Troubadour, October 2010

Posted October 21st, 2010 by CLMjm

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Evangelization, Catholics, YOU CAN DO IT!

by Robert Fontana

Most Catholics do not like the word “Evangelization.” We have an inborn distaste for it that I suppose comes from years of living our faith in a very serious though private manner so as not to attract too much attention. I once helped facilitate a conversation on evangelization with my boss, the former bishop of Yakima, Francis George. Oh, he was so excited about evangelization! Pope John Paul had fired him up on the need for a “New Evangelization” directed at those countries and cultures that had once embraced Christianity but had now grown cold.


Now, Bishop George was still a “baby” bishop. He actually thought that after he explained the pope’s vision for a New Evangelization and his plans to make that a reality in Central Washington, the good people in attendance would crowd around him and lift him up on their shoulders and carry him off as their “Evangelization Hero.”


Yeah, well, that didn’t happen. There was polite applause, a few intelligent questions and even some clarifying ones— “You’re not suggesting that we go door-to-door like the Jehovah’s Witnesses, are you, Bishop?” Of course, Bishop George said the wrong thing: “The Jehovah’s Witnesses have an odd understanding of the Gospel, but they have the right idea about evangelization two-by-two from house to house.”


A cold chill descended upon the gathering. I could see in their terrified eyes what they were thinking.


Evangelization is Protestant!


Evangelization is scary!


And I think most Catholics feel the same way. We would rather give up meat on Fridays and Wednesdays for an entire year than do anything that remotely looks like “evangelization.” All of us at one time or another have been confronted by the “Holy, Humble Huberts” of the world and vowed, “If that’s what it means to evangelize, may pirates cut out my tongue and nail my shoes to the plank to keep me from doing it.”


Holy Humble Hubert was a real person. He came to Louisiana State in 1977 to preach the Gospel to the pagan students on campus. Since 50 percent of the student body was Catholic, I suppose he thought it was fertile ground. He set up a sign with his name on it: Holy Humble Hubert. (That’s how I knew his name.) Then he stood up on the bench at the free speech alley and evangelized (or rather, condemned):


“I know where you were last night, sinner!”


“I know what you did last night, whore!”


He yelled these condemnations as he pointed to different people in the crowd. He had supporters cheering him on.


So the Jehovah’s Witnesses have a weird doctrine but a very good method; and Humble Hubert had an awful method, but perhaps a good intention. But how should we Catholics evangelize?


We Catholics can evangelize, not just on a parish and programmatic level, but on a personal level. We just need to take the fear out of evangelizing and we can do that by keeping in mind these four simple principles to effective evangelization:



  1. Effective evangelization begins with a good example;

  2. Effective evangelization is sustained by building trust through friendship.

  3. The key moment in evangelization is when you share the story of Jesus acting in your life.

  4. Proclaim Jesus acting through the Church, but proclaim Jesus, and not the Church.


A Good Example


Jesus said before we remove the speck from our friend’s eye we should remove the log out of our own. We have to “walk the talk,” however imperfectly, so that our evangelization work is credible. When I was a teenager my former football coach and his wife, Vince and Kay Listi, had an experience of God that changed their lives. In response to this they sold their home in the middle class neighborhood in which we and they lived and moved into a racially mixed neighborhood to live with and serve the poor. THEIR GOOD EXAMPLE INSPIRED ME TO NO END! I was only a teenager but I knew that I wanted to respond heroically to God as they did.


Building trust and friendship


My school teacher friend Jule LeBeau often says that “children do not care how much you know until they know how much you care.” The same is true in evangelization. Invite others who may not have a Church or a very active faith life to be your friend. Before you ever mention Jesus or the Church, listen to them and take their concerns to heart. And when it is appropriate, invite them to your prayer group, bible study or Church. Better yet, share your story of faith.


This past year I spent two nights a month visiting a men’s group on the Yakama Indian reservation to build their trust. Two days ago their pastor asked me to teach a marriage class at their Church. As the Cursillo retreat teaches: make a friend, be a friend, bring a friend to Christ.


Share your personal story


The most powerful form of evangelization is the sharing of one’s story of faith. My gosh, do we not all like to know that a product we are about to purchase actually works? This is especially true with faith today when there is great skepticism that God is real and active in the world. Learn your story of faith and practice sharing it with a friend, and listen to their story as well. And when you feel brave and have gained the trust of an unchurched friend or neighbor, ask them, “May I share with you what God has done in my life?”


Proclaim Jesus


It is a Catholic temptation to think that the Kingdom of God and the Church are the same thing; they are not. When we confuse the Church with Jesus and the Kingdom we become incapable of being critical of the Church’s limitations, archaic structures, and sins (e.g. the clergy sex abuse and cover-up).


The Protestant temptation, especially in its popular evangelical expression, is “Me and Jesus” or Jesus without a Church. Effective evangelization proclaims Jesus within the Church, a living body of fallible human beings who struggle to make Jesus present to every generation. It is in this imperfect Church that God is encountered from one generation to the next in the poor, in service, in marriage and family, in friendships, and in the sacraments, liturgy, and prayer.

