Synods of the Church to the dangerous point of creating schisms within the Church…

They disseminate false rumors that union between the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches is imminent, while they know well that the differences discussed in these theological dialogues remain numerous and require lengthy debate; moreover, union is not decided by theological commissions but by Church Synods. They assert that the Pope will supposedly subjugate the Orthodox, because they latter submit to dialogue with the Roman Catholics! They condemn those who conduct these dialogues as allegedly “heretics” and “traitors” of Orthodoxy, purely and simply because they converse with non-Orthodox, with whom they share the treasure and truth of our Orthodox faith. They speak condescendingly of every effort for reconciliation among divided Christians and restoration of their unity as purportedly being “the pan-heresy of ecumenism” without providing the slightest evidence that, in its contacts with non-Orthodox, the Orthodox Church has abandoned or denied the doctrines of the Ecumenical Councils and of the Church Fathers.

Beloved children in the Lord, Orthodoxy has no need of either fanaticism or bigotry to protect itself. Whoever believes that Orthodoxy has the truth does not fear dialogue, because truth has never been endangered by dialogue.

I am very pleased to see the Ecumenical Patriarch address the problem of anti-ecumenical Orthodox so forcefully, and I pray that his witness will help, in some small way, bring us closer to union.

Sts. Peter and Andrew, pray for us!

A Vatican economist is blaming the recession on the world’s lowering birth rates:

Bankers are not the cause of the global economic crisis, according to the president of the Institute for the Works of Religion. Rather, the cause is ordinary people who do not “believe in the future” and have few or no children.

“The true cause of the crisis is the decline in the birth rate,” Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, said in an interview on Vatican Television’s “Octava Dies.”

He noted the Western world’s population growth rate is at 0% — that is, two children per couple — and this, he said, has led to a profound change in the structure of society.

“Instead of stimulating families and society to again believe in the future and have children […] we have stopped having children and have created a situation, a negative economic context decrease,” Gotti Tedeschi observed. “And decrease means greater austerity.”

“With the decline in births,” he explained, “there are fewer young people that productively enter the working world. And there are many more elderly people that leave the system of production and become a cost for the collective.

People have been saying for years that the Western world cannot continue socially, economically or culturally with our current birthrates. But the reason for our falling birth rates is spiritual, not economic: without belief in a loving God, you are very likely to be self-centered and/or pessimistic about the future, and both of these attitudes will make it less likely that you will have children.

Ultimately, it is a crisis in evangelization: we need to proclaim the Good News to others so that they will joyfully welcome new life into their families. Then it is also likely that our economic fortunes will improve as well.

Recently, the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference issued some protocols (PDF) for bishops, members of religious communities and all Church officials for the proper use of social networking sites. They contain good advice, which basically boils down to one maxim:

Don’t do anything online you wouldn’t do in person.

Really, it is that simple, although putting it into practice seems to be difficult for many people.

They also remind Catholics that real, live communication has priority over Internet communication, and if we overemphasis the latter at the expense of the former, we will be forgetting some very important people:

Great care must be taken by all Church entities, particularly those engaged in Youth Ministry, not to rely exclusively on social networking as a means of communication. To do this could be to exclude the poor – those who cannot afford a computer, who live in remote localities with poor internet connectivity, who struggle with illiteracy or who face other challenges which place them outside of the online world. Going to Church and hearing others talk about their social networking experiences can be profoundly isolating for those unable to take part. Social networking should only ever be one of a range of communication methods that we use to invite people into closer relationship with Jesus Christ.

This is a good reminder to those of us for whom modern technology has become second-nature. Not everyone can access the Internet with the ease in which most of us can, and we cannot forget that the Good News must be preached to them just as much as everyone with a Twitter account.

For my own Rules for using the Internet, click here.

When I was a teenager, I was very involved in my (Methodist) youth group. It was a wonderful time in my spiritual life, and I am very thankful for all the things I learned during that time. I think there are many Christian adults today who can look back at their time in high school youth group as a time of spiritual growth and advancement. Yet I have to admit that I have for a long time had an uneasy feeling about the culture of youth ministry within the church.

My concerns revolve around two common aspects of many youth groups: the lack of parental involvement and the “consumer” mentality of many of these groups. The fault for the first problem often does not lie with the youth ministers, but with the parents, who consider the parish’s youth group a means to “outsource” their duties to raise their kids Catholic. I’ve known many youth ministers who practically beg parents to get involved to no avail.

