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How to Proclaim and Defend the Entire Catholic Faith
"...this book can be transformed from a silent instrument, like a valuable violin resting on a velvet cloth, into an instrument that sounds and rouses hearts." Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa 1st Advent Sermon to the Papal Household
So maybe you're one of those Catholics hipsters - hip young adult devoutly committed to Orthodoxy, sworn ally to the Pope, defender of Mother Church, reader of Chesterton and Percy, drinker of beer and wielder of apologetics.
Maybe you're not.
Either way, if you want to help spread the love of Christ, and fulfill Christ's not-so-optional Great Commission for all disciples (yes you too) then you have to spread the faith.
What faith?
What parts of the faith?
THE ENTIRE CATHOLIC FAITH.
Yes that's right. And I mean Catholic as in the deposit of faith as guarded and upheld by the Catholic Church in Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition, and the Magisterium.Right now there is a vast misunderstanding in our society, and even among some well-intentioned or self-professed Catholics, about what the Church actually teaches.
"Someone, somewhere in the Church founded by Christ must be in a position to tell the faithful, "this is true, and that is false;" or "this is morally good, and that is morally bad." Otherwise, the very existence of Christianity is in danger and the survival of the Catholic Church in any given country or locality is in jeopardy.
In many dioceses of America, attendance at Sunday Mass is down to some twenty-five percent of the professed Catholics in a diocese. Some Church officials are scrambling for a solution and recommending the most bizarre solutions. It never seems to dawn on these "experts" that the heart of the problem is the massive uncertainty in millions of Catholic minds about what is unchangeable doctrine in faith and moral principles." Fr. John Hardon
If you are striving to be a Catholic and defend the faith, then you must speak from the heart of the Church. You must be in a confident ability to charitably inform, or even sometimes correct, misunderstandings about the Catholic faith.
I mean the entire faith because the Catholic faith is not one long dainty necklace with doctrines and dogmas and pretty beliefs hanging separately and disjointed from one another.No, the faith is always entire and whole because the faith is unified and organic.
Our faith is more like a wheel. The center of the wheel being Christ, and the doctrines and beliefs being the spokes all in relation and connected to Christ - "the love that never ends".
The whole concern of doctrine and its teaching must be directed to the love that never ends. Whether something is proposed for belief, for hope or for action, the love of our Lord must always be made accessible, so that anyone can see that all the works of perfect Christian virtue spring from love and have no other objective than to arrive at love. Catechism Paragraph 25
Hold the whining. Its not as hard as you would imagine.
"We now have a one-volume reservoir of Catholic truth and practice for everyone who wants to bring others to Christ, if they are not yet Christians; to solidify the faith of those who have been baptized; to defend Roman Catholicism in a world in which the Church has been abandoned by so many once-believing Catholics and is being betrayed even by some of her ecclesiastical leaders." Fr. John Hardon
That's right my beloved Papists, the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The Catechism is our one-stop shop for evangelization.
The Catechism might sound like a less-than-spectacular remedy for the slings and arrows of our time, but that's because of our preconceived notions, not because the Catechism is anything less than a powerhouse for evangelization.
"This Catechism is of historic importance. Depending on how seriously we take it, the future of the Catholic Church will be shaped accordingly." says Fr. Hardon. He explains that the course of the Catholic Church will depend on whether or not we see the Catechism as an act of God. "He is providing us with the opportunity of helping to make the twenty-first century the most glorious since the coming of Christ, but on one condition: that we capitalize on the gift He is giving us in the Catechism of the Catholic Church."
Fr. John Hardon, in his article "Understanding the Catechism of the Catholic Church", proposed five ways to use the catechism to help Christ evangelize the masses and spread the liberating and life giving faith who is Jesus Christ.
Here are Fr. John Hardon's five suggestions for using the Catechism:
KNOW TRUST ADAPT LIVE SHARE
Below each are explained in Fr. John Hardon's own words...
Know the Catechism.
Our most fundamental duty is to know the Catechism. How do you come to know anything? By reading, by discussing, by hearing it explained by competent persons.
