by Fr. Richard Pendolphi
This talk will discuss what God, the Church, and the saints have said about evangelization, and provide tips on how to evangelize in your own life.
The Catholic Church is missionary by nature because it is the body of Christ, who is party of the trinity. The trinity is missionary by nature because there is a constant giving and receiving between the three parts. Every family unit is a copy of the trinity, as is the Church. All of the baptized, not only clergy, are called to evangelize.
Evangelization is not the job of the Mormons. Mormon missionaries refer to one another as "sisters" and "brothers." When Fr. Pendolphi was the pastor of St. John in Logan, Ohio, the parish was expecting two nuns to come and assist with their school. Two Mormon missionaries walked in one day and introduced themselves to the school secretary as "Sister Becky" and "Sister Julie" without saying why they were there. The school secretary, thinking they were the expected nuns said "we've been waiting for you!" A parishioner who happened to be in the office invited them to dinner at her home. After the dinner, during which the nature of the "sisters'" visit was revealed, they called their superior and were immediately recalled to Utah because they had been unable to answer the questions about their faith posed by their Catholic hosts. The St. John parishioners had questioned them in a loving yet truthful way, which is how the Church intends us to evangelize.
Fr. Pendolphi was born in Brooklyn, New York during the last inning of the last game of the 1949 "subway series" between the Yankees and the Dodgers. He spent much of his childhood in Hackettstown, New Jersey, where M&M's are made. He originally wanted to be a scientist or lawyer, but was called to join a missionary order in 1963, when he was in high school. He was ordained in 1976, and he remained with the order until 1986, when he came to the diocese of Columbus.
Fr. Pendolphi's favorite course in college was "Religion of the Primitives." In this course, he learned that isolated cultures, who have not interacted with other cultures different from themselves, are all monotheistic. Cultures only become polytheistic when they have tried to combine their beliefs with those of other cultures.
During his missionary year in the Philippines, Fr. Pendolphi spent his most memorable and meaningful Christmas. He rode for hours in a Jeep through the mud to a village that had not had a priest for six months to celebrate midnight Mass. The villagers were poor, but more than willing to share their instant coffee and rice cakes. Fr. Pendolphi has also worked in Japan and Hong Kong, and he visited Fr. Coleman, currently the assistant pastor at St. Michael's, in Brazil. The Church is still alive through the missions around the world.
In order to succeed in sales, any salesperson will tell you that you must believe you have a product worth selling. Fr. Pendolphi has always believed that the Church has a product worth selling - he is a missionary in his calling and his training.
By our baptismal vocation, we are all called to witness Christ to others. The call of the laity is to witness Christ in the marketplace, while the responsibility of the priest is to dispense the sacraments and witness Christ in the parish. Witnessing may be easier with a collar and a pulpit, but it is often more effective in the classroom, office, factory, coffee shop, kitchen, etc. A handout (LINK) provides quotes about the role of the laity in evangelization.
Catholics, however, are often wusses. Every week, people complain to their pastors about screaming babies, but they never do anything about it themselves. The problem is not with the baby - they have no other way of expressing their displeasure. The problem is the parents' lack of awareness that crying is an indication that their child is in need of something. In New York, people with crying babies get looks from the people around them that would curdle milk, but Midwesterners are too polite. Most parents would be glad if someone near them informed them of the presence of a cry room or another suitable location for taking the baby outside. Similarly, many people are afraid to evangelize.
Almost all parents and grandparents carry pictures of their children and grandchildren that they are eager to share with people they meet because they are proud, and because they love their children. If you love someone, don't you want to tell everyone? So if you love Jesus at least as much as your children, you should want to tell everyone about him as much.
Protestants can go up to someone in public and ask if they have "a minute" and ask if they are certain they are going to heaven. When the person says they are not, they say they can be if they kneel right there and say the sinners prayer and accept Jesus into their lives. Then they hand them a card for their church and are finished. Catholics can't go up to someone on the street and say "do you have five years to learn about our faith?" in the same way. However, parishes have a wonderful evangelical tool in RCIA. RCIA is not just for converts, it is also for "reverts" - people who have fallen away from the Church and need to return. Fr. Pendolphi likes to ask each participant how God's grace has led them to RCIA - many of them have amazing stories, and some have made great sacrifices, including cutting their ties with their families, to be there. All parishioners should try to attend at least some RCIA sessions, and those who especially need to learn more about their faith should volunteer to be sponsors.
Evangelists need to be faithful, and not get hung up on success. St. Michael's has one of the first statues of Mother Theresa to be placed in any church in the world. A parishioner wanted to donate that statue, and one of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, who was really the first American saint, although she was an immigrant, and who had taught the parishoner's father in New York in 1902. When the woman told Fr. Pendolphi that she wanted to donate the statues, he pointed out that Mother Theresa had not yet been beatified. The parishioner replied - "good, it will be cheaper to get it now." Two weeks later, Mother Theresa was beatified.
Mother Theresa worked in obscurity for the first twenty years of her ministry. Some people wondered why she only served without evangelizing. The local Hindus constantly asked why her order was doing the difficult and degrading work of picking up the dead and dying. She always replied that it was for her love of Jesus, and this response made them want to know Jesus. Once Mother Theresa became famous, however, she was constantly visited by the media. A reporter asked her how her efforts were making a difference when it was only possible for her to serve such a small percentage of the population. This was the wrong question - she was not called to be successful, but to be faithful - God grants success. Today, Mother Theresa's order is thriving in a time when other orders that offer a less demanding lifestyle are dying.