But the origin of the other problem – the “consumer” mentality of youth ministry – I think falls more closely to the nature of modern youth ministry itself. I recently ran across an article (entitled “I think I’m doing youth ministry all wrong“) by Tim Schmoyer, a youth minister who articulates my concerns quite nicely (emphasis added):

Despite knowing otherwise in my head, the way I actually lead my church’s youth ministry is mostly from the mentality that our youth ministry is a program or service we provide to families. It’s almost like I’m unintentionally feeding the consumeristic perspective by sometimes using language like, “We offer small groups…” and, “We provide connection points for your teens…” Since when was ministry ever supposed to be about what a paid staff member and a couple adult volunteers are expected to spiritually provide for teens and families?

Youth ministry should not be about how the church can serve the youth or even how we can provide programs that help them grow spiritually. That’s the parents’ responsibility. In fact, I don’t think youth ministry should even accidentally enable parents to outsource their God-given responsibility to us, something I know my ministry is all too guilty of. Support parents, yes, but enable them to outsource? No.

The Greek word for “church” is literally “ekklesia,” a community of believers who are “called out” to serve and edify each other and the people around them.

Instead of fueling the consumerism mentality of what a church “offers” or “provides” and which church in town does it best, youth ministry should probably be about helping teens use their God-given gifts to serve the body. It should teach families that youth ministry isn’t just about what the church does for them, but that they are “called out” to think beyond themselves with a servant’s heart. I bet teen church drop-outs would decrease if they actually served as a valuable and essential part of the local body of Christ.

Note the first section I highlighted: it is the parents’ responsibility to help their children grow spiritually. This cannot be out-sourced. A youth program’s purpose is to simply assist the parents in this task. But it is not the job of the youth program to “sell church” to teenagers. It is to give teens an outlet for practicing the faith that has already been imparted by the parents to them.

I recognize of course that in the real world many, many parents are not doing this job, and many youth ministers are heroically trying to fill that gap as best they can. But no matter what, the focus of youth ministry should be less about making the Church conform to the desires of teenagers as it is making teenagers conform to the demands of the Church.

One of the biggest challenges in Christian living is navigating our relationship with the world. When is it harmless to accommodate to the world, and when must we reject it? Our Lord in the Gospels tells us,

You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all in the house. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father. (Matthew 5:14-16)

Our lives must stand out from the rest of the world; how we live must distinguish us and make us lights to the non-Christian world. How this has been implemented has varied through the ages. In the 6th century, St. Benedict separated himself completely from the (disintegrating) world and formed a new society in the monastery. In the 13th century, Sts. Francis and Dominic retained much of a monk’s separation, yet also entered into the world more directly in order to preach to it. In the 20th century, St. Josemaria Escriva encouraged Christians to remain in the world and to redeem it from within.

Each of these ways of relating to the world are valid, and some are more appropriate than others depending on the culture in which one lives. The more a culture is filled with Christian values, the less counter-cultural one must be. But today we live in a post-Christian world, and the only option for Christians serious about following Christ is to be at least somewhat counter-cultural.

What I fear, however, is that too many Christians have become indistinguishable in their lives from their non-Christian peers. The Gospel should change how we live in ways both large and small. Every decision we make should be made in light of the Gospel’s demands on our life.

Furthermore, living a changed life has tremendous evangelistic consequences. By letting the Gospel impact your life deeply, you are modeling not a perfect life, but a superior ideal. It is, after all, the “Good News”. If you live the Gospel seriously, then, when your neighbor realizes the emptiness and shallowness of a worldly life, he will look to your joyful Gospel living as something attractive. But if you live just like your neighbor, why would he look to you as a model?

Here are some practical ways to see if you are living a life that stands out to your neighbor:

1) Children
How do you decide how many kids you will have? Is it based solely on monetary concerns? Is it influenced by how many kids other people have?

2) Television and Movies
What do you watch on television and in the movies? Does it uplift your soul or at least teach something valuable about the human condition? Is it pure?

3) Housing
What type of house do you live in? Is it the biggest, most expensive one you can (supposedly) afford?

4) Automobile
What type of car do you drive? Does it reflect an embrace of Gospel poverty?

