Wishy Washy Catholics?
When
Lisa and I returned to the Catholic Church, a good friend of ours and member of
our evangelical house church, decided to cross over the Tiber with us. Jacob went
through RCIA and shortly thereafter moved to South Korea to teach ESL at a
Christian school there. While he was in Korea he and a few of his friends felt
God stirring their hearts for the families and children ensnared in the human trafficking
rings of Southeast Asia. Around a year ago four of them moved to Thailand to
minister to and share the Gospel with those vulnerable to the sex trade.
Although they are a non-denominational ministry, he has remained committed
to his Catholic faith and feels a particularly strong call to build bridges
between Catholics and Protestants by uniting in ministry to those in need.
The
other day Jacob contacted me on Facebook seeking some insight and advice
regarding some frustrating experiences he’s had with other Catholics. As part
of his ministry in Thailand, Jacob has been reaching out to Catholic missions
and ministries in the area. He explains what he and his friends are doing and
seeks out opportunities to combine their efforts and support each other. Two
recent encounters served as prime examples of his frustration.
First
Jacob met with a nun working with a group of missionary sisters. After discussing
the various programs aimed at providing for the material needs of the local
Thais, Jacob shared how he believes the only real way of breaking the cycles of
abuse and solving the problems of human trafficking is by sharing the Gospel to
bring about change in people’s hearts. To his dismay the sister, “seemed to
stammer and then explained that their philosophy is that Buddhism is an equally
strong path to walk and that as long as the people have strong faith in a
higher power and follow it then the quality of their lives will improve and
that is their aim, not to "convert” (quoting from his FB message to me). She
went on to explain that while she has strong faith as a Catholic she insisted
that the locals just needed to be encouraged in their own Buddhist faith and
traditions.
Shortly
after this encounter Jacob was having a conversation with a fellow parishioner
abut evangelism. Unfortunately, that conversation did not go so well either. As
he talked to him, it became clear that this man was not really Catholic, but a
Universalist who had decided that Catholicism fit him best. When Jacob appealed
to scripture, the Catechism, and quotes from popes, the man brushed him off
by saying, “that's OUR tradition. What about those born outside of our
tradition. When you say God only saves through our tradition, you are limiting
God, and I don't believe in limiting God." Once again, the fundamental
issue for this man was that as long as someone was finding the strength to live
a moral life it didn’t really matter what faith or religion he or she followed.
As
a convert to Catholicism this aversion to evangelism has been frustrating and
disheartening to Jacob. When he wrote to me he said:
“Even just listening to Catholics talk about their faith, it's often with words like, "my faith is very important to me..." So many talk about "their faith, their faith, their faith" without ever really mentioning a real and true God. That doesn't necessarily mean they don't believe, it just sounds so weak. Even when the people seem true in their faith, often the idea of evangelizing is awkward for them. I don't know what to do. Do you understand this? Why is this so pandemic in the church? I read a lot about how much went wrong after Vatican II, is this one of those things? I just can't get my head around this. Any thoughts?”
I
told him that I’d try to answer him by writing a blog about this, so here it
goes…
First
let me answer the question about Vatican II. Without a doubt the immediate
aftermath of the Council made for a confusing time in the Church. The problem
with Vatican II is not what it taught, but what people think it taught. So much
has been done in “the spirit of Vatican II” by people who have spent precious
little time actually reading the documents of the Council. Examples of this
confusion can be seen in issues ranging from liturgical forms to church
architecture to the idea of being a “cafeteria Catholic” on moral issues. It
has also affected the missionary arm of the Church.
