Paul | Thesis: Gospel Living

Vatican II and a New Ecclesiology

In his 1956 work Lay People in the Church, Yves Congar identified a large gap between the passive laity portrayed in the 1917 Code of Canon Law and the secular activity that occurred in the world. "Nowadays lay people are becoming conscious that it is their business too to fill that empty space," wrote Congar, "through a properly spiritual activity, an active role in the Church" (emphasis his).¹ He called for a "proper" theology of the laity, which necessitated embracing a "total ecclesiology."²

With Congar's help, the Second Vatican Council officially did just that, marking a decisive shift in how the Roman Catholic Church understands itself and proclaims the role of the laity. The Church exists to bring the Gospel and its values to all people, and the primary way this occurs is through the work of lay people in their daily lives. Ordained ministers are called to form and minister to the faithful, in support of their work outside the walls of their parish.

This theological shift was a dramatic one for life-long Catholics who were used to considering their faith as private and their Church as a sanctuary from the profane world. The laity had also been conditioned to be simply recipients of the Church's ministries. The institution of the Church, particularly at the parish level, would have to change dramatically to support this new ecclesiology. Forty years later, parish leaders are still unclear on how to focus their efforts.

Evangelization

Evangelization refers to the Church's mission in the world, "bringing the Good News of Jesus into every human situation and seeking to convert individuals and society by the divine power of the Gospel itself."³ Church teaching is clear on the importance and centrality of evangelization. For example, Pope Paul VI wrote in Evangelii Nuntiandi:

It is a task and mission which the vast and profound changes of present-day society make all the more urgent. Evangelizing is in fact the grace and vocation proper to the Church, her deepest identity. She exists in order to evangelize—⁴

This mission is accomplished by two means, each essential: a.) the witness of living an authentically Christian life and b.) sharing the Gospel message with others. The mission aims to transform all of humanity and societies at all levels.

Evangelization was addressed by Vatican II and specific documents written by Paul VI, John Paul II and the U.S. Bishops. However, since evangelization is central to the role of the laity, it also has been explored in other documents focused on the laity, faith formation, the role of the Christian family, and Christian stewardship.

The Modern World

The modern world and the Church's relationship to it were considered in a new light in the years leading up to the Council. First, the world was no longer regarded as profane—in contrast to a sacred Church—but as essentially good.⁵ Second, the Church now desired to be in dialogue with the world to help solve its problems.⁶ The Church would now use natural law and appeal to human dignity, social justice, and morality to consider with others how the world could become a better place.

The Council also affirmed the value of inculturation, in particular the process of adapting the Gospel message to different languages and cultures.⁷ But this adaptation must occur in a deeper way than just translating words, as Paul VI later wrote:

The individual churches— have the task of assimilating the essence of the Gospel message and of transposing it— into the language that these people understand—. And the word "language" should be understood here less in the semantic or literary sense than in the sense which one may call anthropological and cultural.⁸

Inculturation is central to the work of evangelization, and it must use the many ways people communicate with and relate to each other. While the term inculturation may be used most often with respect to liturgical rites, it more importantly applies to how one applies the faith to their daily living in a particular culture.

Vatican II's new perspective on engaging the modern world and mandate to effectively communicate the gospel message required a powerful workforce. The Council recognized that the laity had the unique competence and opportunity to put this vision into practice.

Mission Field of the Laity

Lumen Gentium emphasized that the distinct call of the laity is in the secular world, where they do the work of the Church by the way they live out their everyday lives:

It is the special vocation of the laity to seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and directing them according to God's will. They live in the world, in each and every one of the world's occupations and callings and in the ordinary circumstances of social and family life—. There they are called by God to contribute to the sanctification of the world from within, like leaven, in the spirit of the Gospel, by fulfilling their own particular duties.⁹

This is the work of evangelization.

Since lay people live their lives in the world, they are in the best situation to affect it. Their sheer numbers are also important, as lay members make up 98.6% of the Church.¹⁰ Whether evangelizing through the witness of living or by sharing one's faith more directly, the laity has more of an opportunity to spread the Gospel than the 1.4% of the Church that is ordained or religious.

