我们看到天主教会在接下来的几个世纪里一直忠实于这些话。在宗徒大事录的结尾，圣保禄终于到达了帝国的中心–罗马。从那里，福音向西进入欧洲。快进到16世纪，传教士在美洲、非洲登陆并返回亚洲。圣方济·沙勿略（St Francis Xavier），亚洲的传教士和传教士的共同主保圣人，试图激发那些自称是天主教徒的人的热情，使他们 “完全听从天主的呼唤。他们确实会从灵魂深处呼喊：’主啊，我在这里。祢想让我做什么？把我送到祢希望的任何地方，甚至远至印度！'”
Prayer, social media, hospitality, events are some of the many tools in our toolkit
In my previous post,Top 10 Catholic excuses for not evangelizing, I left the 10th excuse, “I don’t know how to evangelise” unanswered because it deserves a response that requires a full-length article. So here it is in 10 points.
How you can develop an evangelistic mindset
1. Pray for the salvation of souls, and not just for world peace, health, employment, or salvation upon death (Purgatory is not a second chance to get to Heaven. If a person ignores God on earth, there is not much hope), etc. Believe that God desires all men to be saved (1 Tim 2:4), so storm heaven for the miraculous conversion of people such as ISIS, Zakir Naik and others. Some find it helpful to list 10 non-Christian friends and pray for them on a decade of the Divine Mercy. Can anything withstand the onslaught of a praying Church?
2. Offer to pray for people in need. Pope Francis suggests ending conversations “with a brief prayer related to the concerns, which the person may have expressed” (Evangelii Gaudium 128). Show them that you genuinely care for their concerns and pray with simple words (formal prayers may mean a lot to Catholics but may come across as mechanical to the uninitiated). For example, after my personal trainer shared that he had concerns about hitting his target, I told him I will be praying for this intention. Recently, a lady had car trouble in church. We tried to help as best as we could but she was clearly traumatised. So, I asked the aunty if she would like us to pray for her. And we did.
3. Share your faith in a natural way on social media. Young people are less on Facebook and more on Instagram. Make your message interesting, clear and Christ-centred. We can do better than “Happy holidays!”, “Compliments of the Season!” or even “Christmas is a season of joy, gift-giving and of families united”. If it’s Christmas, the main celebration is not Santa Claus, Rudolph, snow or mistletoe, but the Christian belief that God became man. Say something about that!
4. Welcome and invite your non-Christian friends to a corporal work of mercy. I serve at a soup kitchen and I’ll just invite my friends to join me in a very natural way. But too often, our evangelization stops there. Serving the poor offers a natural opportunity for us to discuss the meaning of life. I would also invite them for drinks or a meal after serving where we can have spiritual conversations.
5. Initiate conversations with interesting questions like, “What do you think is the purpose of life?”, “If you could meet God today, what would you ask him?”, “How do you decide what is right or wrong?”, “What is your view of God/Jesus Christ/Catholic Church?” and so on. As the conversation progresses, it may be very natural to invite them further to an Alpha (There are chapters in most countries), a prayer meeting, Mass or even RCIA!
6. Be prepared to give an explanation for your faith (1 Pet 3:15). This includes a clear and simple story of how your life has been changed by Christ. Be ready also to share an answer to the question, “So what does Christianity teach?” You can find an example of a Catholic presentation of the Gospel, also known as the kerygma, at Sharing the Gospel.
Be ready to start conversations, even inviting your friends for a meal. Pexels, John Diez
7. Welcome and invite your non-Christian friends to a church event. Include them in religious celebrations like Christmas and Easter (if you are taking them to Mass, be ready to explain the essentials of the rituals or the festivities so that they can appreciate it and follow along as much as they may feel comfortable). If your parish or one nearby is running an Alpha, invite him along.
8. Raise parish hospitality levels. Resist the temptation to create religious cubby holes and cliques with other committed Catholics. “In all its activities, the parish encourages and trains its members to be evangelisers” (Joy of the Gospel 28). In whatever parish ministry you are involved in, be creative on how it can welcome non-believers. For example, for the Parish Family Day, instead of giving bonus points for participants from the same Basic Ecclesial Community (Neighbourhood Christian Community in Singapore), give bonus points instead for inviting non-Christian friends. The Hospitality Team should do more than show people to their seats. Be ready to start conversations, especially with visitors, even inviting them to a meal!
9. Join the Catechetical team that prepares young people for the Sacrament of Confirmation or learn how to be an effective Godparent/sponsor. At 16 years old, the curious-minded are seeking answers to their questions and doubts. Invite them into a relationship with the Lord and train Confirmands with the goal of helping them to become evangelisers.
10. Connect with other missionary-minded Catholics. As hot coals that burn together, hold each other accountable and inspire everyone to persevere in evangelising.
You might even want to form an evangelistic apostolate. Many Catholics are unaware or have forgotten that by the Sacrament of Confirmation, they are “obliged more firmly to be witnesses of Christ by word and deed and to spread and defend the faith” (Canon Law 879). Build conviction and urgency for evangelism, which is the “why”, and coach others in the skills and practice of evangelism, the “how”. Catholics need to understand atonement and salvation. The biggest stumbling block to evangelism is that Catholics cannot explain what happened on Good Friday and are practical religious relativists.
There are very many people eager to engage in spiritual conversations if only there were Catholics who would generously talk to them: the Mormons, the Jehovah’s Witnesses and most recently the Korean World Mission Society Church of God. Get their numbers and call them out for a conversation!
Main Image: Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino’s St. Paul preaching at Athens
Christ commissions the baptised as His disciples to evangelise but not all obey Him
Christ calls every Catholic in each age and generation to spread the good news about Him. This command to evangelise to all nations comes after His resurrection and before His ascension into Heaven, when Jesus appeared before His disciples.
All three Synoptic Gospels record the Saviour of the World commissioning us, His disciples. In Matthew 28, Christ says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.”
This Great Commission did not end with the death of the last Apostle, but is given to every baptised Catholic until the “close of age” or until He returns (Luke Lk 17:24, 2 Peter 3:10).
