Deal W. Hudson: Evangelical Catholicism is Nothing New!

2/17/2013

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temperature of its members. If there is any diocesan or parish version of systematic training in "sharing your faith," I am not familiar with it. Yes, there has been an effort to mount a program calling inactive Catholics to "come home," but the evangelical attitude implicit in this message has yet to take root anywhere it did not already exist.

Most Catholics, I would venture, look upon their faith as something handed down from parents and grandparents, as a kind of patrimony or heritage, rather than a personal choice involving a commitment to the Absolute. Of course, the sacrament of confirmation is supposed to be that moment when "the whole man submits himself to Truth, in the judgment of his understanding, in the submission of his will and in the consecration of his whole power of love..." From this perspective, the lukewarmness we observe in Catholic practice does not reflect well on the way this sacrament has been administered in the past fifty years.

Catholics become evangelical when they are convicted with the belief that everything depends upon it: from the earthly happiness of themselves, their family, community, and nation, to the eternal destiny of themselves and others. All those individuals, organizations, and institutions I mentioned above, representing Evangelical Catholicism in the United States, view their faith as a matter of life and death. As such, it is not something that can go unmentioned or concealed, which would be tantamount to withholding the greatest gift one person can give to another. Until more Catholics are "converted" to view their faith not simply as a heritage, but as the Truth about human existence, Evangelical Catholicism will remain a small, though influential, movement within the Church.

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Deal W. Hudson, Ph.D, is president of the Pennsylvania Catholics Network and former publisher and editor of Crisis Magazine. He is a contributing writer for Catholic Online.

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Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: Evangelical, Evangelical Catholicism, George Weigel, Evangelical Catholics, living faith, conversion, New Evangelization, Deal

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1 - 4 of 4 Comments

Gerard
2 months ago
In my parish, St Luke's near Vancouver, Canada, we are the only parish in the diocese to institute an evangelization program. This has been approved by the Archbishop, and is being monitored to aid other parishes on the effectiveness in not only bringing back fallen away Catholics, but to truly reach out to the community a witness to the redemptive work of our Lord.
Included are programs designed with the sole purpose of witnessing to the Good News.
Follow up is the key and offering invitations to Mass, prayer meetings, healing services and social events has been very effective to not only gain but retain those coming to or back to His Church
God bless
Robert Burford
2 months ago
Matthew 28:17-20 My wife and I changed parishes three years ago. It was not for any bad reason We still love the people at our old parish. Our new parish is alive and evangelize and reach out. The old one had the attitude that we have done it all and can rest on our laurels . It was not the pastors fault. Both teach the same message. It does not matter how old you are or young it is not what you did yesterday. What does God want you to do today?
Rob
3 months ago
The manner in which the sacrament of confirmation is done today is terrible. No one can argue that those who are being confirmed are actually making a committment. For the vast majority of them, that's the last time you see them until it's time to get married.

We are not building disciples. And I think that a majority of the problems our church faces today is because of that simple fact. We have strayed so far from what real christianity is that we are left to fight about what person you are voting for and the whole morass of moralism that isn't saving anyone, let alone drawing anyone closer to Christ.

Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven,* but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me on that day,o ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not drive out demons in your name? Did we not do mighty deeds in your name? Then I will declare to them solemnly, ‘I never knew you.* Depart from me, you evildoers.

Seems to me that the first critical step of a life with Christ is completely missed. I wonder how many people sitting in the pew know Jesus? I wonder how many of those who believe they are "true" Catholics really know him?
Paul-Emile Leray
3 months ago
Some very honest words, having the courage to try seeing and expressing objective reality as it is and has been vis-a-vis some of these above mentionned matters. One Jesuit in Asia (but from Europe) once told me that one reason the world was a mess was that Christians weren't meditating, contemplating, enough. I don't remember if he specifically used the word 'meditating' or 'contemplating', therefore I must mention this for I wish to not mislead any readers on this website. While I don't know if this is true, it seems too much compartmentalization still takes place (and I first point the finger to myself) between listening to, understanding, then living to higher degrees properly aligned with and rooted in truth. The struggle perhaps never ends, but I think both 'discursive' and 'non-discursive' forms of prayer ought to be applied more harmoniously. I think too many, after having in reality followed their own will, then end up unwittingly using discursive prayer as a sort of fuel to give them the energy to get to their defined ends. And after that, how many place the stamp of "God's will" on their projects when in truth little to no discernment of God's will with pure motive in heart may have been present? I am simply putting forth whatever is coming to me, after reading this article, for the purposes of what hopefully contributes to the greater good as properly defined.
Paul-Emile Leray

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