Catholic Evangelism

Many years ago, my old diocesan bishop, James Mote of happy memory, summoned the clergy of the part of his diocese in which I served together for a meeting about Evangelism. I went with some interest, curious to learn if he’d uncovered some secrets to a topic not normally associated with Anglicanism.

He introduced us to a very enthusiastic man, a young Roman Catholic deacon, who’d just returned from an “Evangelism Mission” to Haiti. The Mission had been conducted by members of some Pentecostal denomination. The logistics were simple: people paired off into “mission teams” and went door to door, giving a “personal witness” of their faith in Christ and inviting their hearers to attend a “Praise and Healing Service” conducted each night of the mission. The young man breathlessly told of the large numbers of people saved every day. Bishop Mote then thanked him and told us we should “Go, and do likewise.”

I listened to the account with an increasing unease. After we were dismissed for the day (of what was to be a two-day ordeal), the bishop approached me.
“Father, I watched you through the presentation today and you looked unhappy at what you heard. What’s the problem?”

“I can’t see what any of what we heard applies to us. The Church’s teaching can’t be wrapped up by saying ‘Jesus is my personal Savior.’ We don’t tote up ‘souls saved’ and post them on the church board out front like how many McDonalds’ hamburgers have been served. I didn’t hear anything Anglicans can use from what we heard.”

Those of you who knew Bishop Mote know how he responds to that sort of thing. He bristled and said, “Well, do you have any suggestions? What sort of evangelism would be acceptable to you?”

I smothered my irritated reply and quoted Cicero: “I may not be able to say what’s right, but I can say this is not it.”He wasn’t amused and shot back, “Think about it tonight and tell me your great ideas about evangelism tomorrow.”

I knew as I drove home I wouldn’t have anything to say to him tomorrow. I’d never thought much about evangelism. But the burr was under the saddle.

That night, more to forget my troubles than to solve my problems, I spent a few hours reading. At the time I was reading two books—Margaret Deansley’s A History of the Medieval Church and a biography of Pope St Gregory the Great. I took my consolation from my present unhappinesses by retreating to the seventh century.
But as I read, an idea began to percolate. Deansley was discussing St Gregory the Great and the great missionary efforts undertaken under his direction for the conversion of Europe. One of Gregory’s greatest successes was the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons in England. Hmm. How did he do that? I picked up the biography of St Gregory, turned to the index and noted the chapter which discussed the Church’s missionary activities during his time as Pope.

Slowly, a picture began to form. The conversion of northern Europe hadn’t just happened. It was part of a plan—an orderly plan carried it in a disciplined way—which worked. There was, it seemed, an answer to Bishop Mote’s question, one that didn’t require Anglicans to put on Pentecostal clothing to convince people to come to High Mass. There is, in our own background, a plan for Catholic Evangelism.

I stayed up all night and wrote a proposal. It worked. Next week, I’ll tell, Paul Harvey-like, “the rest of the story.”