So, knowing what Christ and the Church teach us about evangelism, why do we see many neglecting the Commission He has given to all of us? What are some of the common excuses for not evangelising to those who have not heard or properly understood the Good News about Jesus Christ?
I’ve heard many, but these are the common Top Ten and my response to each one:
1.Everyone already knows about Christianity, they can google search the Internet if they don’t
Today’s generation suffers from information overload. With so many voices on the Internet competing for our attention, it makes a lot of difference when someone accompanies us in our spiritual quest.
2. I’m not the kind to talk about my faith, I evangelise by my actions
It is true that evangelisation is both by deeds and words. Strictly speaking, evangelisation by words is called “proclamation” or “evangelism” and it is equally important as our lifestyle witness. Pope St Paul VI in Evangelii Nuntiandi (Nos 22) asserts that witness by actions “always remains insufficient, because even 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’ – 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. There is no true evangelisation if the name, the teaching, the life, the promises, the kingdom and the mystery of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God are not proclaimed.”
Pope St Paul VI teaches that witness by actions “always remains insufficient, if not explained.
3.I’m not a holy Catholic
Neither was the Samaritan Woman in John 4. And yet, she quickly spread the message about the Messiah, by simply giving her witness to what Jesus had done for her (John 4:29). If we are trying to win people to ourselves, perhaps our personal sanctification may be the most important thing. But actually, who we are winning people to, is the Lord. It will be a big relief to you to know that the Gospel is not about you; it’s about Jesus and the question they have to grapple with is, “Who is this Jesus?”
Having said that, evangelising will give us a boost to be more conscientious about our personal behaviour and life witness. So, evangelising will help you achieve your goal to be holy!
4. Non-Christians are going to ask me about the sex scandal. Why would we want to invite them to join our Church with all its problems?
Humbly acknowledge that the Catholic Church has messed up big-time. And Jesus made it clear what he thought about hypocrites. While it will be important to eventually talk about the Church, at this point we just want to focus on Jesus.
5. I don’t know enough about my faith and they will ask me something which I don’t know how to answer
If your non-Christian friend asks you a question that you don’t know, be humble to admit your ignorance and offer to get back to him with the answer. It’s a chance for you to grow in the knowledge of the faith as well. But this question may be a diversion and you can invite him to return to your testimony or presentation of the Gospel. The Samaritan woman also tried to catch Jesus with such a question. He responded briefly and went to the heart of the matter (John 4: 19-26).
6. They already have their own religion and they are even better than us Catholics
Pope St John Paul II explained that respect for other religions “does not eliminate the need for the explicit proclamation of the Gospel in its fullness. Especially in the context of the rich array of cultures and religions in Asia it must be pointed out that ‘neither respect and esteem for these religions nor the complexity of the questions raised are an invitation to the Church to withhold from these non-Christians the proclamation of Jesus Christ’” (Ecclesia in Asia, Nos 20). We are called not to judge, and this includes deciding whether a person needs Jesus or not. Nicodemus was a teacher of the law and yet Jesus told him he had to be born again (John 3). We are called to respect each individual and their rights to know Jesus Christ.
7. I don’t want to come across as a pushy religious fanatic. If my friends want to know about Christianity, they can ask me
If you had the cure for cancer, would it be pushy to share it with others who are dying from the disease? We often see Jesus and the disciples take the initiative to enter into towns and preach the Gospel (John 4-5, Acts 8:26-40). There is a difference between disagreeing and being disagreeable. And if they do not want to accept the message of reconciliation, Jesus asks us to “shake the dust off your feet” and leave the situation to God (Matt 10:14).
8. Honestly, I’m scared they will reject me
The fear that some people would react negatively is not groundless. Jesus did not promise his disciples popularity but persecution (Matt 5:11). Christ Himself was rejected and explains, “whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me rejects Him who sent me” (Luke 10:16). So don’t take this personally. But this is exactly when we will know if we have true faith when we desire to obey and please God rather than to fear man. American evangelist Bill Bright said it well, “success in witnessing is simply sharing Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit and leaving the results to God.”
9. I don’t have the time to evangelise
We always find time for what is important. Even if you are not able to invest time to be discipled in evangelism, you can just share naturally with the people around you how God has made that change in your life.
Goal of missionary work to win hearts, not minds, in the face of division
I often wonder why God chose to enter human history more than two thousand years ago in Bethlehem. Why not in our day?
Imagine, how Jesus Christ would conduct His ministry in a landscape where the Internet and social media are major gathering points for people to interact and discuss issues. Picture Him having a YouTube channel with a global audience to deliver His “Sermon on the Mount”. Visualise St Peter and the apostles managing Christ’s social media accounts as His keyboard warriors.
They would have gotten the Pharisees hotter under the collar because of His global following. It will drive them mad to shout even louder, “Cancel Him, cancel Him!” But will Christ and His Apostles bow down to their persecutors’ demands? Nope. For sure, He will engage the Pharisees and uncover their hypocrisy on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Whatsapp!
We’d never know in our lifetime why He came to us on that ancient Christmas Day morning instead of now. But we, His disciples, live in this moment of history – the era of instant messaging.
What prompts me to write this column is the increasing incidences I’ve witnessed recently of frictions between people using social media to interact. It has left a trail of broken family ties and long-standing friendships.
The fight to bring Christ’s Light into the growing darkness
Communication technology has been advancing to the extent that it has made the world a lot smaller. Chatting with friends, family and even strangers halfway across the world for hours on end is almost cost-free, something that was unimaginable less that 30 years ago.
For the Church, the Internet provides an unprecedented tool to evangelise and catechise. Since the birth of the Internet in the 1990s, Popes St JohnPaul II, Benedict XVI and Francis have called on the Church to be ever present and visible on this online universe.
There is now a large presence of bishops, priests, deacons, religious men and women, and lay who are writing for Catholic news outlets, and their personal or group blogs and social media pages. Many are informative and live up to the Church’s mission of evangelising and catechising.
But just as many are misleading Catholics and we would do well to avoid them for our spiritual health. They have become channels of division and anger, especially against the Pope, his predecessors and their teaching Magisterium. They have and are pushing faithful Catholics on a path that is away from the Light.
