POINTSOFVIEW | FAITH UNPACKED
By David Dault, PhD
Our Call to Evangelization
David Dault, PhD
David hosts the weekly radio show Things Not Seen: Conversations about Culture and Faith. He also cohosts The Francis Effect podcast with Father Dan Horan, OFM. He lives with his family on the South Side of Chicago.
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any years ago, long before I became a in the faith, are agents of evangelization.” Catholic, I worked as a youth minister What struck me about this was the phrasat a midsize Presbyterian congregation on ing. Pope Francis does not say, “all the bapthe east side of Atlanta. In addition to weekly tized Catholics.” He says, “all the baptized.” hangouts, the annual youth conference in That’s a stark contrast to the vision of the Montreat, North Carolina, and the occasional leader of the Mexico mission, isn’t it? For him, car wash, we would also gear up every couple Catholics did not count as “true” Christians. of years to go on a mission trip. As he drove the van that day, all those years I went on only one of those trips during ago, the vision he could see through the windmy time on staff. It was a journey that took shield was limited to “all the ones baptized us to a small village in central Mexico. We our way.” had flown down to Brownsville, Texas, where The pope is trusting the work of mission we were met and picked up by the leader of to “all the ones baptized God’s way.” a small evangelical If we look at the ministry, staffed by data from the past 15 Americans who were years, we see that the “All the baptized, whatever making their home number of Christians, their position in the Church or there. of all varieties, has their level of instruction The van ride been steadily shrinkin the faith, are agents of seemed endless, taking ing. Quite often, evangelization.” us from the sandy and troublingly, in —Pope Francis desert near the border the places where through a beautiful a community or swell of low, verdant congregation seems mountains. Our destination was a hamlet to be growing, we find that it is doing so by named Doctor Arroyo, a few hours south of poaching the members of another Christian Monterrey. community. As we drove into the outskirts of town, the This approach is not a sustainable model ministry leader was giving us the background for growth. More importantly, by the stanof the place. I was half listening, half dozing, dards set in “Evangelii Gaudium,” it is also not when something he said caught my full attentrue evangelization. tion. “There are so many unchurched people REACHING OUT TO ALL down here,” he said, looking out through the In his Rule of 1221, St. Francis of Assisi front windshield at the buildings around us. reminded the brothers that “they should From the back of the van, I spoke up. “I thought it was 80 to 90 percent Catholic down love one another, as the Lord says. . . . And they should show the love they have for one here,” I said. another by their deeds.” “That’s right,” he replied. “None of these Both Pope Francis and St. Francis are callfolks know Jesus.” ing us—and indeed calling all the baptized— to turn away from our arguments and toward ALL THE BAPTIZED the world. A few years later, when I went to grad school, The world is covered in sickness. Let us be I learned there was a term for this kind of healers. The world is covered in strife. Let us mission work. The professors at the seminary be peacemakers. The world exploits the poor. called it “poaching.” Let us be truth tellers and advocates for the That trip to Mexico came to mind when I least of those among us. We have no more was rereading Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortime to squabble with our brothers and sisters tation “The Joy of the Gospel” (“Evangelii in Christ, as if they were our adversaries. Gaudium”). In the document, the pope tells We are the baptized, and the world awaits us that “all the baptized, whatever their position in the Church or their level of instruction the Gospel.
TOP LEFT: PHOTO COURTESY OF CHICAGO SUNDAY EVENING CLUB/KHIEM TRAN
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