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{"id":891,"date":"2003-05-28T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2003-05-28T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tmatt\/2003\/05\/28\/father-john-dc-evangelist\/"},"modified":"2013-01-30T15:59:58","modified_gmt":"2013-01-30T20:59:58","slug":"father-john-dc-evangelist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2003\/05\/father-john-dc-evangelist\/","title":{"rendered":"Father John, DC evangelist"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

WASHINGTON \u2014 In a matter of days, Father C. John McCloskey III will quietly perform rites in which two more converts enter the Roman Catholic Church.<\/p>\n

This latest ceremony at Catholic Information Center will not draw the attention of the Washington Post. But that happened last year when Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas entered the fold. Some of McCloskey\u2019s earlier converts also caused chatter inside the Beltway \u2014 columnist Robert Novak, economist Lawrence Kudlow and former abortion activist Bernard Nathanson.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll I am doing is what Catholic priests must do,\u201d said McCloskey. \u201cI\u2019m sharing the Gospel of Christ, offering people spiritual direction and, when they are ready, bringing them into the church. \u2026 It\u2019s a matter of always proposing, never imposing, never coercing and merely proclaiming that we have something to offer to all Christians and to all people.<\/p>\n

\u201cCall it evangelism. Call it evangelization. It\u2019s just what we\u2019re supposed to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

But words like \u201cconversion\u201d and \u201cevangelism\u201d draw attention when a priest\u2019s pulpit is located on K Street, only two blocks from the White House. The flock that flows into the center\u2019s 100-seat chapel for daily Mass includes scores of lobbyists, politicians, journalists, activists and executives.<\/p>\n

So it\u2019s no surprise that McCloskey\u2019s views have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, USA Today and elsewhere. His feisty defense of Catholic orthodoxy has landed him on broadcasts with Tim Russert, Bill O\u2019Reilly, Paula Zahn, Greta Van Susteren and others.<\/p>\n

This is a classic case of location, location, location.<\/p>\n

McCloskey feels right at home. The 49-year-old priest is a native of the nation\u2019s capital, has an Ivy League education and worked for Merrill Lynch and Citibank on Wall Street before seeking the priesthood through the often-controversial Opus Dei movement. He arrived at the Washington center in 1998.<\/p>\n

In addition to winning prominent converts, McCloskey has bluntly criticized the American Catholic establishment\u2019s powerful progressive wing, tossing out quotations like this zinger: \u201cA liberal Catholic is oxymoronic. The definition of a person who disagrees with what the Catholic church is teaching is called a Protestant.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many disagree. Slate.com<\/a> commentator Chris Suellentrop bluntly said that while the urbane priest\u2019s style appeals to many Washingtonians, ultimately he is offering \u201can anti-intellectual approach. All members of the church take a leap of faith, but McCloskey wants them to do it with their eyes closed and their hands over their ears.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is also crucial that McCloskey openly embraces evangelism and theconversion of adults from Judaism, Islam and other world religions. Formany modern Catholics this implies coercion, manipulation, mind controland, thus, a kind of \u201cproselytism\u201d that preys on the weak. In recentdiscussions of overseas missionary work many Catholics have suggestedthat they no longer see the need to share the faith with others andinvite them to become Christians.<\/p>\n

The bottom line: Protestants do evangelism. Protestants try to convertothers. In the wake of Vatican II, Catholics have outgrown this kind ofwork.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s pure trash. That\u2019s a false ecumenism,\u201d said McCloskey. \u201cThat\u2019ssimply not Catholic teaching. The Catholic church makes exclusivetruth claims about itself and cannot deny them. It doesn\u2019t deny thatthere are other forms of religion. It doesn\u2019t deny that these otherforms of religion have some elements of truth in them. \u2026\u201dBut we are proclaiming Jesus Christ and where we believe he can bemost fully found and that\u2019s the Catholic church. We cannot denythat.\u201d This issue will become even more controversial as America growsmore diverse.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the number of nominally Christian adults who have not beenbaptized is rising. The children and grandchildren of what McCloskey calls the \u201cbourgeoisie Catholics\u201d are poised to leave the church. Soon,their fading ethnic ties will not be enough. Their love of old schoolsand sanctuaries will not be enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis country is turning into Europe,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople have gotten to the point where they are saying, \u2018Why bother even being baptized? We don\u2019t believe any of this stuff anymore.\u2019 I am encountering more people that I need to baptize, because their parent\u2019s didn\u2019t bother to do that, even though they were nominal Christians.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Europe that is normal and this is what is headed our way.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"