There is now a large presence of Catholic clergy and lay on the Internet. Image: Pexels, Sora Shimazaki
To be sure, Pope Francis extols the Internet’s extraordinary possibilities in his 2019 World Communications Day message. He says the Web is “a source of knowledge and relationships that were once unthinkable,” adding that “It is an opportunity to promote encounter with others.”
But there are also major obstacles hampering the Internet from maximising its positive potential. Social media, for one, can be anti-social, anti-human and anti-Christian when they are used to increase differences, fuel suspicion, spread lies and vent prejudice.
It is too often based on opposition to the other, the person outside the group: we define ourselves starting with what divides us rather than with what unites us, giving rise to suspicion and to the venting of every kind of prejudice (ethnic, sexual, religious and other).
This tendency encourages groups that exclude diversity, that even in the digital environment nourish unbridled individualism which sometimes ends up fomenting spirals of hatred. In this way, what ought to be a window on the world becomes a showcase for exhibiting personal narcissism.
Pope Francis
A clutch of clergies, several who are popular and command a huge following in either their personal blogs or social media, are among those guilty of fuelling this division in the Church. They affirm and feed what their followers crave.
They are deeply critical of not only Pope Francis but also of John Paul II during his pontificate, especially when he initiated the historic 1986 inter-faith summit in Assisi and kissed the Koran in 1999 when he received Muslim dignitaries.
While a Pope’s private opinions and actions can be questioned, they have regularly gone beyond this. Without any serious attempt to verify facts, the Holy Father’s critics, for example, often misquote and misinterpret what the current Pope says. Every opportunity is also taken to vilify him to the point of demanding that he resigns.
The pen, as the adage goes, is mightier than the sword. Or the keyboard for that matter. As Christ warns, “what defiles us is what comes from the heart” (Matt 15:18). The apostle James reiterates this point that “the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell” (James 3:6).
Pride and prejudice
But social media discussion groups pose a greater danger to any idea of unity. They have followers that range in numbers from their tens and hundreds of thousands to millions. Catholic Facebook groups have not been spared.
The problem here is that they are populated with people with impressive learning backgrounds who yield power to sway opinions. They have influence but there are those who misuse their talents that unwittingly result in pitting Catholics against the Church and Her Shepherds.
What a Pope says and does can be misinterpreted and used to attack him online, as when Pope John Paul II kissed a Koran a the Vatican in 1999.
Their most common, and deadly, sin: Pride overflowing with big egos!
Often, the culprit of this temptation is the instant response feature of social media. In their desire to hammer the people they engage with, they post replies that demean those who oppose their views. Stepping back and letting some time to lapse are always better. If not, chances are high, interactions will end in destructive put-downs. Charity is always the victim.
This is precisely the point Pope Francis is making because social media is a double-edged sword that can either help people grow in their faith or destroy souls. What is the solution the Holy Father proposes? He first asks, “can we find our true communitarian identity, aware of the responsibility we have towards one another in the online network as well?”
A possible answer can be drawn from a third metaphor: that of the body and the members, which Saint Paul uses to describe the reciprocal relationship among people, based on the organism that unites them. “Therefore, putting away falsehood, speak the truth, each to his neighbour, for we are members one of another” (Eph 4:25).
Being members one of another is the profound motivation with which the Apostle invites us to put away falsehood and speak the truth: the duty to guard the truth springs from the need not to belie the mutual relationship of communion. Truth is revealed in communion. Lies, on the other hand, are a selfish refusal to recognize that we are members of one body; they are a refusal to give ourselves to others, thus losing the only way to find ourselves.”
Pope Francis
Truth and, I might add, humility are what we need to engage others on social media. Without a doubt, I’ve been guilty of transgressing this wisdom many times.
We need to remember that in evangelising and catechising, missionary work is about planting seeds on fertile ground. And where can we find this fertile ground? It comes from the heart that loves our neighbour to quench their thirst for God’s Truth. It certainly does not flow from one that is conceited.
Share Christ’s Gospel to help others know Him and leave the rest to the Holy Spirit
What is evangelism?
A Google search will give the definition as, “the spreading of the Christian gospel by public preaching or personal witness”. In 1974, key Protestant leaders at the Lausanne Conference reinforced this meaning by differentiating evangelism from social action and political liberation. For Catholics, the proper word for this initial presentation of the kerygma, is “proclamation”.
But “proclamation” feels like such a big word! It feels so formal and carries the connation that it is to be done by experts. So, I prefer to use the word “evangelism”.
Now let’s look at three misunderstandings of evangelism.
Evangelism is not proselytisation (for Catholics at least)
“Proselyte” is an anglicisation of a biblical Greek word that refers to converts from paganism to Judaism (Matt 23:15, Acts 2:10; 6:5; 13:43). This is where it gets a bit more complicated. While in general English usage, “proselyte” simply means a new convert to any religion, in Catholic language, this word has negative connotations.
Pope Francis explained the difference in the context of the prosperity gospel, implying that the person who is proselytised is attracted not by Christ but by a vice – for example greed. It violates the conscience. Proselytisation is triumphantly obsessed with numbers rather than that the person has discovered eternal life.
Are concerns about proselytisation still valid?
Christians in India are still being accused of “rice bag conversions”. Even in Malaysia, one Sarawakian indigenous youth shared that conversion to Christianity is often because of gratitude for past help, or to gain a social standing. The issue is complex and sometimes we can swing to the other end of the pendulum where we offer corporal works of mercy but don’t share the faith.
A girl who had recently converted to Protestantism shared how she had studied at the library of a Catholic Church but no one struck up a conversation with her, let alone introduced her to Jesus. Well, she was spiritually hungry and when Protestants invited her to receive Christ, she joyfully accepted.
I wonder if the preparation for the Sacrament of Confirmation might bear some tinge of proselytisation. Granted, the young person is already baptised, but there is the social pressure of going along with the herd. Sometimes, the young person is told that he will not be able to receive the Sacrament of Marriage in future, if he doesn’t get confirmed (which isn’t actually what Canon Law teaches).
