Spirit Daily has a most
interesting article entitled: "EVANGELIZE, EVANGELIZE! IF
JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES CAN GO DOOR TO DOOR, WHAT ABOUT US CATHOLICS?"
The article begins as
follows:
"On
occasion we hear the admonition from Rome or the local pulpit:
evangelize. Go forth and speak of Catholicism. Spread authentic
Christianity!
We
hear that good notion (part of Christ's own admonition) but usually
with little advice on how to do it [this was written before the
Pope's recent remarks].
Yet,
ways there are.
The
most basic: go to homes; door to door; visit people in your
community; show them what Catholics look like and act like and
believe like, as opposed to the conceptions they may have from the
media.
If
Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons can do it -- if evangelicals can,
with substantial results -- why can't the world's oldest and most
authentic form of Christianity?"
Indeed, why can't
Catholics....or even more importantly....why don't
Catholics go door to door?
I have asked this
question many times, and the only response I have ever
gotten is a shrug of the shoulders.
It makes one ask
questions. Do Catholics not care if no one else comes home to the
Catholic Church? Do they not care if people come into the Church,
only to disappear a short time later?
It would seem on the
surface at least, that many, if not most, don't care. I did have one
person tell me, that if a person came into the Church, only to
disappear later, then perhaps the new member had decided that the
Catholic Church was not for them after all.
I think, that many
Catholics think that this is something that should be
entirely
left up to the priests and bishops, and that the laity has
no
role to play. They believe that such evangelistic work is best left
to the clerics, and to others like
The
Legion of Mary, and
Catholics
Come Home.
This line of thinking is
in itself entirely wrong. All of us have a role to play, by
witnessing to our Catholic faith, and sharing the full truth of
authentic Christianity with others.
Let them see what
Catholics are like, what we believe, and how we care. Whenever one
shares even one truth about the Catholic Church, he or
she may be planting a seed that will bring forth fruit,
and lead someone home to the Catholic Church.
Remember, the Holy Spirit
can use you or me as the tool to lead someone where they truly need
to be, and that is the One, Holy, and Apostolic Church of Jesus
Christ. The Roman Catholic Church.
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