Process of Evangelization

The process of evangelization involves three movements: personal conversion, witness, and sharing. While each movement necessitates its predecessor, all of them continue on once they have begun.

Personal Conversion

Before beginning the external work of evangelization, one must become Christian and experience a personal conversion. Our encounter with Christ and the Gospel should change who we are:

Conversion is the change of our lives that comes about through the power of the Holy Spirit. All who accept the Gospel undergo change as we continually put on the mind of Christ by rejecting sin and becoming more faithful disciples in his Church. Unless we undergo conversion, we have not truly accepted the Gospel.¹¹

We become Christian in baptism and receive the full power of the Holy Spirit in confirmation. However, those who received these sacraments before adulthood may have a significant conversion experience later in life that leads to a more intentional experience of discipleship:

Mature disciples make a conscious, firm decision, carried out in action, to be followers of Jesus Christ no matter the cost to themselves. Beginning in conversion, change of mind and heart, this commitment is expressed not in a single action, nor even in a number of actions over a period of time, but in an entire way of life. It means committing one's very self to the Lord. ¹²

The Catholic perspective of conversion differs from that of some evangelical Protestants, who focus almost exclusively on a one-time choice to accept Christ. The U.S. Bishops stress: "This is crucial: we must be converted—and we must continue to be converted!"¹³ For this reason, evangelization includes the ongoing proclamation of the Gospel to its active members.¹⁴

Conversion leads to a commitment to the next activity we will examine, witnessing through the way we live.

Witness

The core activity of evangelization is witnessing: living our lives based on Gospel values. Our actions in and of themselves begin the work of transforming the world, but they also bring attention to Christianity:

Take a Christian or a handful of Christians who— radiate in an altogether simple and unaffected way their faith in values that go beyond current values, and their hope in something that is not seen and that one would not dare to imagine. Through this wordless witness these Christians stir up irresistible questions in the hearts of those who see how they live: Why are they like this? Why do they live in this way? What or who is it that inspires them? Why are they in our midst? Such a witness is already a silent proclamation of the Good News and a very powerful and effective one. Here we have an initial act of evangelization.¹⁵

The Church also recognizes that in the modern world people are more likely to listen to a Christian who "walks the walk," rather than one who just "talks the talk."¹⁶ Witnessing is important for Christians to have authenticity in their faith:

Either tacitly or aloud—but always forcefully—we are being asked: Do you really believe what you are proclaiming? Do you live what you believe? Do you really preach what you live? The witness of life has become more than ever an essential condition for real effectiveness in preaching.¹⁷

Witnessing occurs in a wide range of fields, from the workplace to the marketplace and neighborhood.

A substantial part of Christian witness is living a moral life that values right relationships with God and other persons.¹⁸ Cultivating our personal character-- by developing a Christian worldview, participation in community, and practice—is the best way to ensure we will do the right thing in a given situation. A Christian worldview incorporates Christian images, stories, and values into the way we perceive the world around us and helps us imagine possibilities for how the world could be. Christian community can provide common values, role models, and accountability. Character is also strengthened through the ongoing practice of moral discernment—deciding how the God is leading us to act in particular circumstances. The more we develop our character, the more we can trust our habits, disposition, and emotions when they direct us to a certain choice.

Living lives of witness is not an end point, however. As Christians, we are also called to share our motivation for living differently—our faith—with others.

Sharing

The third movement of evangelization is sharing or proclamation: explicitly communicating the Christian faith to others. This activity is what most people associate with evangelization, and the aspect causing the greatest unease. Catholics in the United States have been conditioned to be private about their faith, in stark contrast to some other Christian denominations whose members go door-to-door discussing their faith.

The Church is clear that the act of sharing is not an optional one, but a natural progression that follows from witness:

[E]ven the finest witness will prove ineffective in the long run if it is not explained, justified—what Peter called always having "your answer ready for people who ask you the reason for the hope that you all have" (1 Pt. 3:15)—and made explicit by a clear and unequivocal proclamation of the Lord Jesus. The Good News proclaimed by the witness of life sooner or later has to be proclaimed by the word of life.¹⁹

The sharing is directed to all: those who don't know God, inactive Christians, those of other religions, other Christians, and active Catholics.

