Postscripts From The Catholic Spitfire Grill

If you are reading any of the comments of late on this blog, you've seen this point (and variations) tossed up regularly in the comments section.

ty23: "WHAT IS THE CHURCH DOING NOW!? You took the time to answer, kinda in your original response, but your perspective on reaching the lost, as shared by many protestant churches, is so limited, it's scary. The lost aren't just poor, the lost aren't just down on their luck: lost people don't know Christ. To qualify them, which you did EXCLUSIVELY as people in negative circumstances is to use a familiar word: myopic. And kinda arrogant, I think. We have a term at Elevation, we call them the "up and outers", it just demonstrates that anyone can be far from God and need an effective church in which they can discover a meaningful reationship with Him.

PURPLEGIRL: "Spend as much time telling them about the Gospel and see what results you have. Right now we have you and me along with a handful of ladies cheering you on when we should all be ashamed of ourselves. Who have we told about Jesus? Who have we helped see that salvation for eternity is real and a top priority? What have we done to bring people to Christ?"

No I am not ashamed. I am a very big believer in the principle Our Lord gave us in Matthew 6:3 "Now when you give alms, do not let your right hand know what your left is doing." I believe that in almsgiving as well as in all other service we render in the name of Our Lord, we should do so for Our Lord alone and for neither the approval of our brothers and sisters nor to avoid their censure for not "doing enough" or the "right thing." I do not intend to start a list of any other evangelization projects I may or may not be involved in, in order to allow others to decide if this blog is "ok" for me to do on the side.

Beyond that. I did not start this blog to "reach the lost" so I don't really feel the need to defend the point "WHAT IS THE CHURCH DOING NOW?" I started it because I have so many people both in the pretend world of the internet and in my real life asking me questions about the Catholic Church that I was having trouble keeping up with them all. I found myself repeatedly typing the same thing and emailing documents already composed, and while I was happy to do it, I figured that if I could link to post A, B, and C on a blog that it would be easier. Furthermore, I have a number of friends who for some unaccountable reason like the way I explain certain things and they wanted to be able to reference my works when explaining various distinctively Catholic things to their friends. In general (without casting aspersions on anyone who is reading this blog) the people that tend to come to me with questions about the Catholic Church are bookish geeks like I am. They understand that Amazon Prime is not a luxury and they have a category in Quicken just for books (probably broken down by subject)...Yes buying books is a necessity. Libraries make you give the books BACK and get they all testy when you mark up the pages...That's why the things that I write about tend to be theological, historical, dusty-book oriented things. Not because I don't think other things are important (possibly even more important) but it's just not what I write about. If others besides myself and my geeky friends like reading here, I'm flattered and frankly, stunned. This blog serves my purposes even if nobody else reads it. Now you may have also surmised that my mother did not name me "Red Neck Woman" I am neither that bad nor my mother that cruel. My life is complicated at present and I must use a pseudonym. I have no intention of discussing the details of how the pastor or the people of my parish (including myself) reach the people of our community, nor do I intend to discuss in detail what is happening in my diocese because to do so would defeat the purpose of using a pseudonym and is not the purpose of this blog. 

That said. Perhaps a discussion of the general principles of "reaching the lost" might be interesting? First, I wonder if the general accusations against the Catholic Church about "not reaching the lost" might be a parallel to "The Miracle Effect"? If you don't think Catholics are Christians or even if only a few Catholics are Christian it's easy to turn to a church with over a billion people (and growing) and say "But what are you doing to reach the unchurched and the lost?" Apparently something or we wouldn't have over a billion people (and growing) as members. (Aren't they CUTE? They think they are reaching people for Christ but since they aren't really Christian, they don't count.) And let me attempt to anticipate a comment to this point, "What's the difference between RNW telling people to join the RCC and between us (Protestants) thinking that Catholics aren't Christian?" The difference is this. I believe that my separated brothers and sisters should reconcile to Rome not because they aren't Christian but because they are deprived of the Fullness of Faith AND because our worldwide Christian witness is damaged by the disunity in the Body of Christ. Jesus said that our unity would be a sign to the world and the reason that they would believe.

My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you love me. John 17:20-23

Visible unity is a matter of "reaching the lost" because Jesus said so. No matter how many people you bring to church. No matter how many people "walk the aisle." No matter what success you are seeing in your church, not matter what kind of growth, we are losing souls because so many Christians have left the Church Jesus founded on Peter the Rock (Matthew 16:18). Jesus said so.

