Posted on 06/01/2005 6:29:39 AM PDT by murphE
Editor's Note: Statements by Pope Benedict XVI and the appointment of San Francisco Archbishop William Levada signal a Holy See ready to counteract the expansion of evangelical groups worldwide.
SAN FRANCISCO--On the day before the conclave to choose a new pope began, future pontiff Joseph Ratzinger led a liturgy that reassured the church's believers that the Holy See was not giving up on them and was prepared to fight for the salvation of their souls. He surely meant to allude to the fight against moral relativism, but he also had his sights set on evangelicalism.
Indeed, during the first mass held by Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI, he strongly implied that the Catholic church is the rightful House of Christ, and said that his first commitment was toward "the full and visible unity of Christ's followers."
Today, to regain ground in the first world and continue to expand in the Third World, the Roman Catholic Church, more than fighting secularism, must counteract the expansion of evangelical groups. It is a silent clash that could be compared to the protracted, mostly slow-burning feud between capitalism and communism during the Cold War.
According to some researchers, evangelical Christianity is expanding three times faster than the world population and is the only existing religious group showing a significant growth through conversion. By contrast, the Roman Catholic Church is expanding at a slower pace than the population, which will mean an overall decrease in the number of Catholics worldwide.
In addition, the dissolution of the Berlin Wall not only reinvigorated the Orthodox church, but also saw huge numbers of believers from the former Socialist bloc -- where the church had been persecuted -- move into evangelical groups.
There are currently more evangelicals in Asia than in North America. Singapore's churches are among the most active in the world, sending one missionary abroad per every 1,000 members. Seven of the world's 10 largest evangelical churches can be found in Seoul alone, a city in which 110 years ago there was none.
In Latin America, a mostly Catholic region for the past 500 years, the number of evangelicals has grown from under 250,000 in 1900 to over 60 million in 2000. Critics of the Vatican say the vacuum left by Pope John Paul II's disavowal of the "basic Christian communities" movement has been filled by the evangelicals.
In 1960, the number of evangelicals living in the developing countries were one-half of those in the West; in the year 2000 they were four times more and in 2010 they will be seven times as numerous.
In America, where even Protestant groups have lost 5.4 million members over the last decade, evangelicals have enjoyed a growth rate of 40 percent. They have become the largest religious force in the United States, with 26 percent of all believers -- and they wield undeniable political clout.
"The current pope is a renovator. But there cannot be renovation without tradition," says Father Joseph Fazio, founder of St. Ignatius Press and Chancellor of Ave Maria University in Florida. "I don't have any doubt that he'll realize the full spirit of Vatican II, of unifying all of Christ's believers under the benevolent care of the Holy See.
"He has already laid the doctrinal ground for the renaissance of the church -- he did it when he was at the helm of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith. Under Benedict XVI the world will know that the Roman Catholic Church has Christ's message at its core and follows his teachings closely," adds Fr. Fazio.
The battle for the soul of believers in developed countries, particularly the United States, is also critical -- most of the funds used by alternative evangelical churches to send missionaries and proselytize in the poorer countries come from there.
The appointment of San Francisco Archbishop William Levada to the previous position held by Pope Benedict XVI himself can be better appreciated in this light.
Levada's appointment sends the message that the church entrusts its doctrines to a prelate who had led a diocese in America's most secular humanist and morally relativistic city. Levada has dealt firsthand with the legacies of free love, feminism, the gay movement and the evangelical juggernaut.
"Benedict XVI has chosen Levada specifically because he knows how to face these challenges," says Father Labib Kobti, pastor at St. Thomas More in San Francisco and U.S. Representative for the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.
"When Levada expressed his surprise at his appointment, the Pope responded that he was in fact the right man for the task because he came from a world where evangelical groups were a challenge, where the message of Christ was being distorted, and that he had provided a compassionate but firm rebuttal to the many assaults that the church of San Francisco had faced during his years as head of the diocese."
Under Levada's almost decade-long tenure, San Francisco's Catholic church regained a religious presence that had been faltered under the more politically adaptable administration of Archbishop John Quinn.
Father Kobti, however, dismisses suggestions that the Vatican is more than alarmed at the growing influence of evangelicalism. "In the past the church has been given for dead more than once," he says. "Take for example the rise of the Baptists and of the Lutherans."