Many
mistakenly thought and taught that Vatican II did away with the need for
Catholic evangelization; that the Church had changed its teaching on who can be
saved and how they can be saved. Many point to the following passage from Lumen
Gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church:
“Those also can attain to salvation who through no fault of their own do not know the Gospel of Christ or His Church, yet sincerely seek God and moved by grace strive by their deeds to do His will as it is known to them through the dictates of conscience.” (LG 16)
However,
if you just keep reading the same paragraph you find this:
“But often men, deceived by the Evil One, have become vain in their reasoning and have exchanged the truth of God for a lie, serving the creature rather than the Creator. Or some there are who, living and dying in this world without God, are exposed to final despair. Wherefore to promote the glory of God and procure the salvation of all of these, and mindful of the command of the Lord, "Preach the Gospel to every creature", the Church fosters the missions with care and attention.” (LG 16)
The
Council wanted to set a pastoral rather than dogmatic tone. One of the purposes
for calling the Council was to encourage ecumenical dialogue. Vatican II
purposefully used language that fostered an attitude of reconciliation and
healing rather than division. In Unitatis
Redintegratio, the Decree on Ecumenism, the Council stressed that
recognizing common elements of truth and beauty rather than emphasizing
differences, should be the starting point for ecumenical discussions.
This
desire to seek unity has wrongfully been interpreted by some to mean that there
is little difference in choosing to follow a particular religion. Some have
taken the Council’s appeal to the mercy of God, that God may not hold those
accountable who have not heard the Gospel, to mean that we shouldn’t share the
Gospel at all. But this is not the teaching of Vatican II, nor is it the
teaching of the Church today.
“Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and Baptism, and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as through a door. Hence they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church #846 quoting LG #14, emphasis added)
The
simple truth of the matter is that faith in Christ is necessary for salvation. As
Christians we have an obligation, a command, to spread the Gospel and invite
all those who do not know Christ into relationship with him. While there may be
extraordinary circumstances for people with invincible ignorance of Christ to
be commended into the mercy of God, the ordinary means of salvation is only
through Jesus. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. This is the teaching of
the Catholic Church. It always has been.
So
what about the encounters that Jacob had? What about the poor job of
evangelizing done (or not done) by Catholics?
Simply
put, there are large numbers of Catholics, even those who regularly attend mass
or are involved in various ministries, who need to be evangelized themselves.
St.
Pope John Paul II, in his 1990 Apostolic Letter entitled Mission of the
Redeemer, said, “I sense that the moment has come to commit all the Church’s
energies to a new evangelization...No believer in Christ, no institution of the
Church can avoid this supreme duty: to proclaim Christ to all peoples.”
The
New Evangelization is a call to spread the Gospel to those who have never heard
it, but also “invites
each Catholic to renew their relationship with Jesus Christ and his Church.”
Far too many Catholics go through the motions of their faith without allowing
the power of grace to penetrate deep into their lives. Others have fallen
victim to poor catechesis and don’t even understand the basic tenants of the faith.
Still others have confused actively doing religious things (good in themselves)
with having a relationship with Christ. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI often
reminded the Church that the heart of Christianity is not a moral code, not a
set of philosophical propositions, not an institution, but it is about a personal
encounter and relationship with Jesus Christ.
Penn
Jillette, atheist, comedian, magician, once said, “How much do you have to hate
somebody to believe everlasting life is possible and not tell them that? I
mean, if I believed, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that a truck was coming at
you, and you didn’t believe that truck was bearing down on you, there is a
certain point where I tackle you. And this is more important than that.”
We
do God, ourselves, and others a great disservice by hiding the Gospel. Jacob is
right. The only true Way out of the hell of Thailand’s human trafficking and
sex trade is the Gospel of Jesus. There is, I suspect, within the people Jacob
encountered a mixture of political correctness, fear, and materialism (refusing
to acknowledge spiritual forces at work) that combine to create a mindset that
really believes that only dealing with material needs and encourage
faithfulness to any religion of your
choice can free you from bondage to sin.
But
this way of thinking and acting is not faithful Catholicism. It is not faithful
Christianity. It is a neutered, impotent response. This is why we must embrace
the call of the New Evangelization and boldly proclaim the Gospel, especially
to our fellow Catholics. We must put off pale colored pastels of a bashful
faith and show the world the vibrant beauty of encountering Jesus Christ. We
need to allow the power of the Holy Spirit to transform our lives, free us from
sin, addiction, and spiritual oppression.
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