Next. Catholics believe that we can reach the lost by doing what Jesus told us to do in John 13:34-35 "I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." Matthew 25: 34-40 gives us a good starting place: feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit those in prison, give water to the thirsty, and welcome to strangers. Jesus gives us an example of service by washing the feet of the Apostles. The office of Deacon (Acts 6) was established to better organize the early church's service to the community. Blessed Mother Teresa showed us in a concrete way that if you serve people in Jesus' name, if you love them, bind their wounds, hold their hands, and cherish them with the same love that we would show Our Lord, they will come to Him. Although much is made in some circles about her "failure" to concentrate of preaching the gospel with words, she preached it with her actions and thousands and thousands of people have come to the faith because of her example and it wasn't just the poor she brought to faith. Those around her who were not poor and not in need of that sort of charity were brought to the faith because of her example. I think that those would qualify as reaching the "up and outers" and I personally have witnessed how serving the poor, the sick, the needy reaches "up and outers" in my own community. But that isn't the only way that Catholics reach out to those in their churches and out of them. Blessed Mother Teresa opened places that served the lonely in more affluent areas of the world. Many of the young men and women who have consecrated their entire lives to Our Lord, were Hindus or muslims or athiests. Those who actually joined her order are not the only ones that through her example were brought to our Christian faith. So I would say to ty23 that even if you only served the poor, Mother Teresa's example shows us that you can reach not only the poor but those who see that service to the poor. Now when I touched on such things earlier ty23 seemed to interpret my answer as saying that the Catholic Church ONLY reached out to the poor. But that's not true, I mentioned service to the poor and obviously Matthew 16 tends to focus on that sort of service but I also mentioned the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy which are as follows: feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, harbour the harbourless, visit the sick, ransom the captive, bury the dead, instruct the ignorant, counsel the doubtful, admonish sinners, bear wrongs patiently, forgive offenses willingly, comfort the afficted, and pray for the living and the dead. The Catholic Church believes and teaches that it is God's Mercy working through us that reaches people and changes their hearts for Jesus. Now it is certainly more likely that you will find more hungry, thirsty, naked people among the poor but sickness, ignorance, sin, and captivity are not just confined to the poor. Neither is sin or the need for forgiveness. The Desert Fathers drew people to Our Lord through their exemplary lives of prayer and holiness. The Dominicans and Jesuits are know for their preaching and teaching. Various people in the Catholic Church may express their spirituality by focusing on one or more particular Corporal or Spiritual Works of mercy but it is God's mercy working through us and not our own efforts or programs that draws people to Our Lord and the Catholic Church in every place and every time has served those around her with compassion and charity.

Now I suppose I will be accused of "kinda" answering or of being too academic or book-oriented. SO....I went to the Charlotte Diocesan website  to find out just some of the things that the Catholic Church is doing to serve your community and through that service to "reach the lost." As an aside..."Bravo Bishop Jurgis! It looks to me like you have a very loving flock there in Charlotte! Keep up the good work!"

Mission statement of the Diocese of Charlotte: We, the people of God in the Diocese of Charlotte, fortified in the Father, redeemed in the Son, empowered in the Spirit, are called to grow ever more perfectly into a community of praise, worship, and witness. We seek to become evermore enthusiastically a leaven of service and a sign of peace through love in Piedmont and Western North Carolina.

Diocese of Charlotte: Hispanic Ministry, Catholic Schools, Family Life Program, Catholic Social Services Office, Immigration Services, Justice and Peace Education, Parish Social Ministry, Public Policy, Catholic Relief Services, Marriage Preparation (every couple married in a Catholic Church undergoes a six month preparation in which they are assigned a mentor couple to help them prepare for marriage), Pregnancy Support, Adoption, Youth Services to name a few that are listed on the Diocesan website. Now I am certain that if I were to research a little further I would find that the there are Catholic chaplains assigned to the area prisons, hospitals, nursing homes to assist the grieving, the sick, the lonely, etc. and that the ministries actually listed on the website form but the tip of the iceburg with respect to all of the ways the Catholic Church is reaching and touching people with the Love of Jesus both in Charlotte, NC and surrounding areas.

Each contact, at every level whether poor or rich, or sick or healthy, is an opportunity to be Jesus for another person. It is Jesus in us that reaches out to those in need because in the words of Blessed Mother Teresa "What we say does not matter, only what God says to souls through us."

Edited to add: In the event that you followed a direct link to this post, you may be interested in this post as well