He has noticed a reluctance to make public witness to our faith especially in comparison to the more outspoken demeanor of many evangelical Protestants. I must admit: I am one of the people he is talking about.
Fr. Haughey charges that, in general, Catholics are “very slow to make faith statements or statements about a personal relationship with Christ, even though Pope John Paul II has insisted that a personal, even intimate relationship with Christ should be the aim of our programs of catechesis in the Church.” He contrasts our reserved demeanor with “non-Catholic students” he has encountered in his theology classes, who “are not shy about making personal faith statements.”
Most of us could offer examples of this phenomenon from our own lives. Isn’t it true that the people at work who organize events like prayer breakfasts and who offer “inspirational” reading material around the office tend to be evangelical Protestants, whereas you could work with a Catholic for years before finding out that he is a deacon in his parish? That the sidewalk preachers we meet on our way around town will inevitably be Protestants? That the guests on the talk shows who talk about a “commitment to Jesus” will be Protestant preachers such as Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson?
It must be stressed that Fr. Haughey is not talking about Catholics who are not practicing the faith. He tells us that the Catholic students in his theology classes are “savvy about” Church history, Scripture scholarship and doctrinal developments. And he does not presume that they “do not have a personal relationship with Jesus.” It is just that they “tend to be unforthcoming about it.”
He has found the same phenomenon among his peers at theological conferences: “The dialogue members who speak most easily about their experience of Christ have invariably been the non-Catholic Pentecostal and evangelical scholars, while the Catholic members of these commissions are much more comfortable speaking about texts.” He notes that “these seasoned Catholic scholars could hardly be described as lacking a personal relationship with Christ. What is it about Catholicism that makes personal sharing about one’s relationship with Jesus less likely?”
Haughey knows what is meant by posturing; he understands the difference between talking a good game and action, and that “claiming to have a personal relationship with Jesus is no guarantee that there is gospel knowledge or integrity about promoting the values that should accompany such a profession.” Even so, he wonders if Catholics who fail to make a public witness of their beliefs are taking seriously enough Jesus’ mandate to teach all nations in His name, and offers that “it would be good to recognize that we have much to learn from the simpler, more personal tradition of evangelical Christianity that speaks of Jesus with familiarity.”
To what does Haughey attribute this Catholic reticence to evangelize? “One reason might be that we harbor a cultural bias against ‘them,' people who have developed a facility about claiming Christ as their Lord and Savior.” He says another possibility is that we tend to view preaching as a responsibility of the clergy, that we hold that the “faith is mediated through authorized people, who are intellectually, sacramentally, institutionally empowered to do so.” That makes sense. But I think there is a need to say more about what Haughey calls the Catholic cultural bias against “them,” Fundamentalist Protestants.
I would argue it is not that simple; that when Catholics use terms such as “holy rollers,” they are not referring only to Protestants, even though Protestant evangelicals tend to fit the description more than do Catholics. They are describing a character type, people who are “preachy” and who “wear their religion on their sleeve.” They wouldn’t, for example, call C.S. Lewis a holy roller.
Perhaps it is immature of Catholics to feel uncomfortable with outward expressions of religious fervor. But it is not Protestantism that prompts the uneasiness. Nor is it necessarily a lack of fervor for Jesus and the Church. Rather, I would argue, it is the same sentiment that makes them (I think we can all agree that we are talking mainly about urban Catholic males) uncomfortable with people who are too “precious” and “touchy-feely.”
It could be that somewhere down the road someone will prove that the Alan Alda image of the American male is psychologically healthier than that of Clark Gable or Gary Cooper. I doubt it, but I don’t want to fight this fight. I have no special expertise in these matters. My only point is that American men who have grown up with cowboys, tough cops and football players and their role models do not respond well to what they feel are overwrought displays of emotion, including religious emotion.
But I do not think we can assume that their adverse reaction to open displays of piety means that they do not take seriously Christ’s commands to teach all men in His name. Not necessarily. It may very well be that they are seeking ways to make their witness to the Lord through example, rather than with sermons and outward expressions of piety. And this is a choice that can be very effective. I will use myself to make the point. From my boyhood on, I have responded better to those who teach by example than to those who engage in what strikes me as sermonizing. I am not the only one. In the Catholic circles where I have moved throughout my entire life — Holy Name societies populated by policemen, firemen and construction workers — there is a hesitancy to take seriously people who adorn their conversations with comments such as “Praise the Lord” and “God be with you, my brother.” Even if these men have never read George Orwell’s description of “pious frauds,” they know what he meant. The preference is for the man who “walks the walk.”
Please don’t misread me. I am not being critical of those who feel the call to evangelize, whether on street corners or around the water cooler. My only point is that we should not jump to the conclusion that those who are less overt in the expression of their faith are lacking in faith. We should not assume that more taciturn individuals are less committed to evangelizing. It very well may be that they have decided to evangelize in a manner different from that of the Pentecostals who impress Fr. Haughey with their religious fervor — in a manner that is more effective when applied to people like themselves.
James Fitzpatrick's new novel, The Dead Sea Conspiracy: Teilhard de Chardin and the New American Church, is available from our online store. You can email Mr. Fitzpatrick at fitzpatrijames@sbcglobal.net.
(This article originally appeared in The Wanderer and is reprinted with permission. To subscribe call 651-224-5733.)
