He asks some important questions about whether people are really serious about evangelizing.
Most Catholics, including priests and therefore one might also suggest bishops too, I would suggest are unconvinced about the need for Evangelisation, the notion of universal salvation, an empty Hell, have taken hold so tightly that there is no reason to Evangelise. It simply doesn’t have a supernatural, salvific or teleological purpose. Universalism means that really evangelising people just ties burdens on people, alienating them from their culture and imposing unnecessary moral burdens on them.
A second not unconnected reason is that we do not know how to evangelise. We do not know what needs to be communicated. Do we actually dare to say that Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life and without him no-one can know the Father? Are we not more likely to suggest that Evangelisation is about joining a hand-holding, feel good community, with few moral or faith demands. Our problem is that there is so much confusion about what Catholics actually believe and how Catholics are expected to live.
Wow. True though. Read it all.
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I do not think that these two approaches are mutually exclusive, although the second alternative is described here in a negative, condescending way. Most people are drawn to take a closer look at the Christian faith, or an unfamiliar expression of it, because they are seeking a community in which their spiritual hunger can be satisfied. I’ve often seen streetcorner preachers warning passers-by to flee from impending hell fire on Judgement Day, but I’ve never seen anyone stop to get more details. Jesus seemed happy to reach out with healing and with hospitality, in the first instance. Only gradually did his followers come to understand the cost of discipleship.