Catholics: Why are there so few Catholic faithful sharing the Gospel?

Question

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I promise you that am NOT attacking, I am sincere and curious.

I have been reading the Catholic Catechism recently, and I must confess that it is much “better” then I imagined. It seems many Catholics simply don’t know much about the Bible, the Gospel, or even their own Catechism.

In any event, point number 3 of the CC says:
“Those who with God's help have welcomed Christ's call and freely responded to it are urged on by love of Christ to proclaim the Good News everywhere in the world...”

So, if Catholics (laity included) are urged to proclaim the “Good News” (i.e. Gospel) everywhere in the world, then why don’t I see this?

Sure, Catholic priests of old were often very evangelical and often martyrs. And there are, perhaps, FEW today. But, out of the entire Church (laity included), it seems less than 1% proclaim the Gospel…and around the same percentage of Catholics wouldn’t even be able to articulate the Gospel message!

Why is this?

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Answer 1

Awesome question!

I’m new to the Catholic faith (confirmed 2 years ago), and am constantly studying.

Yes, Catholics are called to evangelize. It is our God-given mission. When I first entered the Church, it was very disheartening to see that even among my own brethren there was such indifference and laziness of attitude about the Faith. I kept thinking, “Don’t you people see this?! Don’t you understand what you have?!”

The poor catechesis, the lack of excitement for the faith, it got me down a lot of the time. It was like a mountain that was impossible to overcome.

People have taken the faith for granted. It’s become something you “do” on Sunday, but doesn’t carry over into Monday thru Friday. They don’t know their faith, and worse, most don’t care to know. Very difficult for me, but I think I did find an answer.

It starts with me. I had to accept the fact that I can’t spend all that time worrying about what everyone else was or WASN’T doing. If the Christian call is to live the faith, if the Christian call is my call, then what was I doing to live that faith?

I found I had to concentrate on my own example, my own relationship. People will pay attention to what you do before what you say. I’ve learned one of the greatest ways to evangelize is by HOW I live my life and WHAT I do. I also had to get busy educating myself, learning the faith. How can I teach someone if I don’t know it myself? The simple fact is we will never know how many people are watching us. When they do see us, we have to ask ourselves, do they see Christ?

God bless.

Answer 2

We evangelize all over the place. You don't see it because you are looking for it in a Fundamentalist/Evangelical context.

I have to say first, though, that not everyone who sat in the pews with me in my former fundamentalist church went out and proclaimed the Good News even though we were strongly exhorted to do so -- and you know how strong those pulpit exhortations can be! -- less than 4% is a generous estimate.

In the same way, obviously not all Catholics do so, but I would put the estimate at about the same percentage. The ways in which Catholic evangelization is done are many, and some have been mentioned by other answerers here. The number of lay apostolates and movements with evangelism as their focus has steadily grown, and lately (within the last 15 years or so) our young people have had an awesome effect on evangelism -- they are really on fire for Christ!

You will certainly encounter Catholics who are not able to articulate their faith as well as the average fundamentalist. But even among those who do know their Gospel and have been well-catechized, you may not be aware of just how they are going about proclaiming the Good News -- but believe me, they are.

Answer 3

It depends on what you mean by "sharing the Gospel."

Sharing the Gospel is more than quoting Scripture or reading the King James Version to English as a second language learners.

The Church teaches that we must start at home, specifically our own family, when we evangelize. What good does it do to spend hours at the Church, or volunteer at the Bible Camp, when our own family is spiritually starved?

That being said, when was the last time you visited an elderly person in a convalescent home? When was the last time you volunteered to help at the cancer ward, or at the burn unit, in the local children's hospital. When was the last time you wrote a letter to a prisoner? When was the last time you took the time to listen to a troubled friend? When was the last time you called a distant relative? There are many ways we can share the Gospel. Believe me, the Catholic Church encourages and provides ample opportunity to share the Gospel.

Answer 4

Pastor Billy says: because you chose to ignore the ones that are.

Catholics outnumber the largest Protestant denomination in America 3:1 but I know for a fact that when Catholic evangelicals go out into the community many Protestants just close down. The bigots among Protestants even tend to classify Catholics as Mormons or Jeohvah Witnesses claiming Catholicism doesn't teach of Christ or his Church.
This misinformation among your own "fellowship" is what has caused you to believe there are no Catholics spreading the gospel.