Godparents should ask the young person to explain clearly and objectively why he believes in Jesus and the Catholic Church, and if necessary, to lovingly discern and discourage him if he is not ready, while promising to journey with him.
Pope Francis explained that a person who is proselytised is attracted not by Christ but by a vice – for example greed.
Evangelism is not evangelisation
“Evangelisation” is sometimes used interchangeably with evangelism (Catechism of the Catholic Church 905) but generally, it has a wider meaning that covers preaching, teaching, being a channel of grace, reconciling sinners with God, and perpetuating Christ’s sacrifice in the Mass.
Having said that, “there is no true evangelisation if the name, teaching, life, promises, kingdom and mystery of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, are not proclaimed. (Evangelii Nuntiandi 14, 22).
How many of us have heard it said, or even personally repeated this phrase, “I just evangelise through my actions. If non-Christians want to know more about the Faith, they can always ask”. Another way that we have tried to sooth our conscience and say that we are obeying the call of Pope Francis to become a more missionary church is to re-categorised existing ministries as evangelisation.
Therefore, Migrants Ministry, Prison Ministry, Orang Asli Ministry, Children’s Home, St Vincent De Paul, Soup Kitchens, etc, are under the Ministry of Evangelisation. And so, the average Catholic deftly sidesteps getting trained and encouraged to take the initiative to proclaim Jesus.
Conversion is really a work of grace and sometimes, the person may simply not be ready at the moment.
Evangelism is not converting others
While we hope those we evangelise come to accept Jesus and be baptised, success in evangelism is simply “sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit and leaving the results to God” (Bill Bright).
We are merely sharing information to help others make a decision. Conversion is really a work of grace and sometimes, the person may simply not be ready at the moment.
Having said that, too often, Catholics simply present information. We want our Sunday school students to memorise dates like when Francis Xavier came to Melaka rather than imbibe his missionary courage.
We celebrate feast days of saints but secretly hope that none of our children serve the church until they are in their 70s. We emphasis that we are not to hold hands during the Our Father but fail to call Catholics to obey the Great Commission.
We need to talk about personal life issues through the lens of faith, in a way that is heartfelt and persuasive.
Conversations can end in an invitation, “What would you like Jesus to do for you today?”, “Would you like to know more about Jesus?”, “Would you like to have a relationship with the Heavenly Father?” and so on. Even if the listener assents, becoming a believer and a disciple is a step-by-step journey so don’t get impatient or discouraged!
Gereja wujud untuk menginjil dan ini mesti menjadi misi kita juga
Sebagai penganut Katolik, anda dan saya tidak pernah dibesarkan dalam budaya penginjilan. Seorang seminarian yang memberi ceramah di program belia kami dengan berani menegaskan bahawa “Gereja tidak lagi menginjil”.
Sejak kecil sehingga membesar, saya percaya semua agama adalah sama, cuma berbeza perjalanan menuju kepada Tuhan; Saya seorang relativis agama. Saya menganggap tuntutan eksklusif satu agama adalah protestan yang bersifat menyinggung perasaan individu lain.
Jadi, apa yang mengejutkan pemikiran keagamaan saya adalah apabila saya membaca kisah tentang orang-orang kudus, yang mana semangat jiwa mereka kedengaran lebih Protestan daripada versi kepercayaan Katolik yang saya terima. Santo Francis Xavier, perintis penginjilan abad ke-16 di Asia dan penaung misi menuliskan:
“Ramai orang di sini tidak menjadi Kristian kerana satu sebab sahaja: tidak ada sesiapa yang menjadikan mereka Kristian. Berkali-kali saya terfikir untuk pergi ke universiti-universiti Eropah, terutamanya Paris, dan di mana-mana menjerit seperti orang gila, menarik perhatian mereka yang lebih berilmu daripada amal: “Trajedi apakah: begitu ramai jiwa yang terhalang dari syurga dan jatuh ke dalam neraka, terima kasih kepadamu!”
Saya mula membaca Alkitab untuk diri saya sendiri dan menyedari bahawa jika saya menganggap tuntutan eksklusif agama Kristian adalah ketaksuban, maka Yesus adalah puncanya. Dia berkata: “Akulah jalan dan kebenaran dan kehidupan.
Tiada seorang pun yang dapat datang kepada Bapa kecuali melalui aku” (Yohanes 14:6) Dan Gereja moden, dalam dokumen seperti Evangelii Nuntiandi (1975), Redemptoris Missio (1990), Ecclesia in Asia (1999), Dominus Iesus (2000) dan Evangelii Gaudium (2013) tidak pernah mengubah mesejnya mahupun dalam keadaan mendesak untuk penginjilan.
Terdapat jurang yang besar antara ajaran Magisterial dan Katolik popular yang diamalkan oleh umat beriman di gereja. Melupakan atau enggan mematuhi perintah Yesus untuk ‘Pergilah, jadikan semua bangsa murid-Ku (Mat 28:19) bukankah juga perlu dikenal pasti sebagai ketidaktaatan dan dosa?
Di manakah silap kita?
Majlis Vatikan Kedua yang telah bersidang dari 1962-1965 mengemas-kini ajaran Gereja Katolik untuk konteks dunia moden. Bimbingan Roh Kudus dalam Majlis tersebut tidak pernah diragui (kecuali oleh mereka yang menghampiri kemaksiatan). Tetapi yang pasti, sikap Gereja Katolik terhadap agama lain dan pengikutnya, berubah 180 darjah.
Daripada pengusiran, kutukan dan panggilan “ajaran sesat”, para uskup dunia merasakan Roh Kudus memanggil Gereja untuk membina jambatan dalam ekumenikal dan dialog antara agama. Ia tidak bermakna bahawa Gereja telah mengubah ajarannya tentang peranan unik Kristus dan Gereja. Kepercayaan bahawa Yesus adalah satu-satunya jalan penyelamatan dan bahawa tidak mungkin ada penyelamatan di luar Gereja; dan tidak bersetuju dengan kepercayaan lain tidak bermakna Gereja harus bersikap menentang.