5) Education
How do you educate your children? Is the emphasis on Christian formation or simply academic achievement?

6) Charitable Giving
What charities do you support with your tithe? How much do you tithe?

7) Entertainment
How do you spend your entertainment dollars? Do you go into debt just so you can take the kids to Disneyworld?

8) Voting
How do you vote? Is your vote based primarily on self-centered pocketbook issues, or do you also consider moral issues such as abortion and help for the poor?

9) Culture
How do you look at our celebrity culture? Do you put “stars” on a pedestal who are terrible examples for our youth (and us)?

10) Reading
What books do you read? Do you read books only for mindless entertainment, or do you look to expand your knowledge of the world and our Faith?

The point isn’t to be counter-cultural simply to be different. Instead, simply be counter-cultural because our culture is rotting at the core, and the Gospel is the means to save it. We just need to demonstrate this truth to the world by our lives.

Christianity Today has an interesting article by an Evangelical pastor about the Catholics Come Home program and other Catholic “New Evangelization” efforts. The author, Chris Castaldo (a former Catholic himself) shows a real appreciation for these programs and also gives some useful advice:

Are any Catholics listening? You’d better believe it. The number of organizations “answering the Pope’s call,” as it’s phrased, is impressive. Simply take note of the lawn signs outside of your neighborhood’s local parish advertising programs such as “Alpha” and “Theology on Tap,” or visit the Vatican’s YouTube channel, or tune into Relevant Radio or the EWTN Global Catholic Network, or now surf the web to CatholicsComeHome.org, and you’ll see it. Trenchantly conservative, devout, enterprising, organized, and above all committed to the Church, these Catholics are serious. In them, the spirit of Ignatius of Loyola lives.

I haven’t heard too many proponents of the New Evangelization compare their efforts to the legacy of Loyola and his Society of Jesus; but for me, an armchair church historian, the parallel is striking. Starting with a commitment to supporting and serving the papacy, both endeavor to promote dynamic faith among laypeople and to enrich the structures of public life. The parallel of theological substance, spirituality, innovation, and evangelistic zeal is remarkable. With this connection in mind, I would like to offer two words of caution: one for Catholics and the other for Protestants.

…my encouragement to Catholics pursuing the New Evangelization is to remain positive. While there will necessarily be moments of defining yourself over and against Protestants, don’t let this become your modus operandi.

Protestants must be equally vigilant. For many in our tradition the temptation will be to dismiss or perhaps mock the programs. After all, that’s what we’re supposed to do when we encounter error, right?

Speaking as an evangelical pastor, card-carrying Calvinist, want-to-stand-up-and-salute-when-I-hear-Luther’s-Mighty-Fortress kind of guy, I nonetheless feel secure enough in my Protestant convictions to express appreciation for elements of the Catholics Come Home programs and other New Evangelization efforts. Turning away from sin, commitment to reading Scripture, looking to the Savior, protecting the life of the unborn, serving the poor—these and other such themes are ones that Protestants can affirm, even though we disagree with the institutionalized structure of Catholic authority, the role of the sacraments, and requisite precepts surrounding them. This sort of measured response—consciously gracious while rooted in biblical principles—is more intellectually honest, more missionally compelling, and more genuinely Christian.

I can’t agree enough with Castaldo’s advice to Catholics. It is true that we must distinguish where we differ from Protestants, but that cannot be what defines us. The beauty and truth of the Catholic Faith is so much more than just “anti-Protestantism”. And it is this truth and beauty which will attract people to the Church, and we must proclaim that at every opportunity.

St. Ignatius Loyola, pray for us!

A common lament in many churches today is the lack of young people. It seems that many youth today can’t leave faith of their parents fast enough once they are on their own. This is true in Catholic churches and it is especially true in evangelical churches, at least according to this interesting article in the Broken Arrow Ledger entitled “Where have the Young People Gone?” Some excerpts (emphasis added):

“Nationwide polls and denominational reports are showing that the next generation is calling it quits on the traditional church. And it’s not just happening on the nominal fringe; it’s happening at the core of the faith.”

That’s the opening paragraph in a press release promoting a new book, “Already Gone,” by Ken Ham and Britt Beemer, with Todd Hillard…

Two-thirds of young adults who have grown up in evangelical churches are leaving, according to Ham and Beemer.

