It's Time to Wake Up! – Re-evangelization, Part I
Jesus sent His Church to "make disciples" (Mt 28:19). Pope Paul VI wrote that the Church exists to evangelize:
Evangelizing is in fact the grace and vocation proper to the Church, her deepest identity. She exists in order to evangelize, that is to say, in order to preach and teach, to be the channel of the gift of grace, to reconcile sinners with God, and to perpetuate Christ's sacrifice in the Mass, which is the memorial of His death and glorious resurrection.(1)
Is the Church evangelizing? Is she making disciples? Is she gathering new believers into the living Body of Christ, as Jesus sent us to do? Membership in the Catholic Church in America is growing, but not because of the evangelization and conversion of new members. The only reason that the Catholic Church in America is not in decline in membership, is because of the Catholic immigrants pouring in. Without them, our Church would be shrinking. In America, out of those adult Catholics born and raised in the Church ("cradle Catholics"), only 68% remain. Of the 32% who left the Church, 18% converted to some other religion and 14% abandoned "church" altogether.(2) This is dismal and shameful!
Many non-Catholic denominations and even non-Christian religions have the Catholic Church to thank for some of their new membership. About one in ten Protestants were raised Catholic. Over one in four (27%) who have no religious affiliation at all today were raised Catholic. Over one in four (26%) Jehovah Witnesses were raised Catholic. Or did you already know that from the many "former Catholics" now knocking on doors evangelizing you to join them in the Jehovah Witnesses? Even the Buddhists! Almost one in four (22%) Buddhists were raised Catholic.
To me, the most staggering statistic of all is this one: about one in ten (10.1%) of all American adults are former Catholics! Imagine looking out upon some large crowd of typical Americans at a ball game, or watching a parade, or shopping in a mall – about one out of every ten that you are looking at is a former Catholic! These 10% of all the adults in this country saw fit, somehow, to leave the Faith that Jesus died to give us, the faith held dear through centuries of martyrs who bled to remain faithful even unto death themselves. Something is very, very wrong.
Here's my solution. I have a plan. Evangelize! Be Church! Let us wake up and do what God gave us grace and mercy to do: make disciples.
First step: before making new disciples, let us regather those who are lost. Let us knock on doors and ring bells and find the lost sheep, the ones scattered and astray, and shepherd them home again. If we could find and regather just those who left and have no connection with any church at all, the Catholic Church would grow by 14%! If we could help those who became Protestants to see the great blessings and treasure awaiting them in their return home as a Catholic, and they returned, we would grow by 18%! The harvest is plentiful – do we have any laborers?
We need to take the apostolate of seeking the sheep who are scattered, the "inactive Catholics," more seriously. Didn't Jesus teach about leaving the ninety-nine in the wilderness to go out in search of the one that was lost? We have 32% of our flock wandering out there – almost a third – and they deserve to know that they are missed, and needed, and wanted and loved by the Lord and by their brothers and sisters waiting for them at home, in the Church.
In the next installment of this post, I'll try to focus on some specifics, and posibilities.
(2) See the PEW FORUM ON RELIGION & PUBLIC LIFE, especially HERE