Malangnya, 99% penganut Katolik, nuansanya telah hilang dalam penterjemahan. Ketegangan antara dua dakwaan: bahawa Yesus adalah satu pengantara, dan bahawa orang-orang dari agama lain boleh diselamatkan, bermakna semua agama adalah sama dan kita tidak perlu menginjil lagi.
Oleh itu, tempoh selepas Vatican 2 mengelirukan untuk generasi tanpa Carian Google untuk menyemak apa yang diturunkan oleh profesor seminari dan paderi. Sebilangan besar mubaligh Katolik mula tertanya-tanya sama ada mereka telah mensia-siakan hidup mereka dan telah meninggalkan perintah agama. Setelah kehilangan tujuan mereka untuk membimbing jiwa ke syurga, mereka menjadi ejen bantuan kemanusiaan sahaja.
Jadi apa yang perlu kita lakukan?
Umat Katolik seharusnya tidak berundur daripada membina persahabatan mesra dengan jiran mereka yang beragama Islam, Buddha, Hindu, agnostik atau ateis. Umat Katolik harus berada di barisan hadapan dalam isu keluarga yang pro-life, berkhidmat kepada pendatang dan menjaga ciptaan.
Tetapi umat Katolik juga harus mengamanahkan prinsip bahawa “Tidak ada penginjilan yang benar jika nama, ajaran, kehidupan, janji-janji, kerajaan dan misteri Yesus dari Nazaret, Anak Tuhan, tidak diwartakan” (Evangelii Nuntiandi 22).
Dalam menghadapi medan misi sebesar 2 bilion jiwa Asia, Perintah Agung, kata-kata terakhir Yesus, mesti menjadi keutamaan pertama bagi setiap Katolik: untuk menjadikan murid mubaligh yang menjadikan murid mubaligh lain.
Menjadi mubaligh untuk anda dan saya adalah perubahan yang besar. Jika anda mengasihi Tuhan dan ingin mengambil bahagian dalam perubahan ini, sertai bersama untuk berubah.
What starts as work to lead people to safety can be detoured to self-indulgence
On a dangerous seacoast where shipwrecks often occurred, there was once a little life-saving station. The building was primitive and had just one boat, but the crew were committed to saving lives and kept a constant lookout for ships that got into trouble at sea. When a ship went down, day or night, they unselfishly went out to rescue people.
Because so many were saved, the station’s work became widely known. As a result, the station was overwhelmed with offers from people who wanted to give their time, talent and money to support its important work. New boats were bought, fresh crews were recruited and a formal training session was put in place for those who joined the ranks of the crew.
As membership grew, some were unhappy the building was old and had outdated equipment. They yearned for a better place to hold survivors they plucked out from the sea. So they built a large new building, replaced the old emergency cots with comfortable beds and brought in better furniture.
In time the station became a popular meeting place for the crew. They met regularly, always greeted and hugged each other, and shared stories about what had been going on in their lives. The love and care among the crew were evident.
As time passed, most members lost interest in going out to sea on life-saving missions. They hired lifeboat crews to handle this important task. About this time, there was a large shipwreck off their coast, and the new hires went out to sea and returned to the station with boatloads of cold, wet, dirty, sick, and half-drowned people.
The survivors were a mixed bunch. Some had black skin and others yellow. They were a few who were fluent in English, while most didn’t understand the language. Among them were first-class cabin passengers, and there was a clutch of deck hands. In just a short time, the station that had become a beautiful meeting spot was transformed into a place of chaos. The plush carpets got dirty and the exquisite furniture suffered scratches.
In the ensuing melee, the property committee swung into action and constructed a makeshift shower outside the building where the shipwreck survivors were cleaned before they were allowed inside.
At the station’s next meeting there was a rift among the members. Most wanted to stop their life-saving work as they were unpleasant and a hindrance to their fellowship. Others insisted that saving lives was still their primary mission and pointed out that the station still had this status. But this minority group was voted down and told that if they wanted to save the lives of all sorts of people that the station recently did, they could do this at another location down the coast. And that’s what they did.
Those who joined the original team were not transformed into disciples of the mission in which their belief in saving lives would have been deeply rooted. If this had been the case, the new members would, in turn, attract and transform others into disciples to believe in their cause.
As the years passed, the new place experienced a repeat of what afflicted and ended the mission of the station it replaced. It evolved into a place for fellowship, committee meetings and special training sessions about their mission, but few went out to save people from drowning. Survivors were also no longer welcomed in this new station that was supposed to save lives. Another station was founded further down the coast to do this.
History continued to repeat itself. And if you visit that seacoast today, you will find a number of adequate meeting places with ample parking spaces and plush carpeting. Shipwrecks are still frequent in those waters, but most people drown.
What went wrong with the mission of saving lives in this unfortunate tale?
It is apparent new members were attracted to the mission but were not adequately formed to actually love the work of saving lives. In time, they enjoyed the fellowship, which should be a by-product of the mission and not the main course.
The crux of the problem: Those who joined the original team were not transformed into disciples of the mission in which their belief in saving lives would have been deeply rooted. If this had been the case, the new members would, in turn, attract and transform others into disciples to believe in their cause.
We can view this story through the lens of the wider Christian missionary. Where do Catholics stand in comparison to other non-Catholic Christian groups? How robust are we? You will be surprised at the results of surveys that were conducted to measure how we faired.
We need to build up more life-savers in the Catholic Church
In Part 1, I told a tale of a group of life-savers whose work to rescue survivors of shipwrecks attracted people to join their mission. But they were not deeply rooted in the cause of saving lives, lost their sense of mission and became a social club.
To be deeply rooted in a mission is to be transformed into missionary disciples. Such people who experience this type of conversion are so convinced of the good of their work that they in turn want others to join their cause. This strong passion for their work in helping others has the effect of creating more passionate believers.
In Christian terms, this will create disciples who create other disciples, who do likewise and so on and so on. But how do Catholics fare in the work of discipleship because he work Jesus Christ, in which we are called to join His mission, is about saving lives? It is not a one-off rescue outing to pluck people from the jaws of death. It has implications to place them safely for all eternity. This work, which has divine origins in Christ, is called evagelisation.