Evangelization should always be done with a spirit of respect toward the person being evangelized. The U.S. Bishops emphasize:

[W]e Catholics cannot proselytize—that is, manipulate or pressure anyone to join the Church. Such tactics contradict the Good News we announce and undermine the spirit of invitation that should characterize all true evangelization.²⁰

A Catholic approach to sharing is not an overly aggressive one, but one that invites in a way that is consistent with the way Jesus did. Our sharing may communicate our Christian identity, church participation, and the difference our faith makes in our lives. We should suggest to those who express further interest that they "come and see" (John 1:38-39).

Evangelization calls us to be converted by, live out, and share gospel values, "radiating" our faith so strongly through the way we live that it makes others notice. Next we will explore where these values come from and how we can identify them.

Gospel Values

Catholicism embraces the Bible and Tradition as sources of our religious beliefs, including the gospel values that evangelization seeks to spread. These sources offer not only belief statements that commit us to certain ways of living, intentions, and attitudes, but also broader Christian worldviews or perspectives that affect how we see the world.²¹

One of the greatest challenges in identifying gospel values is the overwhelming nature of the source materials. Scripture must seem like a jumbled grab bag of seemingly contradictory stories and sayings to lay Catholics who hear it in the lectionary cycle (and associated preaching). Church teaching can also appear arbitrary to the average Catholic, who generally is exposed to it in even more limited sound bites than Scripture. The mainstream media's coverage of the Church focuses on hot-button issues, such as the pedophilia scandals, sexual ethics (homosexuality, birth control, abortion), and limitations placed on candidates for the priesthood.

However, when we look at the Bible and Church teaching as a whole, major themes emerge that inform how to live our lives. Stepping back and taking account of major themes also helps us understand emphasis placed on certain topics by the regularity in which they are addressed, which may not be obvious from the lectionary cycle or newspapers. Many are shocked, for example, to learn that nearly half of Jesus' parables involve money; the Kingdom of God is the only topic he addressed more frequently.

We also should be aware of tendencies to water down the challenge of certain gospel values. The call to evangelization is particularly challenging in the United States, since the values of the dominant secular culture are often in conflict with the Gospel. The stewardship pastoral letter states:

This is a culture in which destructive 'isms'—materialism, relativism, hedonism, individualism, consumerism—exercise seductive, powerful influences. There is a strong tendency to privatize faith, to push it to the margins of society, confining it to people's hearts or, at best, their homes, while excluding it from the marketplace of ideas where social policy is formed and men and women acquire their view of life and its meaning.²²

These "destructive" influences are not only felt by the wealthy, but have a growing effect on Americans across the socio-economic spectrum. For example, middle- and low-income consumers are increasingly making "premium" and "luxury" purchases—everything from vehicles to fur coats—for their social status, even when they can't afford them.²³ To the surprise of many Christians, the Gospel message challenges these kinds of values. Biblical directives are often spiritualized to only refer to our personal relationship to God or our family and friends. "We read the Gospel as if we had no money, and we spend our money as if we know nothing of the Gospel," says Jesuit theologian John Haughey.²⁴

However, it is not enough to identify, communicate, and promote particular gospel values as morally good, as Timothy E. O'Connell explains:

[V]alue inculcation, the making of disciples, misunderstands its mission if it views itself as the process of convincing people that what seems good is bad, and vice versa. Rather its mission is convincing people that what seems more important is less important, and that something else is more important.²⁵

In making decisions, people will wrestle with a number of conflicting positive values and ultimately have to prioritize them in making a decision. For example, a person on the way home from work approaching a panhandler may want to help the person but also worry that offering money may contribute to a substance abuse problem. Taking the time to buy the poor person food could make the decision-maker late for an appointment. All of the values being raised are good ones, but how they are prioritized will determine what decision is made.

In the next chapter, we will highlight some specific gospel values that can particularly inform lay people in their work of evangelization, from conversion through witnessing and sharing their faith.

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