ARTICLES

Is Hell is Passé?

Evangelization in Sacramento Diocese

BY CHRISTOPHER ZEHNDER

Catholics committed to evangelization might want to pay attention to what is happening in the diocese of Sacramento.

In his "Feed My Lambs" column published in the September 4 Catholic Herald, Sacramento's bishop William Weigand writes that the synod, which convened in early October, will tackle the most important question of how we can evangelize the people of our day. "How do we reach parishioners who represent an increasing social and cultural diversity?" asks Bishop Weigand. "How can we bring the Gospel message to the far reaches of the Diocese of Sacramento? Where do we find solid ground in our faith which is lived in a diverse and changing world?" Following Pope Paul VI's 1975 encyclical, Evangelii Nuntiandi, and Pope John Paul II's 1990 encyclical, Redemptoris Missio, Bishop Weigand notes that, given changing times, "we have to find new ways to teach the Gospel and hand on the faith."

Few would dispute that these are just the questions a bishop should be asking. And along with these questions, and in fidelity to the two pontiffs, the bishop supplies two important assertions: that the Church in her essence is missionary and that evangelization is directed both to members of the Church herself and ad gentes. Reading the bishop's article, however, one is left wondering: in evangelizing, what is the Church's message? And why should she spread it?

Bishop Weigand does give "short-hand" answers to the what of evangelization. A passage from Redemptoris Missio, quoted by Weigand, notes that the Gospel is "the fullness of truth which God has enabled us to know about himself." A quoted passage from Evangelii Nuntiandi says "to evangelize is first of all to bear witness, in a simple and direct way, to God revealed by Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit." Further, the bishop himself says Catholics should know their faith "so that the 'Good News' of God's love might be passed on to others." Thus, according to Bishop Weigand, the Gospel is the fullness of truth about God; it is Christ's revelation of God, and it is the message of God's love.

This struck me as all true but rather vague. Further, reading the bishop's article, I was left with the question: granted, it's good to know truth and that God loves us, but what is the urgency of spreading this message? Thus, I wondered, for Bishop Weigand, is the message of the Gospel that God became man in Jesus Christ in order to save sinners from sin and eternal death? That, in order to save men, Jesus Christ established His Church? And as for the urgency of spreading the Gospel -- is it that, without the Gospel, souls might not only be deprived of truth but also be at risk of eternal damnation?

To get a better idea of how the bishop might speak to these questions, I spoke with Sister Susan McCarthy, director of evangelization for the diocese of Sacramento. Sister McCarthy gave a rather traditional answer to the question, what is the Gospel? "I would define the Gospel as the good news," Sister McCarthy told me. "And the good news is that the gift of salvation is offered to all people, at all times, through the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. So that is the good news -- that this is available to all people, and that those of us who have received that gift have the responsibility to invite others to understand what that is and what it means for them."

But what is the urgency of spreading the Gospel? "I think we take our cues from John Paul, who has made the 'new evangelization' the central theme of his papacy," said Sister McCarthy. "Part of it is that the whole western world is becoming, and has become, de-Christianized, as he says, and so there is that urgency to re-evangelize that whole area. I suppose there is that sense of urgency because we are losing a generation, if not two generations, in terms of the richness of their Catholic faith. Then there is the urgency, as the pope calls it, to pastor or to provide spiritual nourishment, pastoral care, to those who are Catholic so that they will remain faithful, because there are so many distractions today and so many opportunities to be taken away from our focus. We don't have the Catholic support system we once had, such as Catholic neighborhoods; so good Catholic families need to have some kind of support, ongoing pastoral care."

From my reading of Pope John Paul II, Sister McCarthy is correct. In Redemptoris Missio, the pope speaks of the "de-Christianization of countries with ancient Christian traditions," of how "religious and social upheaval makes it difficult to apply in practice certain ecclesial distinctions and categories to which we have become accustomed." "Even before the [Second Vatican] Council," notes John Paul, "it was said that some Christian cities and countries had become 'mission territories;' the situation has certainly not improved in the years since."

For the pope, missionary activity and evangelization are most urgent because "Christ is the one mediator between God and mankind.... No one ... can enter into communion with God except through Christ, by the working of the Holy Spirit." In Evangelii Nuntiandi, Pope Paul VI says that missionary activity is incumbent on the Church "so that people can believe and be saved." For Pope Paul, the "kernel and center" of the Gospel is Christ's proclamation of salvation, "this great gift of God which is liberation from everything that oppresses man but which is above all liberation from sin and the Evil One, in the joy of knowing God and being known by Him, of seeing Him, and of being given over to Him." Both popes further speak of the Gospel message as a human right; "the Church holds," wrote Paul VI, that all men "have the right to know the riches of the mystery of Christ." And though members of other religions can achieve salvation even if they never hear the Gospel, the Catholic religion, says Pope Paul, "effectively establishes with God an authentic and living relationship which the other religions do not succeed in doing, even though they have, as it were, their arms stretched out towards heaven."