According to the apostolic exhortation “Evangelisation in the Modern World” the Church exists in order to evangelise (EN 14). But writing for Catholic Missionary Disciple in his article, 5 Reasons Catholics Don’t Evangelise, Marcel LeJeune notes that in a 2013 poll on the importance of Christians who actively shared their faith, Catholics ranked the lowest.
The poll conducted in the United States drew from the best and most engaged Catholics, and yet only 1 out of every 3 “active Catholics” agreed they had a responsibility to share their faith with others and actually did so in the past year. To my knowledge, no similar study has been done in the Malaysian or Singapore Church, but I doubt we are better off.
Catholics must stop making excuses such as “I’m not worthy cos I’m still struggling with sin”, “I don’t know enough about my faith”, “They won’t listen to me” and “I’m not that type” are some excuses you and I make are to exempt ourselves from the Great Commission. It’s similar to how Moses winced and whined before God. (Ex 3:11-22, 4:1-17).
Let’s look at some reasons why I believe Catholics are failing in their fundamental duty
1. Catholics aren’t disciples
Most Catholics are baptised not because they consciously made a decision to become a disciple of Jesus. Sherry Weddell, author of “Forming Intentional Disciples” notes, “We have asked hundreds of diocesan and parish leaders from 60 dioceses throughout the English-speaking world this question: What percentage of your parishioners, would you estimate, are intentional disciples? To our astonishment, we have received the same answer over and over: ‘Five percent’. When Catholicism is just a religious duty to fulfil and Catholics cannot see the transforming value of Jesus in their lives, it is very unlikely that they will want to share Jesus with others.”
You and I need to look at what Jesus and the Church say about discipleship, before we can make changes, both personal and structural. If our lifestyle is one of compromise, mediocrity and lukewarmness, we would be good for nothing but to be thrown out. Live according to your calling as salt of the earth and light of the world. Then give testimony on how making Jesus the Lord of your life, has been life-changing.
2. Catholics are universalists or believe differences of faith don’t really matter
Universalists believe in the false doctrine that no one will go to hell. In our efforts to promote inter-religious dialogue, the nuances of church teachings are lost on simple Catholics and most have become religious relativists. Respect for other faith traditions and the truth that “all religions teach you to do good” has crossed over to claim that “all religions are the same” and that “everyone will go to heaven”. So what’s the point of introducing Jesus if you don’t believe that He is the One Mediator and lifeline to the Father (John 14:6)?
The nuanced Catholic teaching is found in the Vatican II Constitution, Lumen Gentium (No 16). After laying out the conditions in which a non-believer might be saved, it declares soberly that “VERY OFTEN (translation from the Latin, Flannery edition; capitals mine), men, deceived by the Evil One, have become vain in their reasonings, have exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and served the world rather than the Creator.” This means that, while the Catholic Church teaches that there is a possibility that a non-believer goes to heaven – and always through Jesus – the probability is so low that we shouldn’t be presumptuous. Catholics must pray with heartfelt urgency, “On my Jesus, save us from the fires of hell” and be spurred to “seek and save the lost” (Luke 19:10).
3. Catholics are scared and make excuses not to do it
“I’m not worthy cos I’m still struggling with sin”, “I don’t know enough about my faith”, “They won’t listen to me” and “I’m not that type” are some excuses you and I make are to exempt ourselves from the Great Commission. It’s similar to how Moses winced and whined before God. (Ex 3:11-22, 4:1-17).
Yet, Jesus gave the command to all, “Go and make disciples of all nations” (Matt 28:19). I may be scared to evangelise but you know what frightens me more? That I will one day profoundly regret that I never shared with my loved ones, my secret to the fullness of life. As part of God’s rescue mission, you and I need to grieve that family and friends who are stumbling without Jesus, could be lost forever (Rom 9:2-3). Only a Holy Spirit love for Jesus and the world can push us out of our comfort zones and make us unashamed of the Gospel! (Rom 1:16).
4. Catholics don’t want to be offensive and lose friendships with non-Christians
I put this as a separate category from the above because living in multi-religious societies, this is a genuine concern. It’s about how our message is going to be received. It’s true that some wouldn’t care. Others might even disagree and reject us. Jesus promised nothing less.
But you can disagree with someone without becoming disagreeable. In fact, there are many people who would want to discuss religion with Catholics. Protestants, Muslims, Mormons and Korean cult devotees. You may be irritated or offended but walking away sends the message that Catholicism doesn’t have an answer. Why don’t we see this as an opportunity to evangelise? I’ve known some Catholics who built up their faith through apologetics discussions. One even became a priest! Those who do not know Christ as Lord and Saviour DESERVE to know the truth and if it’s not going to be from you, then from whom?
5. Parishes aren’t supporting nor training active personal evangelism
I will say this politely: Catholics, even leaders, who claim it is sufficient to witness with our lifestyle, is not teaching what the Magisterium teaches. Evangelisation is reduced to serving to the poor. Other times evangelism is just waiting for inquirers to sign-up for the RCIA. In one parish, it was a step-up for the priest to ask parishioners, week in and week out, to bring their non-Christian friends to Mass.
But to reverse the current Catholic culture and restore a practice of the apostolic church, Catholics need to be firstly taught “Why Evangelise” and then be encouraged step-by-step how to do it. Only when all parish leaders, including clergy, have had first-hand experience of personal evangelism, will we know how to make “missionary outreach paradigmatic for all the Church’s activities” (Joy of the Gospel 15).
What are five things you can do to help the Church recover Her evangelistic identity?
Join a training on personal evangelism. Learn how to share your story of conversion and how to present a basic message of Christianity that invites listeners to place their trust in Jesus. Read a book on how to answer basic apologetic questions like Trent Horn’s “Why We’re Catholic”.
Invite church friends to join you for training on personal evangelism. Make a point to share what you are learning about evangelism with someone weekly, especially to correct all the false understanding prevalent among Catholics. Better yet, offer to start the class on evangelism in your parish.
Pray daily for your non-Christian friends and lapsed Catholics. List 10 people you can name in a decade of the Rosary. If you are going to offer Mass for the dead, remember to put in intentions for your living non-believer friends as well. And you can always end a conversation by asking “how can I pray for you?”