Let women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted them to speak, but to be subject, as also the law saith. But if they would learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is a shame for a woman to speak in the church.
-1 Corinthians 14: 34-35
We have one. My wife is on it. They've actually done some great things, like getting someone to come speak about the "DaVinci Code", they had one of the priests from Priests for Life, they had a series on the Sacraments. They hold weekly Bible studies.
Also, one of their most attended evenings was having experienced couples come and talk about how they've dealt with issues raising their children. How they've kept the faith alive in their homes. Apparently, a lot of parents have trouble getting their teenagers to come to Mass. The experienced parents, to a couple, said you just have to lay down the law. Make sure your children understand it is your home, your rules. Have a family rosary once a week. This talk was extremely popular and there will probably be an encore.
As part of every talk given, the evangelization committee gets some kids from the school to babysit in the gym as part of their service projects.
There are "watered down" Catholics but the Catholic Church is not watered down. Salvation is though God's grace. Abortion is murder. The act of homosexuality is a grave sin. Socialism is an evil that subordinates the individual, is freedom and his property to the state.
You see any water here?
Can one get the impression that the Catholic bureaucracy is anti-death penalty ONLY from "Catholic-bashing material"????? My guess is that this information came from quotes DIRECTLY from members of the Catholic bureaucracy........
Sure aint Holy Water...
BTTT!
"Prepares"!!! LOL! Boot camp, eh? General Orders, Plan-Of-The-Day, watches...
What happened to all that "unity" talk I was hearing so much about?????
You should say "one of the holy, apostolic and catholic churches..." Then you won't seem to be saying that ONLY you are right and ALL other churches are wrong.
I'll simply take that as a tacit admission that your lack of knowledge about the Catholic Church isn't malicious, just ignorant. OK with you? :-}
It can be very confusing, I agree, when those designated to speak for the Church put forth their personal opinion without identifying it as just that, it gives the impression of being what "The Church" doctrine is.
One thing my wife's evangelization committee has discovered. You've got to get the folks where they are. Stuff quick hitting evanglizing info into the bulletin or into the school's communication envelope. Believe it or not, they've had a number of people tell them they had no idea the Immaculate Conception was the conception of the Mother of God. Also, they've found if they hold a talk on a Friday night and include babysitting, people will come.
It's not such a ridiculous analogy, the Church on earth is the Church Militant.
In fact, liberation theology has largely been squelched in Latin America (at least officially), yet the small evangelical communities continue to grow and attract former Catholics to them.
No, the problem is the lack of priests. Here is an evangelical perspective:
For most of Latin history, however, the number of priests has been insufficient to effectively minister to all the people. Religious vacuums have thus been created, especially in rural areas and on the outskirts of urban areas. Anthony Gill, who describes the religious economy of Latin America, writes, “The evangelization mission of the Catholic Church, to ensure all members of the population were inextricably bound to Catholicism, suffered due to the simple dynamics of restricted supply under a monopolized religious market” (1999, 75). People, rather than travelling great distances to visit a priest, turned to various forms of folk Catholicism to solve everyday issues regarding sickness, financial gain or loss, and romance. These areas of folk Catholicism, largely bereft of priestly influence, provide the ripest area for evangelism in Latin America. Gill says, “When a religious provider enters a region bereft of Catholic priests, folk Catholicism generally declines, indicating that the people would prefer to delegate the task of supplying religion to a specialist” (Gill, 1999, 75) rather than a traditional curendero or spiritist.
Salvation, my post #33 may interest you.
This sounds very similar to what we are doing. One evening a month.
Subject have been:
Advent
Annulments
Lent
Triduum -- Holy Week
Apparitions of Mary
Pentecost -- The Role of the Holy Spirit
End of Life Issues
We are finishing off our first year of this with evenings for the adults, activities for the youth, and more activities for the families with children. We start all together with a meal and a prayer service and finish with everyone comming back together as one community with a prayer service after the indivudalized sessions for the different age groups.
We also send home additional reading and study for home activities and /or faith formation during the month.
The feedback we have received has been on the fabulous side! (Sorry if that sounds like I'm bragging, I'm not -- merely reflecting the evaluations that are completed each evening.)
We have made some mistakes during this year, but are finding what works and building on it.
What is the error?
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