Lausanne World Pulse – Perspectives Articles – Roman Catholics in Mission: An Update

By Mario Cappello

A few years ago, a term such as “evangelisation” would have been unusual in a conversation about the Catholic Church’s sense of mission and purpose. Since Vatican II, however, the impetus of renewal has introduced the term into the very heart of the Church’s discussions of itself and its mission.

The lack of readiness of Catholics to evangelise is not simply a cultural phenomenon. The answer to this issue can be partly given by understanding the reason and motivation behind those who fervently evangelise: it is the appreciation for what Jesus has done for them, the realisation of the eternal consequences, the clarity of the gospel message and a personal love for Jesus as Lord, saviour and friend.

The elements that underpin the successful and enthusiastic evangelism by Evangelicals are the very elements that are often missing in the life of the average Catholic. Consequently, there is a notable lack of evangelisation among Catholics. This lack of evangelisation needs to be treated as a consequence rather than a cause. Professor Peter Kreeft, the Catholic philosopher,¹ comments that, “Most Catholics in America simply do not know how to get to heaven, how to be saved. Most Catholic students do not even mention Jesus Christ when they answer the question of how they expect to get to heaven. They think they’ll get in if they are good enough. This means quite simply that the single most fundamental lesson of the entire Christian religion, the most important thing anyone can ever know on earth, they don’t know…And this is not simply a lesson it would be nice for us to learn; it’s a lesson absolutely necessary for us to learn. Eternity is at stake.” 

When Pope John Paul II was speaking to a group of American bishops,² he stressed that, “Sometimes even Catholics have lost or have never had the chance to experience Christ personally; not Christ as a mere ‘paradigm’ or ‘value,’ but the living Lord: ‘the way, and the truth and the life’” (John 14:6).

Cardinal Godfried Danneels of Belgium, in commenting on the inroads of the New Age movement among Catholics, pointed out how an imbalanced emphasis on certain aspects of the Church, rather than on the personal encounter with Christ, has made Catholics vulnerable to such deception.³

Throughout the centuries, the Holy Spirit has raised several movements and associations of lay people within the Catholic Church to foster evangelisation, holiness and acts of mercy. This work of the Holy Spirit is evident through the second Vatican Council which gave birth to a wave of new movements and associations of lay people dedicated to the Great Commission.

Nowadays it is impossible to speak of new evangelisation without referring to ecclesial movements. During the unforgettable meeting of the ecclesial movements with the late John Paul II on 30 May 1998, the Pope referred to the movements and ecclesial communities as “a response, given by the Holy Spirit, to this critical challenge at the end of the millennium.” During this unprecedented event that fell on Pentecost 1998, the Pope drew the lay movements to the heart of the Church and launched them into the world with the commission to discover, know and love Jesus and make him known to all peoples. The powerful evangelising potential of movements was discovered by John Paul II as Archbishop of Krakow. He not only encouraged them, but sustained and promoted them in the Church. At the same time he was demanding and expected them to aim high. 

When referring to this phenomenon of lay movements, Pope John Paul II defined this move of God as a “hope for the Church and all humankind.” The Pope saw in these lay movements the fruit of a springtime for the Church—a work of the Spirit that gives new life to the Church in a world that is increasingly secularised.

Mario Cappello is founder and chairman of the Institute for World Evangelisation—ICPE Mission, recognised by the Vatican as an “International Association of Christ’s Faithful with Pontifical Right.”