The data doesn’t lie. In what they personally believe about salvation, most Catholics are closer to Universalists than they are to Catholic doctrine – that is they believe that being a “good" person will get you to heaven. Catholics aren’t alone. Many modern Christians believe in what could at least be described as a quasi-universalism, which is that the default setting of our souls is that most people are “saved”. According to Pew data, from 2008 - Catholics are some of the least likely to believe in Hell, Jesus as necessary for salvation, etc. If this is the case, then multiple questions arise:

• Why evangelize?
• Why seek to grow in holiness?
• Why decide to intentionally follow Jesus, etc?
• If “good” people are going to heaven anyway, why would you evangelize and seek conversion?
• If all religions are the same, why would you follow Jesus, which requires so much of us?

I believe there is a clear correlation between those who believe in universalism and those who don’t evangelize.

Recently, in a conversation with my teenage son, I told him my greatest desire in life is to see my family and friends go to heaven. I went on to tell him that this is the reason I talk about Jesus, evangelize others, share my faith, reach out in friendship, etc. I pray for a long list of folks every day. Some are far away from God and I pray for their salvation. I do this because I love them and to love them is to will their good. What could be better for those I love than to go to heaven?

It all goes together:

• I believe Heaven and Hell are real.
• I believe salvation is by God’s grace.
• I believe we have to accept Jesus as our savior (in faith and love), repent of our sins, believe, and be baptized.
• I believe that Jesus is the ONLY way to heaven.

Because of these beliefs, I evangelize.

But, for the Catholic who would say that being a “good person” is enough to gain heaven, there are few (if any) reasons to evangelize. Unfortunately, for many, this has grown from this false understanding of Christian theology/history & the Biblical understanding of salvation. If one holds to a universalist theology, they have separated themselves from an orthodox and biblical understanding of salvation and grace. So, it is a VERY important issue. Not only will they fail to evangelize, but they are endangering their own souls with the lies they hold to.

Yet, this isn’t the first time such a false understanding of salvation has come up in the history of the Church.  A heresy called Pelagianism really kicked it all off. Pelagius was a British monk who taught that man can obtain salvation through our own free works and choices. In other words, it is a denial that God’s grace is necessary and that we can work our way to heaven. In many ways, our modern culture is really a modern form of Pelagianism, and this mentality has once again seeped into the Church. Pelagius also denied original sin and it’s consequences. His teachings were strongly opposed by St. Augustine and other Bishops – who clearly taught that he was wrong about almost everything in regards to salvation, grace, and free will.

Several recent Vatican documents have warned against a neo-pelagianism. Here is one snip of one doc.

“A new form of Pelagianism is spreading in our days, one in which the individual, understood to be radically autonomous, presumes to save oneself, without recognizing that, at the deepest level of being, he or she derives from God and from others. According to this way of thinking, salvation depends on the strength of the individual or on purely human structures, which are incapable of welcoming the newness of the Spirit of God.”

There are many modern errors and every Catholic evangelist needs to know the clear truth about salvation, grace, and our part in it all.

1 – We are saved by grace alone! We cannot earn our salvation or work our way into heaven!
The Council of Trent states: “We are said to be justified by grace because nothing that precedes justification, whether faith or works, merits the grace of justification. For ‘if it is by grace, it is no longer by works; otherwise,’ as the apostle says, ‘grace is no more grace’ [Rom. 11:6]” (Decree on Justification 8).

2 – Faith is a grace (free gift) of God to humans.
“But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God— not because of works, lest any man should boast.” -Eph 2:4-9

“Faith is a gift of God, a supernatural virtue infused by him” -CCC 153

3 – Faith is necessary for salvation.
“Without faith it is impossible to please him. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” -Heb 11:6

"Believing in Jesus Christ and in the One who sent him for our salvation is necessary for obtaining that salvation." -CCC 161

4 – Faith always starts with God, but must also be chosen by each individual, in order to save us. Once we are initially justified (by God’s grace), we are then given the grace to live out our faith and do good works.
“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” -Eph 2:10

“By faith, man completely submits his intellect and his will to God. With his whole being man gives his assent to God the revealer. Sacred Scripture calls this human response to God, the author of revelation, “the obedience of faith”” -CCC 143

5 – A saving faith, must be a faith which is lived out and not just an intellectual assent to the truths of Jesus. Thus, a justified person is one in which their works reveal the inner life of grace and faith.
“So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.” -James 2:17

“Regarding the debate about faith and works: It’s like asking which blade in a pair of scissors is most important.” -CS Lewis

6 – The Catholic Church rejects the belief of “faith alone” IF faith is not one that is lived out. Even most Evangelical Protestants would agree that a saving faith is one which must be demonstrated by works, though the works do not justify anyone.
“What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,” but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it? So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead. Indeed someone might say, “You have faith and I have works.” Demonstrate your faith to me without works, and I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works.” -James 2:14-18

7 – We can never do be “good” enough to save ourselves! Apart from grace and faith we cannot be saved and go to heaven!
“Take care, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.” -Heb 3:12

“If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” -Rom 10:9

“When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But then what return did you get from the things of which you are now ashamed? The end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the return you get is sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” -Rom 6:20-23

“Believing in Jesus Christ and in the One who sent him for our salvation is necessary for obtaining that salvation” -CCC 161

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Since we cannot earn our way to heaven or be good enough to gain salvation on our own – we need to speak the words of eternal life to those who are not believers! We need to evangelize! We need to proclaim Good News of salvation! How could we keep such Good News to ourselves? If we really believe that salvation comes through Jesus Christ and faith and love of Him, if we really believe Heaven exists and the grace of God, through faith, is the way to enter heaven, then why would we ever withhold such a truth from anyone? Holding to a universalism kills our impetus to evangelize. This is the #1 reason Catholics don’t evangelize...which means most Catholics needs to be evangelized with the truth of the Gospel themselves!

This is where we get to the heart of the matter. Most Catholics in the USA have not been converted to the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. They have believed in a false Gospel where they are able to save themselves by being "good" enough. We need to evangelize through a Gospel of grace. One that is true and orthodox.

Only then can we start to build a culture where average Catholics evangelize the world.

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"Above all, you can be evangelizers, and no one can take your place, where уоu study, and in your work and your free time. So many of those of your own age do not know Christ, or do not know Him well enough. So you cannot remain silent and indifferent! You must have the courage to speak about Christ, to bear witness to your faith through a life-style inspired by the Gospel. St Paul wrote: "Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel!" (1Cor 9:16). The harvest is great indeed for evangelization and so many workers are needed. Christ trusts you and counts on your collaboration."
-Saint Pope John Paul II