Speed reading of the Catechism would be self-defeating. If anything, the Catechism should be not only read but prayerfully meditated. Spend some time set aside for reflecting, in God's presence, what the Catechism teaches through more than 500 pages of print.
How much time people waste in reading fiction, or worse. Is it too much for Christ to expect us to spend a few hours a week in reading, alone or with others, what promises to be the food that feeds the soul on revealed truth?
Trust the Catechism.
Already, critics have appeared who discredit the Catechism on both sides of the spectrum.
• Some criticize it for being outmoded and out of touch with the times.
• Others criticize it for giving in to Modernism and therefore discredit what the Vicar of Christ is offering the believing faithful for their spiritual sustenance in a world that is dying out of hunger for the truth.
Pay no attention to these critics. To distrust the Catechism is to play into the hand of the devil, who fears nothing more than security of doctrine among the followers of Christ.
Adapt the Catechism.
The Catechism is not simple reading. But neither is it sophisticated and out-of-touch with the vocabulary of the people. In any case, the Catechism contains all the essentials for Catholic faith, morality, and divine worship.
In using the Catechism to teach others, adjust the language to the mentality of those you are teaching. Adapt the ideas, without watering them down. Accommodate what the Catechism says, to the mental and spiritual level of those with whom you are sharing God's truth.
Live the Catechism.
This is no pious platitude. Teaching the true faith is unlike any other form of pedagogy.
The purpose of teaching the Catholic faith is to enable those you are teaching to practice the virtues which Christ expects of His followers. Very well, but how do you enable those you teach to practice what they have learned? You don't! Only Christ can give them the grace they need to practice what they believe. So how do they get the grace they need? From Christ, of course. But through you, their teachers.
What are we saying? We are saying that God uses holy people as channels of His grace to others. In the measure of our own union with Him, He will communicate to those we teach the light and strength they need to live the Christian faith. God uses humble people to give others the gift of humility. He uses chaste people as conduits of His grace of chastity; patient people to inspire patience; prayerful people to make others prayerful.
In a word, if we live the Catechism, we become instruments of divine faith to everyone whose life we touch. This, we may say, is the law of spiritual generation. Sanctity is reproductive; holiness is procreative.
Share the Catechism.
One final point should be made: On the last day we shall be judged on our practice of charity. How we hope that when Christ appears, He will say to us, "Come, blessed of my Father, and possess the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. I was hungry, and you gave me to eat; thirsty and you gave me to drink; naked and you clothed me, sick and in prison and you visited me."
What does this have to do with the Catechism of the Catholic Church? Everything! This masterpiece of sacred wisdom provides us with all the resources we need to meet the spiritual needs of America. But we must be convinced that these needs are desperate, and that we have at hand the means of saving the soul of our society.
PRAYER
"Lord Jesus, you have given us the Catechism of the Catholic Church to bring light to those who are walking in darkness and supernatural life to those who are sitting in the shadow of death. "Enlighten our minds with your revealed truth and inspire our hearts with your divine love — so that by our courageous witness to your Name here on earth we may bring countless souls with us to that heavenly Kingdom for which we were made. Amen."
**This is an exerpt from Fr. John Hardon's excellent article "Understanding the Catechism of the Catholic Church"
7 Ways to Engage in the New Evangelization [Video]
[youtube=http://youtu.be/-Indlp95eQc] If you ever heard someone use the phrase "New Evangelization" and wondered what that is and how you can get involved, this is one of the best hours you can spend learning all about it. It was a pleasure to be part of a discussion with three amazing witnesses for the New Evangelization.
Topics discussed include:
What is the New Evangelization? The Importance of Knowing Your Audience New Evangelization and New Media Blessed James Alberione, Patron Saint for the New Evangelization The New Evangelization and the Parish The New Evangelization and the Eucharist Personal Holiness How do you avoid being an isolated Catholic?
The Crew:
Check out these three Catholic bloggers and the great work they are doing in the New Evangelization!
Amanda Mortus: WorthyOfAgape.com Sr. Theresa Noble: PursuedByTruth.blogspot.com Ryan Eggenberger: EntreCatholic.com
Blessed James Alberione, Pray for Us!
