Editorial

Evangelization is not optional

In the teaching of the Church, especially in the documents of the Second Vatican Council, the writing of recent popes and synods, and in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the word “evangelization” is used to describe the very nature or mission of the Church. The word itself comes from the Greek word for Gospel, the “good news” that Jesus proclaimed by his life and his teaching.

Evangelization is not about imposing our Catholic beliefs and practices on others. Instead, it is the activity of freely sharing with others our conviction that Jesus Christ is the answer to all life’s questions and difficulties.

In his 1990 encyclical “Redemptoris missio” (“The Mission of the Redeemer”), Pope St. John Paul II wrote that “the Church proposes; she imposes nothing” (#39). Evangelization is our profoundly personal witness to the person of Jesus Christ as the meaning of life itself and as the most important person in each of our lives.

Evangelization is not an optional activity for those who wish to be missionary disciples of Jesus Christ.

Before he ascended to his Father, our Lord left his disciples with this mandate: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Mt 28:19-20). As baptized Christians, we have a mandate to share our faith with everyone.

Sharing our Christian faith consists primarily in giving witness to Jesus Christ in order to lead others to him. From the beginning, the first disciples burned with the desire to proclaim Christ: “We cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20). And they invited people of every nation and culture to enter into the joy of their communion with Christ.

“The good diffuses itself” is a theological principle, but you don’t have to be a theologian to know what it means. When we find a good restaurant, we want to share it with others. When we hear a good song, we want to introduce it to our friends. When we see a good movie or read a good book or find a good recipe, we want to share these experiences with people who will appreciate them. The good diffuses itself. Good things are meant to be shared, and anyone who refuses to share them is selfish.

It’s a curious fact about many of us Catholics that there is one good thing that we are reluctant to share: the good news of faith in Jesus Christ. For some reason, many of us have come to believe that it is selfish to keep most good things to ourselves, but rude to share the good news of Jesus Christ. And, as a result, we have grown comfortable with a double standard.

Perhaps the time has come to challenge our culture and ourselves. Maybe it’s time to stop following those who tell us to keep God out of the public square and start following the Lord, who tells us that we should be his witnesses to the ends of the Earth (Acts 1:8).

If sharing the good news about worldly things is an expression of joy and an outpouring of love for the people with whom we want to share that joy, then it makes sense that we would show our love for those same people by sharing with them the joy of following Jesus Christ.

Where should we share our faith in Jesus Christ? In our homes, our parishes and our schools, certainly. But faith sharing should also take place in conversations among friends and co-workers. It should happen in our Catholic health care and social service agencies.

Evangelization should occur in the public square when Catholics speak out against laws or government policies that deny human rights, oppress the poor and vulnerable, discriminate against immigrants, or violate the most fundamental human right—the right to life from the moment of conception to the time of natural death.

Perhaps it’s time for Catholics (all of us) to stop conforming to the world and start changing it. We can only be successful at carrying out our Church’s transforming mission if we are able to be enthusiastic witnesses (what Pope Francis called “Spirit-filled evangelizers”). The Church invites, and challenges us, to burn with the desire to proclaim Christ and to share generously with others the joy of the Gospel.

For missionary disciples, evangelization is not optional. It is mandatory.

—Daniel Conway