Fr. Thomas M. Pastorius
December 21, 2014
Spiritual Ponderings
7 Virtues of a Good Evangelizer

Let us turn once again to Mark Brumely and his book: How Not To Share Your Faith: The Seven Deadly Sins of Catholic Apologetics and Evangelization so that we may discover the seven habits of a good evangelizer so that we can eventually make them our own. Quotes from his book will be in bold and my thoughts will appear in the normal font.

4. Clarity
Paul VI identified clarity as one of the characteristics of genuine dialogue. You cannot get very far in a conversation if you are not clear about what you mean. Clarity is required in at least two areas of theological discussion. First, regarding where we agree with others. As Paul VI noted, “A man must first be understood; and, where he merits it, agreed with.” Some differences are merely terminological. Catholics may not commonly use the expression “accepting Jesus as one’s personal Lord and savior,” for example, but there is nothing unCatholic about the basic idea it expresses.

I can still remember being a little kid and talking to one of my grandmother’s friends. Her name was Bernice. Bernice had just looked out the window and saw that it was raining. She said out loud: “Oh my, it is raining. I guess I am going to get wet and melt.” I turned to her and in front of a large group of people asked “Are you a witch?” My mom reprimanded me for asking the question and I was very confused. Later I realized what had happened. I had just finished watching the Wizard of Oz earlier in the day where the witch melts when she is hit by water. My grandmother’s friend was thinking of a saying along the lines “Science has proved that sugar melts in water, so please don't walk in the rain, otherwise I may lose a sweet friend like u!!! This was probably my first lesson in the differences between ages and the importance of clarity.

5. Faith
Apologists can miss the point of believing by embracing “the faith” as a set of propositions or even as a mere philosophy of life. We have already seen that genuine faith entails believing on the authority of God who reveals rather than on the strength of our arguments for belief. Although arguments may lead to motives of credibility, they are not themselves what we believe or even, ultimately, why we believe. When an argument lead s us to conclude that a particular dogma of the faith, rests on God’s authority, not the force of the argument. We are not, then, believing a set of conclusions no matter how cogently argued. We are saying yes to God and to what he has revealed.

There are many things that I do not always understand about why Catholics do what they do. I accept it though as a matter of faith because I believe that the Church is the body of Christ and the pope is the head of the Church and Jesus will not let the pope error in areas of faith and morals.

I know that as an individual, there are certain things that I like and other things I do not like for example cooked spinach. I would personally be offended if someone tried to force me to eat cooked spinach. If I have preferences and dislike, I think it is safe to assume that God has preferences and dislikes. I believe that He reveals so of those likes and dislikes in Scripture. For example we see that God dislikes sin greatly.

One thing, I will never be able to explain is why the Church allows lay people to distribute the Eucharist but then instructs us that only the priest or deacon can purify (clean) the sacred vessels. Even though I do not understand this rule I follow it anyway because I figure there must be a reason that I just do not understand. God is smarter than I. I would never chosen the twelve apostles because I would have chosen people who were smarter, more popular, etc. but in the end I have to admit that Jesus chose the right people because His Church reaches all the corners of the world.

I want to follow God’s will even when I do not understand it. This is faith to me.