Join Tonight! LIVE Webinar on the New Evangelization
Tonight at 8:00 pm EST
I'm pumped to be a part of a discussion on the New Evangelization to be broadcast live tonight. Join me as I'll be hanging out LIVE G+ style with some great Catholic bloggers and evangelists. We'll be discussing ways to engage in the New Evangelization and be able to take some questions and comments from YOU (if you decide to join us). Sign up here to join the conversation with us this Friday.
Meet the Crew:
First and foremost, Amanda is a woman after the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus. Amanda is also a Colorado native and can hardly imagine living anywhere else. She graduated from Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina in 2009 with a BA in Theology, as well as minors in Psychology and Philosophy. Amanda is a youth minister and loves leading teens in a journey towards Christ. Her blog can be found at worthy of Agape.
Sr. Theresa Noble is a novice, aka nun in training, with a religious congregation of sisters in the US. She left her job in California with eBay to follow God two years ago. She currently lives in a convent in Boston where she prays, evangelizes, bakes bread and blogs at Pursued by Truth.
Ryan is a young Catholic convert. He evangelizes by teaching people how to achieve their career, business, or entrepreneurial goals. Follow Ryan on twitter by clicking @RyanEggenberger or jump over to his blog at EntreCatholic.com to say hi!
And this guy.
We’re going to have a great time talking about the New Evangelization, and we want as many people as possible to join us for the event. Be sure to share it on Facebook, Twitter, and even Email folks who you think would enjoy the discussion!
Go to www.EntreCatholic.com/Hangout to sign-up. Share this link with your friends!
LIVE Webinar This Friday
This Friday Feb. 8th, 8:00 pm EST
Join me as I'll be hanging out LIVE G+ style with some great Catholic bloggers to talk about the New Evangelization. We'll be discussing ways to engage in the New Evangelization and be able to take some questions and comments from YOU (if you decide to join us). Sign up here to join the conversation with us this Friday.
Meet the Crew:
First and foremost, Amanda is a woman after the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus. Amanda is also a Colorado native and can hardly imagine living anywhere else. She graduated from Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina in 2009 with a BA in Theology, as well as minors in Psychology and Philosophy. Amanda is a youth minister and loves leading teens in a journey towards Christ. Her blog can be found at worthy of Agape.
Sr. Theresa Noble is a novice, aka nun in training, with a religious congregation of sisters in the US. She left her job in California with eBay to follow God two years ago. She currently lives in a convent in Boston where she prays, evangelizes, bakes bread and blogs at Pursued by Truth.Ryan is a young Catholic convert. He evangelizes by teaching people how to achieve their career, business, or entrepreneurial goals. Follow Ryan on twitter by clicking @RyanEggenberger or jump over to his blog at EntreCatholic.com to say hi!And this guy.
We’re going to have a great time talking about the New Evangelization, and we want as many people as possible to join us for the event. Be sure to share it on Facebook, Twitter, and even Email folks who you think would enjoy the discussion!
Go to www.EntreCatholic.com/Hangout to sign-up. Share this link with your friends!
Who are You Evangelizing?
The Church's deepest identity and reason for existence is to evangelize. (See Evangelii Nuntiandi par. 14) And Jesus commanded and commisioned all of us to "Go and make disciples of all nations". (Matt 28:19) But who are we called to evangelize? In the Church document "Mission of the Redeemer" (or Redemptoris Missio for you Latin lovers), Pope John Paul II points out three contexts in which the Church is called to evangelize.
According to Pope John Paul II, there are really only three types of people in the world:
1) Those who have never heard Christ or the Gospel. These people don't know about the Gospel, and therefore through no fault of their own they don't care about the Gospel. The missionary activity, or mission ad gentes of the Church is focused here.
2) Those who have heard the Gospel and are committed to Christian living and striving for holiness. These people know the Gospel and Christ and care about the Gospel and Christ. The pastoral activity of the Church is focused here.