It is important to remember that the Church started with twelve members - one of whom was bad - and has grown to its current size of nearly two billion Christians through evangelization. The disciples did not stop evangelizing despite the persecution by the Sanhedrin, and St. Francis of Assisi did not stop evangelizing even when people threw rotten vegetables at him when he went door to door.
St. Theresa is the patroness of missionaries, despite the fact that she never left her convent as an adult. She wanted to join the Carmelite community so badly that she begged the Pope for his assistance with her admittance. She wanted to be a priest, and struggled to find her place in the Church. She ultimately realized that her role was to be love to her community. She gave the world a shortcut to God by witnessing in simple things like scrubbing floors.
St. Theresa once overheard other sisters complaining that God never answered their prayers. She said that her prayers were always answered because she only prays for God's will to be done. She did have more specific prayers answered, as well - on the day of her vows in May, she prayed for snow to symbolize her purity. Although it was in the seventies when everyone entered the church for the ceremony, there was a coating of snow in the courtyard when they emerged a few hours later. St. Theresa died at the age of twenty-four, and was quickly canonized because of the many miracles that occurred after her death. Throughout her life, she said that when she died, she would continue to do God's work. When Vatican officials interviewed sisters who had lived with her as part of the canonization process, they said that they were surprised that she was being canonized because she never did anything great.
In evangelization, it is important to be politically incorrect. The Gospel is, by nature, counter-cultural - it does not exist within any national or secular cultural framework. The Church has always buried all of its undertakers.
In addition to the responsibility to evangelize, those being evangelized also have duties. St. Francis DeSales, the patron of the diocese of Columbus, lived during the protestant revolt. He learned that 70,000 Catholics in Geneva had converted to Calvinism, and he set out to bring them back to the Church. He began his talk by agreeing with them about their grievances regarding scandalous behavior by priests they had known in the past. He said that these priests will be accused of murder at their final judgment for killing the faith of the people. However, he added that those who had converted to Calvinism would be judged for suicide, because they had allowed their faith to be killed. All of those present returned to the Church.
Fr. Pendolphi recently gave a sermon on why Catholics leave the Church. There are two answers - one pleases, the other is true. The answer that pleases, and that is usually given, is that the person had a conflict with an individual in the Church - i.e. Sister X rapped me on the knuckles or Fr. Y looked at me wrong. However, the truth is often that they have been divorced twenty-six times and are currently living in sin with someone else, and they don�t want to make the effort to change their lifestyle. In the rare instance that someone actually left because of an individual conflict, they are guilty of the suicide of their faith.
Evangelization must start with yourself. You need to know, love, and serve Christ in order to have a relationship with Him. Everyone is called to be a saint - the alternative stinks. We need to pray to grow in God's grace, avoid sin and occasions of sin, and be a part of a faith community. No one is meant to be John Wayne, going it alone - the devil divides and Christ unites. It is important to receive the sacraments frequently.
For many years, American Bishops tried to develop a media network, but were unsuccessful despite fundraising efforts, consultants, task forces, etc. But with no media background or connections and almost no startup money, Mother Angelica was able to create a satellite network that currently has a $185 million annual budget. She was faithful, and God provided success.
Witnessing can be part of daily life, as it was for St. Theresa, but it can also involve argument - debate, not fighting. This is difficult in modern society, because logic has fallen into disuse. In the past, educated people used to have a little bit of knowledge of a wide variety of topics. Now most people's training is much more intensive, but narrowly focused. This is evidenced by media interviews with Church leaders in which the interviewers don't even know to be embarrassed by the stupidity of their questions.
It is important to win souls, not arguments. The message comes from the Holy Spirit - you are merely acting as the conduit. When evangelizing, tell the person that you will pray for them, then do it. Don't be afraid of the Jehovah's Witnesses - most of the people who knock on your door only know six scripture passages, so if you know twelve, you're ahead of them. Even the devil can quote scripture, but you can tell him to go to hell in the power of Jesus. It is good to know the faith, but it is most important to speak from the heart.
If priests are honest, most will say that they prefer doing funerals to doing weddings, because Christ is always the focus at a funeral. Everyone can seem themselves in the casket, and they know that they could be next. At a funeral, everyone tells the grieving family that they are sorry for their loss and asks what they can do, but there is always an awkward pause when no one knows what to say. However, God always knows what to say - tell them that their relative is in eternity. You can't tell them that their relative has eternal life, because that applies only to saints, but purgatory is a great deal. It is obviously inappropriate to contradict others who are assuring the grieving family that the deceased is in heaven, but a funeral is a wonderful opportunity for evangelization. The family will remember the hope of your witness above all the other platitudes they heard.
Expressing your faith in a joyful, upbeat tone is also an important part of evangelization. Even the Romans were impressed by how much the early Christians loved each other. Most people want to be invited to things - they might not go to church on their own, but they will go with you if you bring them to Mass or parish events.
A girl who was a student at St. John's in Logan had a Jewish mother and a father who was a lapsed Catholic. After the first day of kindergarten, she came home and told her parents that she wanted to be Catholic. Her parents said that they would discuss it with her when she was in the sixth grade. To their surprise, she remembered during all those years, and on the first day of sixth grade, came home and informed them that she still wanted to join the Church. They consented, and she went through RCIA. One day, her father called Fr. Pendolphi because he was upset that his daughter came home and told him he was going to hell. Fr. Pendolphi asked him what he was going to do about it. The girl's father ended up coming back to the church because she asked and encouraged him - she served as a conduit for God.