But in reading the missionary encyclicals of Popes Paul VI and John Paul II, I noticed that the pontiffs seemed to steer away from saying that the Church must preach the Gospel of Christ lest those who do not hear it be damned. The pontiffs speak of the right of all to hear the Gospel; they say that the Gospel frees men not only from error but from sin; but they do not mention that, without the Gospel, most men will go to hell. Is it part of the new evangelization to "accentuate the positive"? Why, in speaking of evangelization, does the modern Church not press the urgency of saving souls from hell?

"I don't know," answered Sister McCarthy. "I think maybe that it has something to do with understanding the culture of our time and helping people to understand that they are loved unconditionally by God; that emphasis seems to have more appeal than the hell and damnation piece. A lot of the Catholics, especially the older folks, grew up with the preaching of hell and damnation, and it did not convert them. It became something that maybe terrified people more than anything."

In today's evangelization, said Sister McCarthy, "there is more of an emphasis on helping people understand how much they are loved unconditionally. When people come to that, they are much more likely to enter into a relationship with God." In emphasizing hellfire and damnation, said Sister, many in the Church "got off the track. We sort of emphasized, not the personal relationship with Jesus as the center, as the core, with getting to know our faith (whether the sacraments or the teaching of the Church) being the expression of that [relationship]. When the heart is in place, then the other pieces fall together. But we have sort of focused a bit on the code -- that you have to do this, you have to do that. That is all very valid, but it has not necessarily [been presented] in right order."

Sister added that God's unconditional love requires a response from people -- conversion. "That's the gift that's offered," she said, "but the implication is that I have to respond. My part of the journey is that conversion process, turning my life around, and using the criteria that Jesus has given us. It means that if I truly understand that incredible love that God has for me, I will be willing to enter into a relationship, which means turning my life around. That's the metanoia that's called for. If I don't awaken to that love of God and become aware of it, then, it's like I'm not going to change my life; my security isn't there. Then the third part of that is discipleship -- walking the talk, putting it into practice, living it out."

But, I asked Sister McCarthy, does not the threat of eternal damnation still remain an important component of evangelization? In the office of readings in the Liturgy of the Hours for the memorial of St. Francis Xavier (December 3), we read the saint's words urging Christians to the mission fields in India: "Oh, how great is the number of souls, excluded from heaven by your fault, cast down into hell!" Is not the possibility of eternal damnation, I asked Sister McCarthy, still part of the urgency of preaching the Gospel?

"I'm sure it is," she answered. "But of course St. Francis Xavier was sort of influenced by the whole context of his time, and that certainly was the missionary emphasis at that time. Saving souls was sort of like the mission. I would not put myself in terms of judging what's going to be done. We have a responsibility to preach the Gospel, to share the good news, to bring Christ to others, and to bring others to Christ. And then it's God's work in terms of how all of that happens. And God knows who needs it and who will be separated, who is responsible."

Of course, I said, we don't know the fate of any particular soul -- but don't we preach the Gospel lest people go to Hell? Sister McCarthy seemed to agree. "Right," she said.

In speaking of evangelization, Pope John Paul II witnesses to the necessity of the Church. "It is necessary," he says in Redemptoris Missio, "to keep these two truths together, namely, the real possibility of salvation in Christ for all mankind and the necessity of the Church for salvation." It is not enough merely to spread the message of Christ, but, said the pope, "the proclamation of the Word of God has Christian conversion as its aim." "The mission ad gentes," furthermore, "has this objective: to found Christian communities and develop Churches to their full maturity." Pope Paul VI is clearer. He says that "adherence to the kingdom ... which the Gospel inaugurates ... cannot remain abstract and unincarnated;" rather, it "reveals itself concretely by a visible entry into a community of believers.... In the dynamism of evangelization, a person who accepts the Church as the Word which saves normally translates it into the following sacramental acts; adherence to the Church, and acceptance of the sacraments...."

At first, Sister McCarthy told me "the point of evangelization is not to bring people into the Catholic Church -- in the sense that that is more like proselytizing, which Paul VI said you can't do." But the point of evangelization is, said Sister, "to preach the kingdom of God, which is like God's time, and the Good News is to be a part of that which is shared. When we encounter that presence of God, then the Catholic Church can become the means, the context of where I get introduced to the sacraments; and I receive spiritual nourishment through the sacraments, particularly through the Eucharist. So evangelization isn't inviting people into the Catholic Church only, it is broader than that. It is like helping people get in touch with the deepest sense of themselves in terms of the reign of God."

Being somewhat confused by Sister McCarthy's answer, I asked her, "isn't bringing people into the Catholic Church our goal, since the life of God is communicated normally through the Church?" "Yes," Sister McCarthy replied, "and I suppose it depends on how that's done. Everything is nuanced by the way we do that."

How this is done, I found, was key to Sister. I misunderstood what she meant by "proselytizing," which she eventually told me "implies some kind of coercion or something that's less than inviting." In teaching people how to evangelize, Sister said she tells them "to use Jesus Himself as a model. He invited, He preached the Good News, He was the Good News. But he left people free, like the rich young man. He said, sell everything you have; and the young man couldn't. But Jesus continued to love him. We must propose the truth of the Gospel; we can never impose anything. We have to preach the Gospel as it is in its integrity, and then we leave people free. And then it's like the Holy Spirit can then enter in and change people's lives and hearts and minds."

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