3) Those who have heard about Christ and the Gospel to some extent, but have "lost a living sense of faith, or even no longer consider themselves members of the Church, and live a life far removed from Christ and his Gospel." The third context, as a kind of middle position between the previous two ends of the spectrum, consists of people who know the Gospel, or at least have come in contact with it to some extent. And, for some reason or another, they don't care about the Gospel they have been presented. They are the third generation Catholics in a postChristianity Europe and America whose parents only went to Mass on Christmas and Easter, and who become atheists or casual agnostics by the end of college. Or they are the children of ex-Catholics who are told that Catholics worship Mary and the Pope and don't believe the Bible.
What is required in this third case? "In this case what is needed is a 'new evangelization' or a 're-evangelization'". In this third case, a jarring from previously conceived notions is required. For this third case Christianity (or Catholicism) has been tried and found wanting, or so they think.
These activities of the Church's evangelization are related. "Each of them influences, stimulates and assists the others." (Redemptoris missio par. 34) But each context does require a different approach. Each type of person brings with them a different lens through which they see the Church and the Gospel and Christ. Some see Christ for the first time, others know Christ and need to better understand Him. Still others have rejected what they thought was Christ, or have intentionally rejected Christ whom they really did know. Each requires different sensitivities, approaches, and methods.
Whether we are Catholic writers or speakers or missionaries or Priests or Mothers or lawyers or businessmen, the question we should all be asking ourselves when we attempt to participate in the Church's call to evangelize is:
Who are we evangelizing?
Redemptoris missio Paragraph #33
The fact that there is a diversity of activities in the Church's one mission is not intrinsic to that mission, but arises from the variety of circumstances in which that mission is carried out. Looking at today's world from the viewppoint of evangelization, we can distinguish three situations.
First, there is the situation which the Church's missionary activity addresses: peoples, groups, and socio-cultural contexts in which Christ and his Gospel are not known, or which lack Christian communities sufficiently mature to be able to incarnate the faith in their own environment and proclaim it to other groups. This is mission ad gentes in the proper sense of the term.
Secondly, there are Christian communities with adequate and solid ecclesial structures. They are fervent in their faith and in Christian living. They bear witness to the Gospel in their surroundings and have a sense of commitment to the universal mission. In these communities the Church carries out her activity and pastoral care.
Thirdly, there is an intermediate situation, particularly in countries with ancient Christian roots, and occasionally in the younger Churches as well, where entire groups of the baptized have lost a living sense of the faith, or even no longer consider themselves members of the Church, and live a life far removed from Christ and his Gospel. In this case what is needed is a "new evangelization" or a "re-evangelization."
New Evangelization Must Be Cheese
The New Evangelization has been called many things, but cheesy is not one of them, and this is a shame. If the New Evangelization is to accomplish the task of re-evangelizing the cultures and communities of today, then the New Evangelization should be more like good cheese.
“In each inn the cheese was good; and in each inn it was different.”
G.K. Chesterton wrote some interesting things about cheese after a trip giving lectures around England. During his travels he lunched in several roadside inns across England that offered nothing but bread and cheese. He found in these cheeses a quality he describes as “the very soul of song.”
Chesterton saw in the cheeses two things:
1) Each cheese was local and therefore diverse, taking on the flavor of the surrounding culture.
The “noble” cheese of Wensleydale was a different happy expression of cheese than that of the cheese of Cheshire, or the cheese in Yorkshire, or the cheese in any of the inns. Chesterton believes that universal truths are best expressed through customs and civilizations when they are living, varying, and diverse. The cheese becomes exquisite because it communicates truth and beauty in a way that is in touch with reality and its local surroundings. The divine and universal idea of cheese takes on the human nature of the town and the people that labored to lovingly produce the cheese.
“Bad customs are universal and rigid, like modern militarism. Good customs are universal and varied, like native chivalry and self-defence… But a good civilization spreads over us freely like a tree, varying and yielding because it is alive. A bad civilization stands up and sticks out above us like an umbrella - artificial, mathematical in shape; not merely universal, but uniform.”
2) Each cheese was the object of a loving art, and therefore was very high quality.
"Now, it is just here that true poetic civilization differs from that paltry and mechanical civilization that holds us all in bondage." Chesterton noticed that industrial cheese found in a large city, much like soap that is mass produced and sent all around the world, did not have the same eclectic and local flavors of the cheese he encountered at the inns and was not very good either.
