Word to the Wise
Wednesday, July 10, 2024 - Wednesday in the 14th Week in Ordinary Time
[Hos 10:1-3, 7-8, 12 and Matt 10:1-7]"Sow for yourselves justice, reap the fruit of piety; break up for yourselves a new field, for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain down justice upon you." [Hosea] Jesus sent out these Twelve after instructing them thus, "Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town. Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, make this proclamation: 'The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.'" [Matthew]
The Gospel According to Matthew was composed for a predominantly Jewish-Christian audience. The focus, understandably, was on preaching to fellow Jews, but it did not completely exclude preaching to non-Jews, i.e. pagans. [cf. Matt. 15:21-28, the Canaanite woman). There was a considerable tension in the subject of evangelization over the subject of observance of Mosaic Law as a requirement for baptism. This was resolved to some extent at the Council of Jerusalem [Acts 15] but eventually the Jewish element faded to non-existence, in no small part because St. Paul vigorously promoted preaching without Mosaic requirements, and his vision finally won the day.
When Pope St. John Paul II announced and promoted a "new evangelization," he was not speaking of evangelization to non-Catholics but to lukewarm or former Catholics! Research has shown that numerically the second largest Christian denomination in this country would be former Catholics!!!! What should be the "vision" of evangelization? There are some groups that focus on "Catholic identity" of a style and form that mimic doctrinal/devotional practices and attitudes that pre-date the Second Vatican Council. This seems to echo the passage from Matthew today. Other groups point to the need for the Church to be more open to the world and not to focus so much on self-identity. The Lord's message to Hosea: "Break up for yourselves a new field..." is the challenge that this vision poses.
I suspect this evangelical "tension" will continue in the foreseeable future. Pope Francis seems to promote an attitude closer to the second vision which is being resisted by those who advocate something like the first vision. Both visions claim to be faithful to Vatican II. Maybe we should find out why so many have left the church so that we don't create more people to become former Catholics? The Catholic faith in all its diversity is the largest Christian denomination in the world, but relative to the overall population of the world, we are a definite minority. To whom should we be preaching? AMEN