The Catholic Thing: Persecution, Evangelization, Dialogue by James Schall, S.J.
The Catholic website "The Catholic Thing" continues to provide a daily venue for thought and reflection by superb writers. Today, Fr. James Schall begins his article in this fashion : In the Catholic press, we find three recurring notions, though seldom considered together and distinguished. They are persecution, evangelization, and dialogue. The Church is of its nature “missionary.” That is, the “Go forth and teach all nations” is not just a pious exhortation. Looking at the world with eyes of cold realism, however, we can recognize that by far the greater part of the world, after two millennia, remains to be evangelized and converted by missionary activity. Evidently, tremendous obstacles stand in the way of peacefully and calmly presenting the case for Catholicism. However, we are supposed to “evangelize,” not “proselytize.” This latter word does not have a bad name in the dictionary. But it has become currently a big political sin. It implies using dubious methods to ac