For years I ran the day to day operations of a large campus ministry staff of over 50 people. At the time, we were widely considered one of the best examples of campus ministry in the world and had huge metrics, by any measure you could make. Yet, we knew that our past successes were no gaurantee of future ones. So, during one staff meeting I asked a “what if” question that changed how we thought about the future of the ministry. I asked them, “what would we do differently if we stopped making the assumption that just because students are involved, that they are disciples of Jesus.”

Our future changed after we began to wrestle with the answer to that question.

The answer came from all corners of the room and everyone was in agreement, which was as rare as a pink rhino walking in the room. We agreed that we would start to be more bold in evangelizing those who came to Mass. That we needed to proclaim the kerygma to our parishioners and invite a response. That our future would only be fruitful if we had a more outward facing missionary orientation. In other words, we started to work on making disciples of people, without assuming they were already following Jesus, and then formed them for mission. This model of evangelization and discipleship started by asking “what if”. I think there are several other “what if” questions that parishes need to start to think about and answer.

5 “What Ifs” That Can Renew The Catholic Church!

1 - What If Catholics boldly proclaimed the fullness of Catholic teaching, yet did so out of charity and not a desire to win an argument? If Catholic doctrine is true, then our Catholic doctrines are not a problem for us to fix or something we ought to avoid. Rather, they are the solution to our world’s problems. The issue then is not what we say, but when and how we say it. A modern person who doesn’t have a relationship with Jesus and doesn’t believe in the Catholic Church will most likely believe the Church’s teaching on sexuality are a crazy religious burden imposed by others. So, the focus in such cases should be on helping someone first come to love Jesus, then love Jesus’ Church, and then after that conform their sexuality to the teaching of our God. Until then, we will probably struggle to help someone understand where we are coming from.

This isn’t to say that the natural law isn’t convincing, that we cannot have discussions about difficult topics, or that we should not offer a reason for our belief. Rather, we ought to try to understand how our doctrines and teachings will sound to hearts that have not been converted to Jesus. Thus, we need to be lovingly savvy in how we evangelize.

2 - What if Catholic leaders had fewer political statements, marketing materials, advertisements, etc - and more public witness, times of prayer outside abortion clinics, service to the poor, active public evangelizing, intentional investment of ourselves into disciples to form them for mission, etc? The culture is no longer listening to Catholics, but watching us to see if we really believe. They are more convinced by a life that is lived in a radical way, than a statement about a new law in DC.

Our Bishops have little to no moral credibility left (in the eyes of the culture), due to the scandals that have rocked the church. Therefore, the statements and marketing campaigns are wasted dollars that mostly fall on deaf ears. This is not to say that we always fail to evangelize or catechize through those things. But that they have little fruit, relative to the effort and money put into them. What if we had fewer public marketing campaigns and statements? What if our leaders were seen in soup kitchens and prayer meetings more often? I believe it would mean more to others than any marketing would. I believe that is how we can win back moral credibility and witness to the truth and goodness of Jesus.

3 - What if we stopped playing the victims and complaining all the time? How do you respond when you hear folks complaining too frequently? How do you respond to people who keep a positive outlook on life most of the time? Too often we Catholics are seen complaining about how the culture has deteriorated, we are persecuted by people who want to impose policies on us, and in other negative ways (I am guilty of these things myself). Yes, these things (and more) are happening, but we have it easy compared to many in other times and places.

Real persecution is happening in Africa, the Middle East, North Korea, China, etc. There are Catholics being jailed, persecuted, and killed. We need to save our complaining and campaigning for them. The Church Fathers were hunted down and martyred. We are not. If we want to win the heart and soul of our culture, then it will be done as others have done it previously. It isn’t in complaining about the government, businesses, or lax morals. It is done in the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. It is by being saints and evangelists. There is no other answer. We need to focus on what we are for (Jesus, mercy, faith, service, etc), not the things we are against. Do we sometimes have to talk of sin, death, morality, etc? Of course. But, it isn’t what we are about.

4 - What if we stopped all the public bickering and loved one another? Jesus said, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” -John 13:35 Pretty clear statement of what will win over others. As someone who gets upset when a public Catholic does something stupid, I have also learned that if I publicly point out their stupidity and my disagreement, it generally doesn’t help them or the situation. Now, one of the spiritual works of mercy is to admonish the sinner, but Jesus puts it best. He said,

‘If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven’” -Matt 18:15-18.

Notice that he never says to skip right on over to Twitter and post your discontent. Also notice that this is a “brother”. Admonishing others should be done out of relationship and love. Love seeks out the good of the other. Social media rarely helps us love when we are admonishing others. Publice bickering rarely attracts non-believers to Jesus. So...why are we still doing it?

5 - What if we stopped assuming that because folks are “involved” that they are disciples? We are right back where we started with this post. What would happen in your own life? How would you operate differently? What about your family? What about your parish?

What if we stopped filling in the blanks of the stories of those around us and really started to ask deep questions and listen attentively? What if the only assumption we made was that we can't assume anything about someone? What if we invested deeply in others and started to really learn where they are, what they need, and how we might assist them in growing closer to God? We won’t evangelize others if we make the assumption that they don’t need to be evangelized. That is a fatal flaw and might have eternal consequences.
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What if?