Some Catholics might wonder where “doctrine” fits into this evangelization process? Effective evangelization is always in communion with the great story of faith taught by the Church through liturgy, councils and catechisms. But doctrine is used in evangelization like sautéed onions is used to enrich a sauce or etouffee, to add taste and thickness, but not as a full course meal. That can come later when faith has been awakened and the desire for God inspires a person to know the truth behind the faith, hope, and love she feels bubbling up within her.


Evangelization, Catholics, you can do it!


Win, Lose, or God

by Kristin White (wife and mother of four from Eugene, Oregon)

Lately it seems we live on a sports field. In wind and rain, we watch practices and games. The time I spend freezing is quickly forgotten when I see the beaming red-cheeked faces of my older boys. I clap for them at every play, and I am so glad they love sports. Recently, before one of Jonah’s flag-football games, the referee gathered the parents and talked to us about sportsmanship. He said that the way we parents act during a game affects how the kids act playing the game.


I had a flashback to a game last year, where I heard a dad screaming at his child, saying things like, “Use your head! Get in there! Ugh! I said, USE YOUR HEAD!” I moved to the far end of the field, away from him, ashamed for him at the way he was behaving…it was second grade football! I made a pact with myself then and there to never be that parent.


While my kids are still young it’s easy, and since I never really excelled at sports growing up, it may not be a difficult task… but ask me again in 6 years. Remind me when there’s a bad call, and when my kid’s heart is on the line. These days they laugh as hard as they run, and rarely remember the score.


Regardless of it all, standing in the rain doesn’t just get you cold. It gets you thinking. Looking at Jonah one day after a blocked pass, seeing the determination in his face, my reality hit me: I am raising a little boy, who will one day be a man. There is so much pressure to be the best, to win. I might not care, I just want him to try, but he will want to be the best. I already saw it when he came home one day and asked to go running with me. “I need to get faster, Mom, all the other guys are faster,” he explained.

We see it as he watches his Oregon Ducks play on TV. We live a mile from the stadium and can hear the touchdowns from our door. But it is just as intense in my house. Chris and I have both had to talk to him about how they are just a team, and it is just a game. There is so much more to life: like setting a good example for your siblings; like being a child of God; like becoming a Man.


Since Jonah is our oldest, we are growing as parents as he grows up. And knowing we are going to have to go through this twice more with Daniel and Micah, and one time raising a little woman, is a bit overwhelming. So I decided to make 10 commandments for Raising a Man. There could be 100, but these are some of the reminders for surviving school, sports, and growing pains.


10 Commandments of Being a “Little” Man of God


  1. God is Always #1

  2. We go to church as a family. We are blessed to have a weekly date with Jesus.

  3. Love your Dad and Mom. They love you. Go places with Dad. Hug them. And go on dates with Mom.

  4. No secrets from Mom and Dad. Ever.

  5. Trust your instincts.

  6. Be honest. Be kind. Know when to ask for help, and for forgiveness.

  7. Know that you have the right to defend yourself, your brothers, and your sisters’ honor.

  8. Do not ever make fun of anyone who is different from you. (And in the event you ever bully or tease someone because of their gender, race, sexual identity, or anything else, you will meet a wrath that might even be worse than God’s… your mother’s.)

  9. Be grateful for all your blessings, including wins and losses. And LAUGH!

  10. Pray throughout the whole day…because your life is a gift to those around you.

As flawed as I am, as hard as it is, I love raising my kids. They amaze me!


Recently Micah in his 4 year old innocence observed someone on TV and said, “Boy they’re fat.” Instantly Jonah and Daniel said, “We don’t call people that. Calling someone that might hurt their heart.”


Visit Kristin’s blog at www.joyfulmysteries.wordpress.com



An Evangelization Strategy that works: Women of Faith Night Out


Every other month, women at Holy Rosary Church in West Seattle gather for an evangelization evening. Oh we do not call it “evangelization,” but that is what happens. Two women are asked to come prepared to share their story of faith. To help them do this they are given the following questions to guide them:


  • Who are you and what do you find challenging as a woman of faith?

  • Where do you find joy?

  • What is a Scripture passage that helps guide your actions and why?

  • What is a piece of wisdom that you would like to share with other women?

We begin the evening with 10-15 minutes of quiet prayer using simple chants and songs of praise (Taize). This is done in a small chapel. Afterwards we adjourn to a meeting room where refreshments are shared then the women sit to listen to one of the evening “faith-sharers” tell her story. Following this the women are asked:


  • What did you hear?

  • What does this say to you as a woman of faith?

(They are also told they need not agree with all that was said, but to look for anything that was shared that they might find inspiring, comforting, or challenging.)


Following a brief moment of reflection they are asked to speak with a neighbor. After 8-10 minutes they are given an open invitation to offer comments to the large group. We then take a break and repeat the process and conclude with intercessory prayer and the Our Father.


The response has been extremely positive: “Can we do this every week?” We create a safe place for women to “evangelize” by sharing one’s story of faith and to build friendships through conversation and prayer. All leave uplifted, inspired to trust in God more completely, and invited to “evangelize” by coming back with a friend.


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