Not only did the cheeses of the city lack an exquisite taste, but the people that served the city cheese took no pride nor showed any reverence toward their cheese. Chesterton laments about a waiter that served him cheese on what was basically a cracker. After dining on the magnificent cheese of the inns served with what most likely was hearty breads, Chesterton was more than a little upset to get a bland cheese on a lifeless cracker.
“I addressed the waiter in warm and moving terms… I asked him if, when he said his prayers, he was so supercilious as to pray for his daily biscuits. He gave me generally to understand that he was only obeying a custom of Modern Society. I have therefore resolved to raise my voice, not against the waiter, but against Modern Society, for this huge and unparalleled modern wrong.”
Industrialized Ministry
For too long we have been searching for an answer to the task of evangelization that is more like a microwave dinner than well made cheese. We want to take it out of the box, plug it into the parish, let it run, and reap the rewards of a vibrant ministry. We want a one-size-fits-all answer to evangelization that requires little thinking, no volunteers, and little effort.
There is a place for these resources, and they are a gift to the Church, but they should not be used as crutches or be the primary thrust of a parish's evangelization efforts.
Good Old New Evangelization Cheese
1.) Evangelization should be local and therefore diverse, taking on the flavor of the surrounding culture.
Christ was one man, and yet he finds infinitely varied and true expressions in the lives of the Saints. From the poor St. Francis to the richer St. Thomas Moore. From the silent and anonymous Benedictines hidden from the world in monasteries, to the preaching Domincans.
People want to encounter a living and active faith, not one that is recorded on dvd's and mass produced somewhere in Spain and shipped all over the world. These resources are great to supplement a parish, but they should not be the sole expression of a living and evangelizing culture of a parish.
We need to make each of our Churches a Saint. Our parish community should become a unique expression of Jesus Christ lived out in a life-giving and profoundly beautiful way. Our individual parishes need to engage and transform the surrounding culture into something sacred, something worth attracting the attention of modern man who is so jaded by industrialized, commercialized, and mass produced ideas.
Where have all the local celebrations and popular devotions gone? Most parishes are named after a Saint, but that is as far as the Saint's influence goes. Where is the loving expression of unique devotion? We have lost our culture, we have begun to mass produce our cheese. Where is the St. Francis Parish making fools for Christ? Where is St. Joseph's Parish devoted to producing holy fathers? Where is St. Stephen's Parish celebrating martyrs all year long and lighting a fire of zeal in its parishoners who would rather be stoned than betray their Lord?
What happened to Corpus Christi processions at Corpus Christi parishes? Why doesn't the Church in the country become the greenhouse of holy farmers? Why doesn't the Church in the city produce another Mother Teresa? Do you have a lot of doctors and nurses in the area? Why not start traditions and devotions to St. Gianna?
How often do we address the unique needs and capacities of our community members before trying to figure out how to minister to them? Do we send out surveys asking what they desire to learn more about, or what questions or problems the parish as a whole are facing?
2.) Evangelization should be the object of a loving art, and therefore high quality.
If we have the boldness to believe that we are involved in the sacred and holy task of transmitting Christ to others, we need to really reevaluate how we are accomplishing this. Do not make bad cheese, and do not serve Christ up on a cracker.
We need to have a more profound and deep reverence for what it is we are doing when we attempt to evangelize. Jesus Christ deserves much more than a clip art presentation thrown together at the back of the social hall.
We need authentic and beautiful culture. Why not encourage local art at our parish? Why not devote time and energy into fostering local spirituality: a spirituality of the fields, of the hills, of the city, of the farmer, of the rich, of the poor, of the community in your specific area that is more than just a thrown together prayer service, but is the work of a loving art?
The methods and modes we use to evangelize should be crafted and perfected - the object of a loving art. The way we speak, write, and advertise should all be approached with a awed humility. We are announcing the Most High, we should remember that we share this task with angels.