Volunteer to be a hospitality minister that does more. In some parishes, it would already be amazing if they smiled and greeted you. Be friendly and ready to engage in conversation even to invite strangers to join you for a meal.
Plan every open event to be evangelistic. Can non-Catholics join in the hiking trip? They sure can. Can non-Catholics join in to serve the homeless? They sure can. Can non-Catholics join in the choir or caroling? They sure can. It may mean conscientiously planning for the presence of non-believers (singable hymns, inspiring homilies etc) and intentionally asking the Catholics to invite their friends especially for celebrations like Christmas and Easter.
What do you think Is stopping you from evangelising? What can you do to start evangelising? We would love to hear any other ideas you might have to raise up an evangelistic Catholic culture.
Centred on the Trinity, it is a treasury of Catholic Truths
When I started reclaiming and relearning my Catholic faith about 20 years ago, I realised what I knew was probably at Primary 4 level. In my interaction with Catholics high up the pecking order, they used terms that were foreign to me.
Some of these I learnt quickly such as Magisterium. It comes from the Latin word magister, which means “teacher”. It refers to the teaching authority that Jesus Christ gave to St Peter and the rest of the Apostles. And from them to their respective successors. The Magisterium is exercised chiefly by the pope who can do so independently and the bishops who must teach in union with him.
One term that took a while to get my head round it is “Deposit of the Faith”. The words give the impression that faith is stored somewhere, such as in a vault. Something that banks do when we deposit our money with them. But faith does not have a physical form, and it took me a few years to understand the term fully.
Deposit of Faith simply means the vast body of divine wisdom that God has manifested to His people from the Old Testament. But it was especially revealed to us in the words and actions of Jesus Christ the Incarnate Second Person of the Blessed Trinity.
It embodies all the teachings of Christ that He entrusted to the Apostles with the commission to make them known to the entire world (Matt. 28:16-20). They have since passed this Deposit of Faith to their successors to this day, without any additions or subtractions to preserve the purity of what they had received from Christ.
No one can change Jesus Christ’s teachings because they come from God. They are His divine plan for our Salvation – a roadmap to eternal communion with Him. Or else like a map that has had unauthorised alterations, it will lead us on the wrong path and we will be lost forever.
As St Paul in his epistle to the Thessalonians tells us, “We thank God constantly for this, that when you received the Word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the Word of God” (1 Thess. 2:13).
“Deposit of Faith” has biblical roots as it appears in the Greek version of the New Testament. In the apostle’s letters to Timothy, St Paul entreats his fellow missionary, “O Timothy, guard the paratheke (παρακαταθήκην) or deposit (1 Tim 6:20). He repeats this again in 2 Tim 14 to “guard the paratheke that has been entrusted to you by the Holy Spirit”.
This Deposit, then, is to teach Christians everything that Christ has revealed about Himself, the Father and the Holy Spirit. It serves as a bulwark against heresies that attempt to corrupt the Truth about God and His salvific plan for the whole world.
As the principal mode of transmission of His Teachings is through oral teaching, Christ gave the Apostles a simple formula to teach and recall them from the Deposit of Faith with the assistance of the Holy Spirit. This formula is founded on the Blessed Trinity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Here, I’ll quote Monsignor Eugene Kevane, a pioneer in the field of catechetics, from his Introduction to Teaching the Catholic Faith Today (published in 1982 by Daughters of St Paul).
What was the content of Jesus’ teaching? How did He form the minds of His disciples? A catechetical reading of the Gospels shows that He taught them to understand who He Himself is and what the religion is by which mankind is to respond to this central doctrine.
“So that they would know who He Himself is, He taught them the mystery of the Trinity. Within the Godhead of Yahweh, the One God of the Hebrew revelation, there are three equal divine Persons …
“The Trinitarian pattern of this teaching that witnesses to Him is clear from His final mandate to His apostles as founders of His worldwide Teaching Church: “Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations; baptise them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe all the commands I gave you. And know that I am with you always; yes, to the end of time” (Matt 28:19-20)
From the Trinity, springs forth all the teachings of the Catholic Church that are contained in the Deposit of Faith. “The Trinitarian profession of faith for baptism, with its subordinate topics for each Divine Person, became the Articles of Faith which the early Church called the Symbol and which we of the Latin Rite called the Apostles’ Creed from the Latin ‘Credo’,” Msgr Kevane wrote elsewhere.
“These Articles of Faith formed the first set of topics in the teaching. It formulated Jesus’ Deposit: it enabled his Apostles and their Successors to hand on the baptismal Profession of Faith by teaching. It was the substance of catechetical instruction then and now.”
Christ’s teachings do not change, even though the world went through a dramatic transformation in the last two thousand years. They are timeless and have addressed every issue of faith and morals in the ancient days of the Apostles and can do so now in our present day.
This does not mean our understanding of what Christ taught doesn’t develop. It does. A perfect example is the doctrine of “Outside the Church there is no salvation” or Extra ecclesiam nulla salus.
This doctrine was strictly taught in its narrow sense in the early years of the Church, especially to combat erroneous teachings within and without the Church, such as the Albigensian and other heresies. But the Church gained a fuller understanding of this teaching at the Second Vatican Council.
The Fathers at the Council taught that those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart … can be saved (Lumen Gentium, 16).
In doing so, they preserved the substance of Extra ecclesiam nulla salus: That the Church is necessary for Salvation and without Her no one can be saved.
In essence, the Deposit of Faith is a treasury the Catholic Church – as guardians of the revelations of Christ – draws from to define, teach and defend the Truths about God. The four Marian dogmas, which essentially are about the Person of Christ, are such occasions when the Magisterium has unlocked this precious treasury.
In the Solemnity of the Trinity today, it is important to reaffirm this essential toolkit Christ gave His Church to lead us to God.
Travelling on the road of faith, hope and charity for TAF
It is almost a year ago since Deacon Adrian and I toyed with the idea of producing material that is easy to read for all Catholics. We had several conversations through WhatsApp and Zoom because he lives in Kuala Lumpur and I, in Singapore.
