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{"id":4005,"date":"2010-12-30T08:37:00","date_gmt":"2010-12-30T08:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2010\/12\/a-new-year-for-the-new-evangelization.html"},"modified":"2010-12-30T08:37:00","modified_gmt":"2010-12-30T08:37:00","slug":"a-new-year-for-the-new-evangelization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2010\/12\/a-new-year-for-the-new-evangelization.html","title":{"rendered":"A New Year for the New Evangelization"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Deacon Keith Fournier has high hopes for the upcoming years<\/a>.\u00a0 Don\u2019t get me wrong, where God is, success will eventually be also.\u00a0 But as I look out across the landscape of the modern Catholic Church in those countries mentioned in his article, there are reasons things look bleak to people like John Meachem.\u00a0 It isn\u2019t as if some vast, anti-Christian conspiracy is afoot.\u00a0 Christians, Catholics in particular, are doing quite nicely when it comes to playing a part in the Faith\u2019s decline in the West.\u00a0 The reasons are legion, for they are many.\u00a0 But one needn\u2019t go beyond your typical survey or poll of Catholic Christians in America to see where the work needs to begin.<\/p>\n

As a former Baptist, one thing that I learned was that evangelism and outreach take more than words.\u00a0 Evangelism takes more than just living a life for the Lord.\u00a0 It takes an entire focus, a way of being.\u00a0 It is the hub around which the ecclesiastical community revolves.\u00a0 It is reaching out, bringing them in, and then doing something with them once they get there.\u00a0 It is understanding that one\u2019s spiritual pilgrimage is just that, a pilgrimage.\u00a0 Not all new converts are on the same footing that your typical saint enjoys.\u00a0 Sometimes, especially in the rock\u2019em, sock\u2019em world of online Catholic apologetics, we forget that.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

A Catholic spending five hours in Adoration of the Host might be what a life long, veteran Catholic Christian needs.\u00a0 But for a new Catholic, those sparks may not take.\u00a0 It may not click yet. Many are still in their infancy, taking milk and formula.\u00a0 Needing milk and formula.\u00a0 Of course there will be that time, as the writer of Hebrews reminds us, that we need to move on to more solid foods.\u00a0 But there is still a legitimate time for the weaning off of the bottle. <\/p>\n

My own experience as a Catholic convert is that there is no real stage in the Church\u2019s life for that experience.\u00a0 There certainly isn\u2019t in the minds of many lay apologists both on and off the Internet.\u00a0 Many Catholics I see comment on Catholic blogs almost snort with derision toward those who fail to achieve the spiritual perfection that they demand of others.\u00a0 Even if those in question are new converts, it makes no difference.\u00a0 It makes no difference that the teachings of Jesus can be hard, and at times folks need to be guided with love and understanding as they relearn how to see with they eyes of God.<\/p>\n

These are things that are most important.\u00a0 We want a real, bona fide<\/em> New Evangelism?\u00a0 Then we have to be serious about doing it.\u00a0 Not just saying it.\u00a0 We have to reach out, bring in, and then do something for folks once they are in, and stop with the excuse \u2018it\u2019s all up to you now.\u2019\u00a0 And for\u00a0heaven\u2019s sake stop acting as if perfection should happen before drying off the baptismal waters. The early Church was a community of mutual support.\u00a0 The Church needs to be the same, and have in place concrete ministries for those in various stages of their Faith pilgrimage, understanding that as strange as it may be, your average new convert is not ready to take their place as fourth member of the Holy Trinity.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"