Nancy Mabry, youth director at St. Stephen’s United Methodist Church, agrees that evangelical churches are losing twenty-somethings, but she credits a reluctance to make any sort of commitment as the underlying cause.

If young people can’t commit to a skating party on Sunday evening until Sunday morning, they’re going to have difficulty making long-term commitments to anything else, Mabry said.

When she was in her 20s, she said “If you didn’t have a fever, you went to church. Some people say they don’t come to church because Sunday is the only day they have to spend with family. Why don’t they spend it with their family in church? Now, church is an option,” Mabry said.

What is the solution? There is a hint of it found later in the article:

There is an exception, however, according to Mabry. Traditional churches that are liturgical churches and smaller evangelical churches seem to be retaining their twenty-something members in greater numbers than larger and mega-churches.

The Rev. John Wilke, senior pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church, has read the book and said he found it to be a fascinating study.

He cited one of Luther’s writings as something for church leaders to consider: “A faith that costs nothing and demands nothing is worth nothing.”

“I think that is where the church is today. I get too many things in the mail from churches that say, ‘Come just the way you are, you don’t have to change,’” Wilke said.

“While God loves you where you are, he expects you to change. We don’t put the fear of God in our churches, we don’t have that respect. We’ve made Jesus our homeboy. He’s not our homeboy, he’s our Saviour.”

Wilke said the only church he knows of that is experiencing growth in the 20-to-29-year old age group is the Greek Orthodox Church.

“The Greek Orthodox Church is a liturgical church. Kids want to return to something different from what they get from the world. If we want to reach these kids again, we are going to have to return to what the early church was doing. We need to raise the bar,” he said.

Read that last part again: a demanding, liturgical Church is actually attracting youth!

Over the past forty years, the goal of many Catholic parishes has been to make it as easy as possible to be a Catholic so that everyone, but especially the youth, would be willing to come. There has been very little preaching about sin and repentance or about the demands the Faith puts upon you. Furthermore, the underlying assumption for many has been to make the celebration of the Mass more “relevant” to the younger generations, so that they will be more attracted to coming. However, this study shows the exact opposite has occurred: kids have rejected the easy way and instead favor churches that are more demanding and more traditionally liturgical.

Youth want to be inspired; they want to be called to something above themselves. A demanding, liturgical church naturally does this and as a result attracts youth without even explicitly trying.

It should not be surprising that Pope Benedict appreciates the value of the Christmas Tree, which originated in the land of his birth, Germany. He even sees an evangelistic value to this venerable tradition:

The Christmas tree — with its journey from a dark forest to the brilliance of decorative lights — represents every Christian, called to share the message that the Light of the world has become man.

This was a comparison made by Benedict XVI today when he addressed a delegation from Belgium, which provided the Christmas tree for St. Peter’s Square this year.

“In the forest,” the Holy Father said, “the trees are close together and each one of them contributes to making the forest a shadowy, sometimes dark, place.”

“But here,” he continued, “chosen from among this multitude, the majestic tree that you offered us is today lit up and covered with brilliant decorations that are like so many marvelous fruits.”

“Leaving aside its dark garments for a brilliant explosion, it has been transfigured, becoming a beacon of light that is not its own, but rather gives testimony to the true Light that comes to this world,” the Pope suggested.

Our own family Christmas Tree always has a lot of red apple ornaments on it. This particular ornament also has Germanic origins: during the Christmas season, many German towns would hold a play which would tell the story of Christmas and start “In the Beginning”, with the Fall of Adam. A tree would be centrally located on the stage, and of course it would have apples on it, which Adam and Eve would unwisely eat every time. Over time people began to have trees in their own homes and it would inevitably include some tempting-looking apples.

Thus, the Christmas Tree points us both to the Tree that led to Death as well as the Tree that leads to Life.

When I was an Evangelical, I was for a short while a member of Campus Crusade for Christ. CCC is very evangelization-focused and it encourages its members to go out and evangelize as much as possible. To make this task easier, the founder of CCC, Bill Bright, came up with the “Four Spiritual Laws“, which are intended to lead someone to make a “decision for Christ”. Basically, this involves saying a prayer in which you ask Christ to be your Lord and enter into a personal relationship with him. Once someone does that, the work of the evangelist is over, at least in the eyes of CCC.

