Plugging Along in the New Evangelization

This was originally written for Ignitum Today and published April 23, 2013.

I haven’t been an adult that long – graduated college two years ago, married less than one year ago – but I’m already sick of it. When I was a kid, I thought it would be really cool to be an adult, because I could be in charge. Mom couldn’t make me clean my room, and I could do whatever I wanted. I’m finding, though, that adulthood is often boring.

Dishes, for example, never stop. Just this evening, I washed them all – a pretty big task this time, as we’re recovering from hosting several guests this weekend and I didn’t want to wash when we had company. But I washed them all this evening, and they were done,once and for all! Immediately my husband finished his post-dinner cereal and set the empty bowl in the sink.

There is no such thing, I’m finding, as once and for all. You just gotta keep plugging along.

It’s similarly frustrating being Catholic. Every time Catholics make the news – Benedict XVI’s resignation, Francis’s election, marriage-life-family-abortion issues in American politics – we hear the same old, same old. Maybe they’ll let women be priests. Maybe they’ll realize how ridiculous the ban on contraception is. Ha ha ha, priests and little boys, ha ha ha.

I’m sick of it. We’re all sick of it. We can go on and on about the true dignity of women, the beauty of marital love, and the exaggeration of the pedophilia problem (not to mention the pedophilia problem in American public schools), but nobody seems to listen. I want to take a megaphone and yell to the whole country: Stop listening to the New York Times! Every single article mentioning Catholicism is evidence that the reporters aren’t doing their homework, and that the editors are willing to hire these reporters and keep them on. It’s so annoying.

Usually I resort to Facebook venting, but even if I had that megaphone, what good would it do? Would people really reconsider? I bet they would – I bet that blaring, obnoxious voice would force them to realize that Catholicism is the one true faith and they should all live lives of patience, understanding, forgiveness, mercy, and sacrificial love. Clearly it’s working for me.

More likely, I’d wake their babies and brand myself yet another religious nutcase.

The devil likes to tempt us with failure. In my Old English literature class in college, we read about St. Guthlac, a hermit who lived in the woods, fasting and praying and trusting in God’s mercy. The devil came to him and told him that no matter how much he fasted and how much he prayed, he would never be good enough to get to heaven. Guthlac’s (abridged) response was, “You know what? You’re right. I will never be good enough to get to heaven.” Then he fasted and prayed, continuing to trust in God’s mercy.

Those of us who are frustrated with the ignorance of American culture would do well to employ Guthlac’s “concede and sanctify” approach. “You know what? You’re right. The New York Times will never present the Catholic Church accurately. Comedians and commenters will continue to make stupid jokes about priests and little boys. The United States isn’t going to become a place of moral decency tomorrow.” Concede the point.

Then keep plugging along. Do your Catholic thing. Love your spouse and kids. Smile at the grocery store cashier. Go to Mass. Give to the poor. Bring meals to new moms. The goal isn’t to make everyone Catholic whether they like it or not, any more than Guthlac’s goal was to be good enough for heaven. That goal makes about as much sense as finishing the dishes once and for all. You can’t do it. It doesn’t work. Stop trying that, and refocus.

I’m better off washing dishes with a goal like “it should look like civilized people live here.” Guthlac is better off praying and fasting out of love for Christ. We New Evangelizers would do well to forget about converting the world in one fell swoop. Instead, let’s love our neighbor, remembering that love is patient and not easily angered. Let’s do good to those who hurt us, and respond to rude comments with courtesy.

Let’s keep up our Facebook posts, our research, our writing, our teaching, our conversations. Let’s keep up our evangelization. But let’s stay focused on Christ, patience, mercy, and self-giving love. Saying thesame old things over and over can get boring, especially when we don’t see the world converting and we’d rather make snarky comments.

NFP is very effective. Love is about commitment and willingness to sacrifice. We don’t worship Mary. Yes, I feel safe around all the priests I know. Children’s lives ought to be defended. There is a connection between sexual activity and pregnancy. No, we don’t hate women, or homosexuals. Motherhood is beautiful. Yes, we’ve heard of Gnosticism.

Let’s keep plugging along.