When he took office as the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor proclaimed that this was a time of joy and hope for the Church. A few weeks later I attended a Latin Mass where a young priest said in the most solemn tones, ‘I for one, do not believe this is a time of joy and hope, but a time of doom and gloom for the Church.’ In fact both are right.
When you study Catholic history you realize that it has always been a time of doom and gloom for the church, but it has also always been a time of joy and hope. The Church has always suffered from persecution from without and from complacency, corruption and pessimism from within. That’s one of the marks of the Church's authenticity — that it is real. Wouldn’t you be suspicious of a church where everything was always squeaky clean and perfect all the time?
These opposing attitudes were there from the beginning. At the first Pentecost the apostles were gathered in the upper room, frightened, uncertain and insecure. Jesus had died, then risen and left them. No doubt they were feeling discouraged and full of doom and gloom. Then the Holy Spirit was given and they remembered the commandment of Jesus to go into all the world and spread the gospel. Suddenly they had a mission. Doom and gloom changed to joy and hope. This is exactly what needs to happen in the Church today. In many ways we are in a time of doom and gloom. The Church is rocked with scandals, mass numbers are dwindling, our seminaries are empty and society seems less and less Christian every year.
Some people see the decline of Christianity in our society and reckon that the Church has just about run out of steam. But it is always at the lowest point that we face reality. As our society becomes less and less Christian the hunger for God becomes stronger and stronger. There is plenty of interest in spirituality and faith. People want to hear the good news, but they hear it best from ordinary people like themselves. That is why personal witness is so powerful, and why the involvement of lay people is crucial for a new wave of outreach to succeed.
We might feel that the faith is dwindling, but it is always at these times that the Spirit is poured out on the Church for a new wave of evangelization and mission. All around the world today Catholics are joining new ecclesial movements. They are taking part in new enterprises that reach out to help the poor, train the young, and reach those who are locked in despair and unbelief. They are learning more about their faith. They are opening their lives to the power of Jesus Christ in a new way, and that gives them the fervent zeal to tell others about God’s love.
The Catholic Evangelization Service is one of the new evangelistic enterprises in Britain. They have produced an excellent new resource called CaFE, which stands for Catholic Faith Exploration. The course is designed for parishes and small groups to use. The video-based course helps ordinary Catholics understand their faith better and encourage them to share that faith with others. Another group taking an active part in evangelization is The Sion Community. In 1985 a priest named Fr. Pat Lynch realised the need to take part in the new evangelization. He got together with three married couples and a Franciscan sister and started a new community dedicated to evangelization. For a time they lived separately, but got on with the work of parish missions.
Michelle Moran, Sion’s director of training told me more about their work. Now there are four community houses of the Sion Community with a total of about thirty members. Their work has expanded to missions in secondary schools and primary schools. The communities welcome short term volunteers and have a special program for young people who want to help out during a gap year. Sion also has a training center called S.E.N.T. which stands for Sion Evangelization National Training. Under the authority of the Bishops of England and Wales they are developing plans to use the center to train young people and parish leaders to get on with the work of evangelization. You can learn more about CaFE and Sion at their websites: www.catholicevangel.org and www.sioncommunity.org.uk.
The first Christians were keen to share the faith because they had a personal experience of the risen Lord Jesus. For them evangelization wasn’t a terrible chore and duty. They didn’t try hard to speak up about their faith. Instead they couldn’t keep quiet about it. It is the real transforming power of the risen Lord which gives us something to talk about. It is this vital contact with Christ which is more convincing than theological arguments or clever sermons.
One of the most moving religious speakers in Britain today is a man called John Pridmore. John’s story is told in a great new book called From Gangland to Promised Land. John used to be a gangster in the East End of London. His bankroll was full from drugs deals and a protection racket. One night he almost murdered a man. Then God got hold of John’s life and turned him around. He went to live and work with a group of Franciscans in inner city New York and now he works with Youth2000 to lead missions in schools. A school chaplain said John had done more in one forty-five minute session to convert the kids than all his time put together. John’s story is powerful because it is real.
Once a convent girl complained to her Mother Superior that she had lost her faith. The Mother Superior replied, ‘My dear, you cannot lose what you never had.’ The same is true about evangelization. We cannot share what we do not have. We may not be gangsters who need conversion, but each one of us called to pursue conversion of life. During this Pentecost season we should think again about Christ’s call to spread the gospel. Think what the church could become if each one of were to ask God for a new experience of the risen Lord — one which would give not only give us something to talk about, but something which we couldn’t keep quiet about.
Dwight Longenecker is a Catholic freelance writer published regularly in the Catholic Press in England. He has also been featured in Our Sunday Visitor, and National Catholic Register and is the author of eight books on conversion, apologetics and Benedictine spirituality.
Dwight's first book, a collection of English conversion stories, is available from Coming Home Network. His latest book is Adventures in Orthodoxy.