The ease of this evangelization method is attractive: all you need to do is get someone to say one specific prayer, and you can consider him a convert you have brought to the Lord. You don’t have to worry whether the person grows in holiness, if he embraces heretical doctrines or if he continues in sinful lifestyles – all you need to get is the prayer and you have a convert under your belt. It really is compelling to many college students as they are given a simple goal and a directed means to accomplish it.

Of course, it is not evangelization; it is simply sales. True evangelization has as its goal to bring people into a lifetime relationship with Christ which leads to their eternal salvation. As Catholics, we know that the best way for someone to achieve this goal is to live a sacramental, holy life, so this is what we want to encourage in others. Simply saying one prayer won’t cut it, no matter how sincere you may be when you say it. What matters is that you give your whole life to Christ and that you do this every day.

But how do you get people to do this? When evangelizing (and the Church has made clear that we are all called to evangelize), what does the Catholic want to direct the person towards? It is oxymoronic to think you can get someone to make a lifetime commitment in a single prayer. So what do we want them to do? As the true end goal is their salvation, which comes from a sacramental, holy life, here are three suggestions of what to direct people towards:

1) Regular Prayer. It might sound like I just dismissed the whole idea of leading someone to say a prayer, but as Catholic evangelists we need to encourage people to deeper prayer. We don’t want them to say a single prayer, but instead become people of prayer. Encouraging people to pray every day for a set amount of time (even five minutes) can be eternally beneficial.

2) Confession. If someone is already Catholic, I can’t think of a better thing to encourage than for them to go to Confession, especially if they haven’t gone in a while. Often this sacrament is the turning point which leads to a lifetime of serving Christ.

3) Adoration. Evangelization is bringing someone to Jesus, much like Andrew brought Peter and Philip brought Nathaniel. Well, what better way to bring someone to Jesus than to actually bring him to Jesus, sacramentally present in the Eucharistic host? Encouraging adoration is a great method of evangelization. Find out where it is offered in your area and then tell anyone you know about it – they don’t even have to be Catholic!

Note the simplicity of these suggestions: you don’t have to know reams of dogma or be a Scripture scholar. You are just pointing people to make small steps towards Christ – He will do the rest.

For example, let’s say you went to adoration during your lunch hour. If your co-worker asked where you were, don’t just say, “Oh, I was at church” or even worse, “I was at an appointment”. Tell him you were at adoration and explain it to him briefly. Yes, some people will think you are weird, but you will be surprised by how many will be interested. Little moments like these are placed before us all the time – we need to take advantage of them!

So, don’t be intimidated by evangelization – if you are a practicing Catholic, you can do it; all you are is a guide leading them to Christ.

St. Paul, pray for us!

The Scriptures are one of the primary ways in which we can encounter Christ, and any fully authentic encounter with Christ leads to his body, the Church, as can be seen by these new Catholic converts in China:

Many conversions are taking place in Shanghai, China, in part thanks to the encouragement of Bible reading and youth outreach programs. One convert’s story began in a classroom encounter with Catholicism and led to the conversion of another young man he met while reading the Bible at McDonald’s.

While most Catholics in China are born to Catholic parents, many of the nearly 300,000 Catholics in Shanghai are converts, the United Bible Societies China Partnership reports.

One convert, 27-year-old Shen Cheng, had little exposure to the Catholic faith as a youth. He became interested in Catholicism when one of his professors introduced him to a book by American legal scholar Harold J. Berman. The book so interested Cheng in Catholicism that he bought a Catholic Bible.

Exploring Scripture convinced him to convert to Catholicism. He calls the Bible his “daily bread,” essential to his soul’s well-being.

Shen would often read the Bible wherever he went. At one McDonald’s restaurant he frequented he would read the Bible with a crucifix in front of him.

How cool is that?

Here in America we still often think that reading the Bible is a “Protestant” thing. I’ve even met Catholics who fear that reading the Bible too much will lead someone away from the Catholic Church. Nothing could be further from the truth. The same Holy Spirit who inspired the writing of the Bible also animates the Church and guides it. So the words of Scripture, properly interpreted, will only lead one closer to Christ in his Church.

Read the whole article here.