We agreed on a plan that if we were to do anything, it would be on a “Simple writing, simple reading” formula. But we had no clue initially on how to go about doing this or what medium it should be on or where we are going to get more help.
If it would be books, booklets, pamphlets or something else, was a question that continuously nagged at us.
We thought a website would be cool, but neither of us was at the level of creating one. It had been quite a while since I started my own blog, and was a little rusty. Besides, there are tons of Catholic websites on the Internet, why would anyone want to come to ours?
That was another question that had been nagging at us.
Our goal, though, is to help Catholics understand our faith better. It is not meant to teach those already neck-deep in studying Catholicism, but if we can contribute anything to their journey, that would be a bonus.
We want to cast our nets far and wide to all Catholics in Malaysia and Singapore, but primarily to those who are trying to understand and learn our faith, including students.
Our language style should, therefore, be easy to understand. As far as possible, we wanted to try and avoid terms that get people scratching their heads. This is no easy task, but we wanted to try.
In this light, we had conversations with a few Catholics who we felt were well-grounded in the faith, but that effort produced nothing. Just as our Lord Jesus Christ lamented that “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Luke 10:2-4)
So, instead of twiddling our thumbs, both of us prayed. We had to have faith.
During Advent last year a handful of promising names emerged. On Christmas Day I started writing at a site that hosted bloggers, just to keep our hopes alive. Then, on Ash Wednesday, two Catholics decided to join our mission: Jonathan Ho and Clement Wee from Singapore.
A few days later, Sister Shirley Chong came on board. She is a Daughters of St Paul Sister from Malaysia and based in Manila.
Our pace accelerated from then on and after several conversations, through Zoom and WhatsApp across Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore, we decided to set up a website. We also agreed that we should cast our nets even further in Asia, and not just Malaysia and Singapore.
But baby steps first. We need to learn how to walk before we start jogging and then running. We also settled on our name, The Asian Fishermen, because we want to obey Christ’s Commission to everyone in His Church to evangelise. But we are going to do this through simple means and in our simple way.
As our journey crossed major Church days and seasons, we planned for our website to go live on Easter Sunday. But midway through our journey I fell ill and had to recuperate. The team decided they did not want to launch this mission without everyone on board.
So, we all agreed that the next important date available should be Pentecost Sunday, the day the Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles and send them on their way to fulfill Christ’s Great Commission of spreading the Gospel to the ends of the world.
We are here, then, on this day, to do our small part in this work for Jesus Christ. None of us have any clue where we are going or how The Asian Fishermen, or TAF, will develop. But we place our faith in the Holy Spirit to lead us where He wills us to go.
The Church exists to evangelise and this must be our mission, too
As Catholics, many of us, maybe even the majority, were never raised in a culture of evangelism. One seminarian who gave a talk at a youth ministry went as far as to boldly assert that the “Church no longer evangelises”. Growing up, I believed all religions were the same and were just different roads to God. I was a religious relativist and considered the exclusive claims of one’s religion to be offensively Protestant.
So it was a shock to my religious thinking that when I read the saints, their zeal for souls sounded more Protestant than the version of the Catholic faith I had received. St Francis Xavier, the 16th century pioneer of evangelism in Asia and patron of missions wrote:
Many, many people hereabouts are not becoming Christians for one reason only: there is nobody to make them Christians. Again and again I have thought of going round the universities of Europe, especially Paris, and everywhere crying out like a madman, riveting the attention of those with more learning than charity: What a tragedy: how many souls are being shut out of heaven and falling into hell, thanks to you!
Saint Francis Xavier
Something was out. I began to read the Bible and realised that if I thought the exclusive claims of Christianity were bigotry, then Jesus was the source. He said: “I am the Way the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). And the modern Church, in documents like Evangelii Nuntiandi (1975), Redemptoris Missio (1990),Ecclesia in Asia (1999), Dominus Iesus (2000) and Evangelii Gaudium (2013) had never changed her message nor her urgency for evangelism.
There is a HUGE chasm between the Magisterial teaching and popular Catholicism the faithful practise in the pew. To omit obeying Jesus, even to ignore his command to, “Go and make disciples of all nations” (Matt 28:19) needs to be called out for what it is: disobedience, even a sin.
Where did we go so wrong?
The Second Vatican Council that had convened from 1962-1965 updated the teaching of the Catholic Church in the context of the modern world. The guidance of the Holy Spirit in this Council has never been in doubt (except by the loons on the fringe). But certainly, the posture of the Catholic Church towards other religions and their followers, changed 180 degrees. Rather than excommunications, anathemas and calling out of heresies, the bishops of the world sensed the Holy Spirit calling the Church to build bridges in ecumenical and inter-religious dialogue.
This didn’t mean that the Church had changed Her teaching on the unique role of Christ and the Church. She still believes that Jesus is the only way of salvation and that there can be no salvation outside the Church. But disagreeing with the beliefs of others doesn’t mean that She has to be disagreeable.
Unfortunately, for 99% of Catholics, the nuances were lost in translation. The tension between two assertions: that Jesus is the One Mediator, and that peoples of other religions can be saved, simply meant all religions were the same and we didn’t need to evangelise anymore. Thus the period after Vatican 2 was confusing for a generation without Google Search to check what was being passed down by seminary professors and the pulpit. Swaths of Catholic missionaries began to wonder if they had wasted their lives and left the religious orders. Having lost their purpose of converting souls for Heaven, they became agents of humanitarian relief!
What then are we to do?
Catholics should not back away from building warm friendships with their Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, agnostic and atheist neighbours. Catholics should be at the forefront of pro-life family issues, serving the migrants and care for creation.
But Catholics should also be convicted that “there is no true evangelisation if the name, the teaching, the life, the promises, the kingdom and the mystery of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, are not proclaimed” (Evangelii Nuntiandi 22). In the face of the vast mission field of two billion Asian souls, the Great Commission, Jesus’ last words, must become the first priority for every Catholic: to make missionary disciples who make missionary disciples.
The missionary conversion for you and me will be nothing short of massive. If you love the Lord and want to part of this change, join us on this webpage as we unpack the issues one by one.
