I began a series of blog articles last\nweek reflecting on the question, \u201cHow do you evangelize a culture that used to\nbe Catholic?\u201d Our whole culture used to\nbe based on Christian faith. People are\nnow turning away from Christianity. How\nwe do invite them back and help them have a relationship with Jesus?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before continuing, for those who have been\nlong-time followers of my blog and website, much of what I say in this series\nof articles repeats things I have said in the past. My goal in this particular series is to try\nto bring it together specifically in the context of evangelization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My first blog article in this series, \u201cThe Quest for Fulfillment in the Modern World\u201d<\/a>, talked about the searching that all people do to find happiness, i.e. \u201cfulfillment.\u201d Next, I addressed the question, \u201cHas Science Eliminated the Need for God?\u201d <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, I want to turn to those who think faith\nhas become irrelevant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We might ask is why<\/em><\/strong> do some people think faith has become irrelevant. My previous blog article, \u201cHas Science Eliminated the Need for God?\u201d<\/a> addresses one part of this. Another aspect of why some people think faith has become irrelevant involves morality. They look at the morals (or the lack they of) in society today and see they differ from what faith teaches. Our faith says sexual intimacy is meant to be only between a man and woman who have totally given themselves to each other in marriage. Modern culture says sex between any consenting <\/em>adults is fine. God tells us, \u201cThou shall not kill\u201d but many in the modern culture say abortion and physician assisted suicide is okay. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Many people choose to accept what the modern culture says. I don\u2019t think they even necessarily \u201cagree\u201d with this except that is what they have grown up with as \u201cnormal\u201d. Since it is \u201cnormal\u201d it must be okay. I see a fundamental flaw in their thinking. It is not the role of culture to shape our faith. It is for our faith to shape our culture (cf. my presentation Where Do We Go for Truth?<\/a><\/em>). <\/p>\n\n\n\n So, when faith tells us something\ndifferent based on the Bible written between 1,900 and 3,000 years ago, they think\nthe Bible must be outdated and, thus irrelevant. They say the world was different back then,\nno technology, no highspeed\/mass communication. \nMost people were farmers and tradesmen. \nYes, the world was different when the Bible was written. That doesn\u2019t mean the Bible is outdated. We need to understand the culture of the past\nand to ask the Holy Spirit to help us understand how to apply God\u2019s Law\ntoday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, we need to examine what our culture says. In the \u201cEucharistic Prayer for Use in Various Needs III, we hear the phrase, \u201clooking into the signs of the times\u201d (cf. Gaudium et Spes<\/a><\/em>, 4). For some people, that is all they hear and think, yes, our faith should learn from our culture. However, we should look at the whole sentence in this Eucharistic Prayer, \u201cGrant that all the faithful of the Church, looking into the signs of the times by the light of faith<\/em><\/strong>, may constantly devote themselves to the service of the gospel.\u201d Yes, we need to look at our culture, \u201cthe signs of the times\u201d but to do so \u201cby the light of faith.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n For instance, in the last couple of\ncenturies, the field of psychology has emerged and become a tool in understanding<\/em><\/strong>\nhuman behavior. I emphasis understanding\nbecause psychology does not make a behavior right or wrong. Psychology is a tool to help understand why a\nperson acts a certain way. We can then use\nthat understanding to help us end our bad behavior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m sure there are other arguments as to why people might think faith is irrelevant today (if you have questions, please feel free to offer them by commenting).\u00a0 I\u2019m going to conclude this article now.\u00a0 Next, I will turn to a new blog article, \u201cAnswering Those Who Say They Don\u2019t Much Out of Mass.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Peace,<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fr. Jeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I began a series of blog articles last week reflecting on the question, \u201cHow do you evangelize a culture that used to be Catholic?\u201d Our whole culture used to be based on Christian faith. People are now turning away from Christianity. How we do invite them back and help them have a relationship with Jesus? …<\/p>\n