This week most of us will be closely interacting with cafeteria Catholics, fallen-away Catholics and non-Catholics. In other words, we will be visiting family for Thanksgiving. Those of us who are trying to live an authentically Catholic life are pained when we see those we love rejecting the Church and her loving guidelines for a fulfilling life. So what do we do? How do we evangelize those people who are closest to us? I have a few suggestions from my own personal experience.

1) Pray for your family members

This point can be easily skimmed as clichéd, but if you ignore this advice, all the other suggestions are worthless. If you are not praying for your loved ones, you are not evangelizing them. Period. And when I say “pray for your family members” I don’t just mean some offhand prayers on an irregular basis. I mean daily, specific prayers, including offering up sacrifices for them. Only the Holy Spirit can convert people, so you need to get Him involved in your evangelization.

2) Live your Catholic Faith

St. Francis is alleged to have said, “Preach the Gospel always. When necessary, use words.” I think that this saying has been abused in recent years to excuse doing nothing, but there is truth in it. After prayer, the most important thing we can do is to live our Catholic Faith. Trust me, if you have 6 kids and go to Mass every Sunday, you are making a loud statement to your extended family members. And if you are living your life joyfully, that loud statement becomes an attractive one to others. Don’t think you have to be perfect – because you are not – but just making a serious effort to follow our Lord in your daily life will do more than any words you might say.

3) Accept your role

Typically over a hundred people have a role in someone’s conversion. Most of those people won’t say a word about the Faith to the convert, but will instead impact the person by their life (see #2 above). In my own life, my college roommate was the primary catalyst in my conversion, but there were many other Catholics who impacted me by the quiet witness of their lives. There is a good chance we will not be the primary catalyst to our family member’s conversion (”Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor”), but our lives can be a secondary cause of others’ conversions.

4) Recognize where people are

The sad truth is that most people (including most Catholics) are not interested in learning more about the Catholic Faith, much less embracing it fully. Trying to engage them in conversations about the Faith is therefore usually counterproductive. They will feel that you are pushing something on them and will therefore put up defenses to reject what you are saying. Obviously if someone says something explicitly against the Catholic Faith you should correct their misunderstanding, but that is the extent of how much we should talk about the Faith with them. For these people, we should be content with praying for them (see #1 above); only God can change their attitude of indifference or hostility.

5) Be aggressive in looking for legitimate opportunities

It might seem from the above that we should not say anything about the Catholic Faith to our family members. Nothing could be further from the truth; we are obliged to share our faith whenever possible. As St. Paul writes, “Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season” (2 Timothy 4:2). If someone is open to hearing about Catholicism, we should be looking for opportunities to share our love for Christ and his Church with them. Although our culture is loath to talk about religion publicly, I have found that there are many opportunities to share our faith with others. The person who is open to learning more will make that clear by the type of questions he or she asks you and by their interest in your lifestyle. Although you might not be the primary catalyst in most people’s conversions, you don’t want to miss an opportunity to be one when God is calling you to it. And if you are praying hard for your loved ones (you did remember #1, didn’t you?), then these opportunities will come more often than you might expect.

6) Don’t expect instant results

In our modern culture we expect instant results for everything; we get mad if a web page doesn’t load in under 2 seconds. However, conversion is almost always a long process. Do not expect your family members to embrace the Faith within days, or months or even a few years. More likely is the possibility that they will slowly move closer to God over time until they eventually find that they are living an authentically Catholic life. Do not be discouraged by this slow progress; the Lord works on his own timetable.

7) Relax

Or, in other words, leave the heavy lifting to God. Do not be anxious about your family members who are not living a Catholic life. God loves them more than you ever will and He wants them to come closer to Him more than you can imagine. Being aggressive about evangelization does not mean that we are pushy or desperate. Let your conversations naturally flow to matters of the Faith; don’t always try to direct them there. If you are praying, the Holy Spirit will let the right words be said at the right time.

St. Paul, pray for us!

I have been involved with Internet discussions and apologetics for a very long time, at least in Internet terms. I remember debating a man from the Netherlands via email about Catholic theology in 1992, before I was even officially received into the Catholic Church. Considering “Internet years” are somewhat like dog years, I figure that’s 119 years of online debates and discussions (and it even feels like more sometimes). Over that time I have developed some rules of engagement for Internet apostolate that might be helpful for others.

1) Always remember the superiority of the real world over the virtual world.