If you want to continue in a false reality so be it, if you want to open up to all Christ has to offer, study first Christianity, study Catholicism.

I challenge you to spend time listening and reading the arguments of one former evangelical Protestant now Catholic
at the website below.

"be not afraid"

Answer 5

The reason is because although someone is Catholic, they may not really be into their faith. So then they don't learn more about it and they CAN'T preach it. It is very sad and I wish more people would care about their religion because it is wonderful.

But you do have to realize there are many, many Catholics who do go out and share the Good News. I am in a Catholic youth group that brings us close to Christ and helps us learn how to share the Good News more.

Some of us do share the Good News, although it is also true that most people share the news through actions and not words. Actions speak louder than words.

Answer 6

.There are more Catholics in the world than any other religion including Islam. This stands as a testament to the effectiveness of Catholic missionaries and the Gospel message itself.

The Church also teaches that it is of utmost importance for Catholic parents, like myself, concentrate on sharing the Gospel with family, particularly the children.

You have to consider the fact most Catholics are called to evangelize the family, while others are called to evangelize internationally,

Answer 7

Well, I was going to answer, "We're too busy living it to preach it," but that sounds snarkier than I mean it to.

There are tons of Catholics in the U.S. who are poorly catechized and don't know how to share the Gospel of Christ with others. But there are also a lot of people who do. One of my best friends, godmother to my kids, does an excellent job sharing the Gospel in both word and deed. She's amazing and I try to follow her example.

It's too bad Catholics like my friend are so few and far between.

Answer 8

First of all, NOT every servant of the Church takes a vow of poverty. That's only certain religious orders. Second of all, most of the Church's treasures were gifts to the church, and the Church approves of sacred art that inspires people to worship the Lord, so it make sense that the Church keeps a lot of these objects. A painting wouldn't feed anybody, and if you sell it, it might end up in the hands of somebody who intends to commit sacrilege with it. Third of all, each parish is supposed to be supported by the people who live in that parish. If a parish goes bankrupt, its because the people who live there aren't doing their part. In poverty stricken areas, nearby parishes that have excesses share with the ones that are not financially sound, and then the Diocese kicks in a share, too, if need be.

Answer 9

It is true that many Catholics don´t appreciate what they have.

For example, according to the Church, the Eucharist is ¨the body and blood, soul and divinityof Jesus Christ¨ (Council of Trent). So ideally we should do everything to keep our souls as clean possible because through the Eucharist it becomes the dwellingplace of God, like the tabernace. But many Catholics don´t even receive it, or do it out of habit.

But it was exactly because of this that the ¨sacred heart¨of Jesus is said to be in most agony, having been rejected by the people he loves so much. it is through the introduction of such devotions as the Sacred Hear that Catholics attempt to reconcile Christ with those who reject him, ¨doing good works for the sake of people who do not, and praying in place of those who are dry and indiferent.¨, in order to releive the sufering of Christ.

When Catholics are seemingly morbidly preocupied with the wounds and pierced heart of Jesus, it is actually the indiference of their fellow catholics and often of their own that they are keeping in mind and trying to reconcile, since that is what hurts God the most, not the people who are outright bad, but those who are ¨lukewarm - neither good nor bad¨.

Also, it isn´t necesarily through preaching that the good news is spread but also through actions and prayer, as diversely as each individual´s situation is. Personally I know that sometimes the more I shut up the more good I do for God.

...all the best.

Answer 10

maybe you are not seeing it because you are looking in the wrong places. catholics evangelize by both words and actions.

the early concepts of hospitals and schools are catholic, the earliest missions are catholics and the majority of mission work today is still catholic. in the u.s catholics are poorly represented due to the large amount of anti catholicism so rampant in the u.s

however there are many great catholic apologetics and evangelizers in the states and worldwide. the internet itself has many great resources for all levels of catholicism/christianity.

movies like "the exorcism of emily rose" and st therese "the little flower" are other sources of spreading the gospel.
catholics tend not to go "door to door" out of respect, as we see it there are many ways to spread the gospel without disturbing or disrespecting others, our message is out there and it is easy to find, it has been so for some 2000 years.

i am glad you are enjoying the catechism and hope you benefit from it, god bless and i hope you come to see how active the catholic church really is, instruemental in bringing down communism, under pope john paul may he rest in peace, and still a leading fighter in trying to end the travesty of abortion and spread the gospel in many ways.