{"id":13672,"date":"2014-02-07T16:47:03","date_gmt":"2014-02-07T22:47:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/?p=13672"},"modified":"2019-02-10T19:31:24","modified_gmt":"2019-02-11T01:31:24","slug":"evangelize-not-proselytize","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/evangelize-not-proselytize\/","title":{"rendered":"Evangelize, Not Proselytize","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"

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THE <\/strong>image above pretty much sums up how unbelievers today approach the central message of the Gospel in our contemporary culture. From Late Night talk shows to Saturday Night live to The Simpsons, Christianity is routinely mocked, the Scriptures belittled, and the central message of the Gospel, that “Jesus saves” or “God so loved the world…” has been reduced to mere epithets on bumper stickers and baseball backstops. Add to that the fact that Catholicism has been marred by scandal after scandal in the priesthood; Protestantism is rife with endless church-splitting and moral relativism; and evangelical Christianity is at times a televised circus-like display of emotion with questionable substance.<\/p>\n

Indeed, the internet, radio, and 24 hour cable channels create a stream of holy words that soon blend into the cacophony of noise that is a hallmark of our technological age. Most troubling of all, is that there is a real crisis of faith in the world where many people “believe in God”\u2014but you’d never know which god, by how they live.<\/p>\n

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As a result, the faith as such becomes unbelievable, and the Church can no longer present herself credibly as the herald of the Lord. <\/strong>\u2014POPE BENEDICT XVI, Light of the World, The Pope, the Church, and the Signs of the Times: A Conversation With Peter Seewald<\/em>, p. 23-25<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It is in this context that both Pope Benedict XVI and Francis have made inciteful, if not controversial pastoral directives regarding how to evangelize a culture that has become dulled to the Word of God.<\/p>\n

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ATTRACTION, NOT COMPULSION<\/p>\n

Pope Francis ruffled the feathers of not a few Catholics when he allegedly said in an interview with atheist Dr. Eugenio Scalfari:<\/p>\n

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Proselytism is solemn nonsense, it makes no sense. We need to get to know each other, listen to each other and improve our knowledge of the world around us.<\/strong><\/span>\u2014interview, Oct. 1st, 2013; repubblica.it<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I say allegedly because Scalfari admitted afterward that the interview was not recorded and nor did he take notes. \u201cI try to understand the person I am interviewing,” he said, “and after that, I write his answers with my own words.” [1]<\/sup><\/a>National Catholic Register, <\/em>Nov 12, 2013<\/span><\/span>