If you are spending more time interacting with people over the Internet than you do in the real world, then you need to seriously curtail your online activity. God made us physical beings and we cannot replace physical interaction with virtual interaction. It’s just not the same.

2) Your salvation is more important than your involvement on the Internet.

If frequenting a blog or forum disturbs your peace and makes you anxious, uncharitable and/or unkind to those around you, you should simply stop going to that blog or forum. I have had to abandon certain forums and blogs because I found myself too upset with those I encountered there. It is better to simply walk away.

3) Don’t ever say anything on the Internet that you wouldn’t say in person.

This is a pretty common suggestion, but it is very true. If you wouldn’t call someone a putz to their face, don’t call them that online (and if you would call them that to their face, perhaps you need to see your confessor).

4) Don’t write anything in anger.

If you write a post or comment on a blog or on a forum in anger, be sure to preview it before posting. Then delete it.

5) Don’t stereotype people.

It is very easy to stereotype the people we “meet” over the Internet. If someone says he likes the Traditional Latin Mass, don’t assume that he is an “angry Traditionalist” who rejects Vatican II completely. If someone says something supportive of Rush Limbaugh, don’t assume she supports everything he espouses. The truth is that most people don’t fall into nice and neat categories. I remember encountering a person online who was devoted to the Latin Mass but also supported liberal Democrat politicians. Remember to just debate actual arguments raised, not positions you assume the person also holds. Don’t think you actually know people you only encounter online. You don’t.

6) Take at least one day off a week from the Internet.

Preferably Sunday. Remember that man was not made for the Internet, but the Internet for man. If you feel you need to be on the Internet every day, then you are showing signs of a dangerous addiction. This is unhealthy, even if the sites you go to are not harmful themselves.

7) Always assume the good intentions of others.

If someone writes something that could possibly be interpreted multiple ways, assume the best interpretation. I have seen countless examples of someone making a point, someone else misinterpreting it and attacking it, then a whole discussion ensues before the original poster returns to say that he never meant what he was accused of saying. Writing is a difficult task, and often what we write isn’t exactly what we mean. Give people the same benefit of the doubt that you want to be given.

8) Remember who the real Enemy is.

It’s not some heterodox blogger or pro-abortion advocate. It’s Satan. Those who do things that support his reign are slaves of Satan, and our duty is not to try to defeat them, but emancipate them and help them become sons of the True King. Yes, we must resist evil in all its forms, but those who advocate for evil need to be converted, not conquered.

9) Remember that God resists the proud.

Even when they are right. On the Internet you encounter people at all stage of their spiritual life. Many don’t know the first thing about the Faith yet still expound upon it. It is easy to look upon them like the Pharisee did to the Publican. Instead of quickly jumping in to tell them how they are wrong, first say a prayer for them and then gently lead them to a fuller understanding of the truth. I can guarantee that a prideful retort will do nothing other than turn them more away from an orthodox understanding of the Faith.

10) Don’t just go to Catholic sites.

Part of the history of Catholics in America is that we have often lived in ghettos, completely excluded from those outside the Church. It sometimes feels like we are returning to that on the Internet. We only go to Catholic sites and Catholic blogs and Catholic forums (and usually only those we agree with) and it gives us an unbalanced view of the world. I spent over four years as the only Catholic at a Protestant apologetics forum, and it was a very fruitful experience for me. Not only was I able to defend and explain the Catholic Faith to many who would never hear about it, I also learned a great deal from the Protestants at the site and honed my apologetic abilities. Obviously we shouldn’t visit immoral sites that might lead us into the near occasion of sin, but we should be salt and light on the Internet and bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all corners of the virtual world.

If you have any helpful rules of engagement you use, feel free to leave them in the comments!

Following up on this post and this post, I want to call attention to a video about “Hosting a Windows 7 Launch Party”. If you want to know exactly how NOT to evangelize, watch how Microsoft does it (if you can – I do not believe it is possible for a rational, sane person to watch this entire video all the way through):

Too often we think evangelization just involves events and programs. But the best evangelization should not be forced; it is one person naturally sharing with another the joy that is in his heart. I’m not saying we don’t hold evangelization-related activities (after all, I organize my parish’s door-to-door effort twice a year), but even those activities should be focused on individuals personally sharing with others the hope that is within him. That is the best soil in which the Holy Spirit can work.