Prudence and Zeal
I won’t shy away from saying these things, even though some will read this and think “Yes, we need banjos in Mass and a kid with a streamer to dance during Father’s homily, and clowns, lots of clowns!” I am not advocating for the type of unique expression that is a mutilation of the truths of the faith. Zeal for authenticity and vibrancy must not mean the sacrifice of orthodoxy and universality.
I will leave you with the cheesy words of the Church:
From the Conclusion of the recent Synod on the New Evangelization
No one person or group in the Church has exclusive right to the work of evangelization. It is the work of ecclesial communities as such, where one has access to all the means for encountering Jesus: the Word, the sacraments, fraternal communion, charitable service, mission.
In this perspective, the role of the parish emerges above all as the presence of the Church where men and women live, “the village fountain”, as John XXIII loved to call it, from which all can drink, finding in it the freshness of the Gospel. It cannot be abandoned, even though changes can require of it either to be made up of small Christian communities or to forge bonds of collaboration within larger pastoral contexts. We exhort our parishes to join the new forms of mission required by the new evangelization to the traditional pastoral care of God's people. These must also permeate the various important expressions of popular piety.
40. The obvious importance of the content of evangelization must not overshadow the importance of the ways and means. This question of "how to evangelize" is permanently relevant, because the methods of evangelizing vary according to the different circumstances of time, place and culture, and because they thereby present a certain challenge to our capacity for discovery and adaptation.
63. The question is undoubtedly a delicate one. Evangelization loses much of its force and effectiveness if it does not take into consideration the actual people to whom it is addresses, if it does not use their language, their signs and symbols, if it does not answer the questions they ask, and if it does not have an impact on their concrete life. But on the other hand, evangelization risks losing its power and disappearing altogether if one empties or adulterates its content under the pretext of translating it
+JMJ
[Interview] Arleen Spenceley Writes About Sex
Arleen Spenceley likes to talk about sex. And as a Catholic young adult who is also a staff writer for the Tampa Bay Times, she is very good at it.
I first came across Arleen's writing by way of a link to her blog, and the first thing I noticed was how disarmingly charming her writing is. She reels you in with a story and a laugh and is the farthest thing from preachy. But her work doesn't aim merely at making you laugh (which she does very well) but also at making you think.
Tampa is my home town, so when I found out that she writes for the Tampa Bay Times and is promoting chastity and the truth of Christ through the local news of my hometown, I was pumped to say the least - "You go Catholic writing girl you! Talk about that sex and how awesome chastity is!"
Arleen graciously agreed to answer some questions that have been on my mind ever since being exposed to her writing, and I think you will enjoy her answers. The Catholic Church needs more evangelists like Arleen who are in the world but not of the world spreading the message of the Gospel with charm, wit and joy.
How did you become a staff writer for the Tampa Bay Times and what about writing makes you most passionate?
Believe it or not, the short answer to part one of this question is fried chicken. Here's the long answer: In high school, I worked as a cashier at Popeyes Chicken (where we do good 'bayou'!). One afternoon, a customer came to the counter, and he looked totally familiar. I remembered while I took his order that he was a local paper's publisher, and recently, he had given a talk to my school newspaper's staff. I told him I was going to be a journalist. He told me he needed writers and gave me his card. That high school kids could write for a paper hadn't dawned on me 'til that day. I was so excited by the opportunity, so, I called him and left a voicemail. No response. So I sent an email. No response. I never did hear back. Bummed, I brought it up to my school newspaper's sponsor, who suggested I call an editor at the other local paper. So I did. A couple days letter, I met face to face with an editor at the Times. A few days after that, he gave me my first assignment as a Times correspondent. I wrote as a correspondent for the second half of my senior year of high school through the summer before I graduated with my bachelor's degree in journalism. In the spring of 2007, I applied for a staff position and after a short series of interviews, I joined the staff in July the same year.
In answer to part two of this question, while I am passionate about writing, I think I write because I'm passionate. And I love grammar.
Some of your articles published in the Tampa Bay Times include "Why I'm Still a Virgin," "Why I quit facebook, twitter and texting" and "It's time to reshape our beauty standards." For RELEVANTmagazine.com, you've written "What it's like to be Catholic in a Protestant world." You write a lot about sex, relationships and the drawbacks of a generation saturated by social media.
