Faith Unpacked

POINTSOFVIEW | FAITH UNPACKED

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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The Francis Effect podcast can be streamed live at FrancisFXPod.com. M 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 “All the baptized, whatever years, we see that the making their home their position in the Church or number of Christians, there. their level of instruction of all varieties, has The van ride seemed endless, taking us from the sandy in the faith, are agents of evangelization.” been steadily shrinking. Quite often, and troublingly, in desert near the border —Pope Francis 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 down here,” he said, looking out through the REACHING OUT TO ALL front windshield at the buildings around us. In his Rule of 1221, St. Francis of Assisi

From the back of the van, I spoke up. “I reminded the brothers that “they should thought it was 80 to 90 percent Catholic down love one another, as the Lord says. . . . And here,” I said. they should show the love they have for one

“That’s right,” he replied. “None of these another by their deeds.” folks know Jesus.” Both Pope Francis and St. Francis are calling us—and indeed calling all the baptized— ALL THE BAPTIZED to turn away from our arguments and toward A few years later, when I went to grad school, the world. I learned there was a term for this kind of The world is covered in sickness. Let us be mission work. The professors at the seminary healers. The world is covered in strife. Let us called it “poaching.” be peacemakers. The world exploits the poor.

That trip to Mexico came to mind when I Let us be truth tellers and advocates for the was rereading Pope Francis’ apostolic exhorleast of those among us. We have no more tation “The Joy of the Gospel” (“Evangelii time to squabble with our brothers and sisters Gaudium”). In the document, the pope tells in Christ, as if they were our adversaries. us that “all the baptized, whatever their posiWe are the baptized, and the world awaits tion in the Church or their level of instruction the Gospel.