Okay, time for a contest: the first person who can watch this entire video all the way through – with the sound on and eyes on the screen the whole time – receives the first “Divine Life Voluntary Mortification Award”. With that you get a free subscription to the Divine Life blog – what a deal!

I have a Systems Analysis degree and have been involved with computers in a professional capacity for almost 20 years now. In that time I have used all the major operating systems – Windows (all flavors since 3.0), Mac and Linux. I have my own opinions about each OS, but what I especially find interesting is the followers of each one, especially followers of Windows and Macs. What does this have to do with Christianity? Bear with me.

Windows supporters generally are corporate types who simply like Windows because everyone uses it and it is the most compatible with the software they want to use. But you rarely find a true fan of Windows who isn’t in the pay of Redmond. They just like being part of the System and are content with the status quo.

Mac fans, however, are almost extreme in their devotion to the Apple OS. They love both its underlying technical strengths as well as its aesthetic beauty. They will tell any who will listen (and many who won’t) how great Macs are and why everyone should buy one. They admit the price is steep for a Mac, but well worth it.

I was thinking recently that this is quite similar to the religious battles of the first centuries of Christianity. Windows represents the old pagan religion of the Empire: most people followed it, but few were devoted to it and most recognized its weaknesses unless they were in the pay of the Emperor.

Macs, on the other hand, represents Christianity: it had a small, but devoted, band of followers who recognized the high cost of following Christ, but sought to convert others to their faith nonetheless. They saw it as a beautiful faith with a rock-solid intellectual core underlying it.

(And I guess Linux fans are the Gnostics: an esoteric faith with few followers that is difficult to follow and no one really understands anyway. )

Oh, and I’ll give you one guess as to my own favorite OS.

Mark Shea has a wonderful article over at Catholic Exchange about the need for Catholics to evangelize like St. Paul. He begins by noting the Catholic attitude about evangelization:

Ask your average Catholic about evangelization and you get a mumble and a shrug. Evangelization? That’s what Evangelicals do, isn’t it?

It’s not that Catholics think it’s bad (though some are, in fact, actively hostile to it since it smacks to them of “imposing our values” on others). Rather, it is that most Catholics simply have no idea what to do. So we console ourselves with that saying of St. Francis that he never actually said: “Preach the gospel at all times. Use words when necessary.”

That apocryphal Franciscanism would be great advice—if we really were preaching the gospel at all times by our lives. But for many of us, evangelizing is near the bottom of our “to do” list. We shift uncomfortably in our seats as we drive past the little fundamentalist church sign that says, “If you were charged with being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?” We tell ourselves that our faith is “deeper” then mere talky Evangelical chatter.

My own experience is similar. After converting to Catholicism from Evangelicalism, I never once considered that I should stop evangelizing; now I just have the advantage of evangelizing about the fullness of the faith. Some Catholics, however, seem to think that my conversion won’t be complete until I drop that whole “evangelization” thing. Evangelization isn’t something that Catholics “do”. But in many cases, I think that this aversion to evangelization is due to fear: fear that we will be rejected, fear that we will fail, and also fear that we won’t know what to say. The first two fears are only overcome by a deeper interior life, but the third fear is one that should not even exist. As Mark notes:

Many Catholics wonder if there is some sort of technique they need to master in order to bear witness to their faith. They fear that if they have not taken some sort of course in evangelization, or studied theology for a decade, or otherwise jumped through various hoops, they cannot evangelize. For such folk, the Holy Father has liberating news. In his announcement of the Year of Paul on June 28, 2007, Benedict XVI said that Paul’s success was not due to some “refined strategy” of salesmanship or philosophical wrangling. Instead, the Holy Father essentially said that Paul’s achievement was due to his extraordinary personal involvement springing from his total dedication to Christ, despite all obstacles.

In short, Paul really believed this stuff. He acted exactly like a man who really had met the Risen Christ on the Road to Damascus and was now perfectly convinced that Jesus had conquered death, forgiven his sins, and laid upon him the charge to tell the world. Because he really believed, he was willing to “pay personally for [his] faith in Christ, in every situation.”

Today try to find a way to evangelize – invite a friend to Mass, tell someone something about your faith, recount a positive story about your large family – there are a thousands of ways to evangelize. Pick one and do it!