 November
2002
"Defending the Faith" and Catholic
Evangelization
Talk about "defending the
faith" makes me uneasy. Perhaps it is because of my own hesitation to
stand up for what I believe. Or perhaps it is because I sense in that
phrase an approach that goes against my grasp
of the Gospel message. Perhaps it is a little bit of each! I sat down with
some of our official documents this month and tried to piece together the
role of "defending the faith" in Catholic evangelization. What I
found certainly helped me -- perhaps you have some of the same questions
that I did.
A two-fold task
The Catechism of the
Catholic Church refers to "defending the faith" at least
four times (CCC 250, 464, 1285,1303). In the first two instances it refers
to the early Church's inner conflicts with heresy as the context. In the
latter two, it quotes Article 11 of Lumen Gentium, The Dogmatic
Constitution on the Church, describing the responsibility of all who
are baptized and confirmed in the Church:
...and the Holy Spirit
endows them with special strength so that they are more strictly obliged
to spread and defend their faith, both by word and deed, as true witnesses
of Christ. (Lumen Gentium 11)
This citation clearly couples the
task of defending the faith with that of "spreading the faith".
It marks these two tasks as ways of being a "true witness" to
Christ. Article 1303 adds that the grace of the sacraments empowers us
to "confess the name of Christ boldly, and never to be ashamed
of the Cross." These passages clearly see both spreading and defending the
faith as laudable and necessary.
Evangelization first...
Another term used today to
describe this task of defending the faith is apologetics. I have
heard people speak about evangelization, catechesis, and apologetics
in practically the same breath, as if they were
synonymous. In fact, they express quite different realities. A
quick look at the terms might be helpful:
Our first and primary task is
to evangelize. Simply stated, it is about "proclaiming Jesus
Christ in order to lead others to faith in him." (Catechism of the
Catholic Church 424) Effective proclamation of the Gospel means
sharing our personal story of faith, and how Jesus Christ has become Good
News to us. Obviously, the minute we begin to share the Catholic Christian
story, its listeners will begin to ask questions, and seek explanations.
We need to know our faith in order to help others to make sense of it.
This is where catechesis or apologetics
come in.
Catechesis is
instruction in the life and doctrines of the Church. It is a systematic
teaching that leads its hearers into the fullness of life as Christian
disciples (See Catechism of the Catholic Church, 4, 5). Catechesis
presumes that its hearers have faith, or at least the initial stirrings of
it.
Apologetics is concerned with explaining the rational basis for faith. The major
difference from catechesis is that apologetics presumes its hearers do not
share our faith. In this case, Catholic teachings need to be rationally
defended.
Witnesses to the Good News
Working through these
distinctions clarifies a few points for me:
The very first thing that we
share with others is a gift of the heart. We share the story of how
Jesus Christ has changed our lives, and what being a disciple of Christ
means to us personally. This pivotal part of evangelization doesn't
require us to be rocket scientists - just believers. This is the primary
mode of evangelization.
A secondary moment of
evangelization is a matter of the head. It is about helping others
understand what we are about. I believe that, more times than not, we
encounter people who have earnest questions about what Catholics believe.
More times than not, they approach us with respect and an open mind. Often
they share many of our core beliefs. In such cases, the catechesis
we provide is something entirely positive and inspirational.
In addition to this, there are
times when people who do not share our faith confront us, perhaps with
varying levels of antagonism. This requires us to graciously respond, to
explain and perhaps even defend our faith. Apologetics comes into
play here.
Both of these "head"
moments demand that Catholics have knowledge of their faith, in order to
effectively share its riches with others. This underlines the importance
of ongoing formation in faith for all ages. Of course, describing
them as "head" moments is an oversimplification: We do not
simply stop with the intellect, but strive to move the whole person to
Christian discipleship.
Defending Faith: A moment
in the process
I believe that there are
clearly times and places today where we need to present a rational basis
for faith. At times we need to explain how faith is a reasonable choice in
a world dominated by the so-called "objective truths" of
science. We need to respond if others criticize our practices and
teachings due to misrepresentation or misunderstanding. There may well be times when we need to take a defensive stance. However,
more often than not, we can frame our response to questions or
objections in a positive manner.
Evangelization is primarily
about relationships, about responding as Jesus would to family,
friends, strangers. By all means, let us grow in
knowledge of the remarkable treasures of our faith. Let us pray, study,
and practice our faith. However, as we muster our courage to reach out to
others with the Gospel message, let us do so with utmost humility and
respect. Let us pray for the wisdom to recognize God in the face of the
stranger, the non-believer, the fellow Christian. And let us also listen as God
speaks to us...through them.
Chris Weber
Director,
Catholic Education Ministries of Central Maryland
301-447-3707
Copyright © 2002 by the Catholic Education
Ministries Center of Central Maryland, Emmitsburg, MD 21727. All rights reserved.
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