Along with 18 other students, from our Archdoicese, I graduated from AST (Atlantic School of Theology) with a Diploma in the New Evangelism. As a way of reflecting on the course material I’m reminded of a scripture reference that my Grandmother had penned inside my New Testament, “In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength” (Isaiah 30:15).
Quietness is the posture of listening, and we listened to and analyzed the standard critiques of our Christian faith; that religion has been the major cause of violence in the world, that a belief in God is just an example of “wish fulfillment” and that faith in Christ is just a remnant of a pre-scientific mindset. We then moved on to the newest critique on the block, that there is no ‘universal’ truth, just a spectrum of culturally conditioned ‘truths’ and that any truth claims by catholic (catholic meaning universal) Christianity are, by definition, arrogant and intolerant. But does this secular ‘spin’ have last word? Using Shakespeare, “Me thinks that they (Secularism) doth protest too much!” Does secularism have pathologies that it is trying to hide?
Hebrews 4:12 says, “…the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of …. the joints and marrow” Using the theological and philosophical resources of the Church we did divide asunder the joints and marrow of these critiques of our faith so that we are now better able to, as St Peter suggests, “be always ready to respond to every person that asks you, a reason for the hope that is within you, with all gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15)
The word confidence comes from ‘con’(with) and ‘fido’(trust). As graduates we now have greater confidence in our individual decisions to follow Christ and greater trust the in the arsenal that the Church provides us to help us “fight the good fight” (1 Timothy 6:12)
The Catholic dictionary defines evangelism as bringing the Good News of Jesus to a person so that they may come to have an interior conversion to Christ and his Church. If that person happens to find themselves enclosed in some intellectual thicket, the Holy Spirit may use our confidence and strength in wielding the sword of the word to underbrush things a bit so that they have a better chance of catching a glimpse of Golgotha.
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