What has been your experience expressing such strong Catholic values in the Tampa Bay Times, and what kind of feedback do you receive when you write?
All the essays you've listed are actually among the ones I've loved writing most. While I also write feature stories, opinion is my preference. As a Roman Catholic Christian, I can't not infuse what I write with my faith and every time I do it, it's absolutely exhilirating. When I wake up on a Sunday and remember that well over 400,000 people are at their breakfast tables eating their waffles and reading about why I'm saving sex for marriage, I'm humbled and amazed and grateful for the privilege.
The feedback is always overwhelmingly positive. Especially when I write about sex (twice for the Times since 2009), I get a lot of notes and calls from people who are Christians - Catholic and Protestant - who are encouraged, or want to encourage me, or who are compelled to share their own stories with me. I've actually been moved to tears by some of it, like the lovely voicemail I got from a 90 year old man, who's been married for 70 years to his 90 year old wife. Both were virgins at their wedding. It's responses like his that make the bad feedback bearable (i.e., "You're a virgin because you're probably not a hot babe." and "Who gives a #&$! why you've never been laid?").
In your opinion, how is engaging local news media outlets a good way of engaging the culture and bringing a Catholic presence to mainstream media?
Depending on the publication, you're really handed an incredibly large platform on a figurative silver platter. I remember the day my first Times story appeared in print. While I drove to school that morning, I saw the Times wrapped in plastic at the ends of all the driveways. It was so surreal to know that I, some random person, got to tell a story to all these people I don't even know. While that story wasn't earth shattering (it was about an amateur country music club), I realized that whatever I wrote would be hand delivered to the culture. So when the opportunities began arise to write essays about my lifestyle (which is profoundly part of my faith in Jesus Christ as a Roman Catholic Christian), I couldn't imagine a better way to engage the culture and bring a Catholic presence to the mainstream media.
I'm wondering how many other good Catholic writers are doing what you do, and why there aren't more Catholic writers out there speaking up in secular newspapers. What's your take on this as someone who does it on a regular basis?
This is a really good question. I'm stumped! There are plenty of practicing Catholics and plenty of newspaper writers, but my guess is that "practicing Catholic who writes for a newspaper" is such a specific niche that we really are just that few and far between.
How can Catholics go about engaging their local news either online or in print?
So many ways! When your church or ministry hosts an event that's open to the public, send a press release about it to your local paper. If something's happening at church that might be a story, pitch the idea to a reporter. (And give us at least a couple weeks' notice.) Write letters to the editor (lots of papers will print them!) when an opportunity arises to explain or clarify what the church teaches. Leave comments on stories online that model the kind of life Christ leads us to live.
How can readers support good writers such as yourself who write for the newspapers they read?
Pray for us! Share what we write with your families and friends, your students, your ministries. Facebook, Google+ and tweet the heck out of our stories. And send us feedback. I can't speak for every writer, but I always appreciate knowing how what I write impacts the people who read it.
What is your advice to budding Catholic writers who are trying to develop their writing skills in order to engage the culture and take part in the New Evangelization?
If you can write, write more. The more you write, the better you'll get. Start a blog. Ask writer friends to proof-read and criticize your work. And read. Read stuff written by good writers. Sometimes, before I write, I pull up my paper's archives and read features by a couple colleagues who are a Pulitzer Prize nominee and winner, respectively. It inspires me, and gives me something to emulate. The better we write, the more likely readers will read what we write to the end. And when what we write is part of the New Evangelization, we absolutely want them to want to finish reading it. _________________________________________________________________________
So get to work! Support good writers in your local newspaper, start writing, and start engaging the local news and spreading the Gospel!
You can find Arleen and all her published writing at www.arleenspenceley.com where she also blogs regularly. And be sure to go support her by giving her a LIKE on her facebook page.
These are a few of my favorite pieces by Arleen:
- I'm not saving myself for marriage (I'm saving sex)
- Fifty Shades of Virginity
- Why I'm Still a Virgin
- Confessions of a Catholic Christian
- It's time to reshape our beauty standards
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