Truth, Not Marketing
I have read a couple of times in the last weeks about the fact that Catholicism is supposed to be made “attractive” for non-Catholics.
I do not think this mentality wil ever work,and I do not think it is right, either.
Firstly, we must consider that Catholicism is fundamentally unattractive. Compared with the fluffy ideologies that are smuggled around and were always peddled in the past, it cannot be said that Catholicism – but for it, crucially, being the Truth – would be the way of choice for many of us. Protestants promise salvation just for believing in Jesus, and new age legends even do away with hell, or basically with anything that you don’t feel like doing. By contrast, Catholicism teaches you to be seriously scared – though in a reasonable way – that you may lose the way even after decades of trying to be the best Christian you can.
Fear and trembling on one side, fluffy conviction of one’s own saintliness on the other: in the marketing race for the most attractive package, Catholicism never stood a chance.
Secondly, I see in this desire of making things attractive the big potential for a watering down of the Truth, and in any way a fundamental dishonesty. If one wants to downplay the harsh news, one will end up attracting a crowd that never really signed for the programme, and he must not be surprised if they turn their back when they are told a couple of inconvenient truths about – say – contraception, divorce, or sodomy. They will also think that they have been lured into Catholicism with false pretences and misrepresentations, and I will not disagree with them. Even those who would accept the harsh truths in the end would have to reflect that they have been lured into them with the promise of candies, like children.
Thirdly, the Church has been stressing for the last 50 years the “joy” of Catholicism, as if those outside of it missed some very special entertainment; but she has never explained to non-Catholics how it is that walking on a busy street on a Sunday afternoon there is no way to immediately spot the Catholics, purely out of their oh so joyous countenance. This cheap marketing has not worked, and the Church trying to shape Herself according to the world has lost Her grip on the world She is supposed to fight against, and shape in the process.
—-
I was five years old when my grandmother first put me in front of a Crucifix and told me unless I ask Jesus for forgiveness for my sins, I will go to hell. You might say it was a bit too much and too soon, and I would personally go at it differently. But you see, I still remember the episode. My grandmother was probably concerned for the religious education I would receive from my parents, but again I do not think confronting a five years old with the truths of life was very uncommon in her young days. Yes, I started to cry, and I am sure many a little child before me had the same reaction; but almost fifty years later, I cannot locate any other episode so decisive in putting into me some sound fear of the Lord.
The Truth must be said whole. Honesty commands that it be so, and reflection confirms that it cannot be any other way. Let the non-Catholic readers of this blog be shocked at first contact. Let them be angry at me if it disturbs their fluffy feelings. But the harsh message will stick, at least for a while, and will hopefully be buried somewhere in the reader’s consciousness; to be fished back, perhaps, in ten or thirty years’ time, when the person in question will finally have the serenity to recognise that what he had read in that strange blog, that seemed so “harsh” and “uncharitable” at the time, was actually the truth said whole.
But there is a last reason, why it is better to say the Truth whole. We really do not accomplish anything; not out of our autonomous will anyway. Grace works in us, and leads us to the Faith. There is no way any marketing of mine, shrewd as it may be, might ever achieve anything, but God’s grace will have caused it to happen. If this is so, and it is so, there can be no course of action more reasonable that to say the Truth whole, and to leave it to Jesus to let His Truth slowly work on those He has, from all eternity, decreed they should be influenced by it.
I have never noticed any “marketing” tendency of Jesus in the Gospels. Actually, it seems to me the contrary is the case. Whilst He revealed the Truth gradually to His Apostles, He was revealing a new religion, we aren’t; nor did he command to the Apostles that they evangelise people in installments. Yes, basic prudence will have to guide our actions, but it is my experience that adult people can bear some unpleasant news remarkably well. In the end, even five years old children cope well, too. And if it is a shock, it is a salutary one.
Say the Truth whole; in the appropriate manner and at the appropriate time, but say it whole, trusting that your duty is done when the seed is planted. God’s grace will, if it was so decreed, do the rest in God’s own time.
Mundabor
Share this:
Posted on March 24, 2014, in Catholicism, Conservative Catholicism, Traditional Catholicism and tagged Evangelisation. Bookmark the permalink. 11 Comments.
Mundabor's Blog 
The 1917 Fatima apparition of Mary comes to mind…the three children are ages 6-11 years. Mary, whom Jacinta, the youngest describes as “the best of all possible mothers” shows them a vision of hell. They are not smiling in their photos. Mary also tells the two youngest that they will die soon…and she asks them to pray and suffer to save souls from hell.
Very true!
M
When I was a Non-Catholic, the faith was very unattractive to me. It was only after the cult I was in and Protestantism became unattractive to me that the Catholic Church attracted me. The Church doesn’t has to become more attractive, the false religions simply have to lose their false allure to their followers, so the they will see how good looking the True Faith is.
I was about 6 when my father took me on his knee and explained sin and hell. I could easily at 6 fathom all the bad and naughty things I’d done that made me worthy of hell. Nowadays, that is all considered nonsense. One of the things that really bothers me about the Modern Catechists is their emphasis on ‘truths’…you know you are dealing with lies and liars when they start pluralizing truth.
Every single false religion , heresy , promise of an happier life on Earth without paying any price and with no effort , has been and is in some way Catholicism simplified and made easier .Someone even compelled the priests celebrating Mass to twist Christ’s own words , by saying ‘ This is my blood , shed ‘ for all’ instead of ‘for many’. It’s very telling , I think.
And I too remember from my early years ‘ this vale of tears ‘, because I often asked myself what it meant. But even in late years many events occur ,which seemingly have no meaning.Only almost at the last moment they acquire for us their true sense and importance. When I reflect upon them , I often discover that they were shocking events , or words striking me like thunderbolts . Alessandro Gnocchi will for the rest of his life remember that the last days of Mario Palmaro were for him at the same time days of great physical suffering and interior joy, because he could, just in time, give a look at the first printed copy of the last book written together. Palmaro was happy as a child can be.Life is a mystery , but only the One True Faith can illuminate that mystery.
I have noticed the same, Marco.
We remember single phrases told to us for a lifetime. At time we forget them, and them they come back, like thunderbolts as you say. Then one understands the work of Providence.
This is one of the reasons why this blog is so uninterested in making people feel good. Let the homo read my blog and become dark red of rage. It might be the event that, in the end, saves his soul. Those who offer him their understanding and “solidarity” are accompanying him to hell, and run a concrete risk of ending there themselves.
M
Mundy- Is this post a response to MV’s latest Vortex’s that point to all the conversion roadblocks in an attempt to justify his aversion to speaking the truth about the Pope? I didn’t watch them yet…not in the mood to deal with the accusations and justifications. Your post is spot on. Takes courage to speak the truth whole…to trust God’s grace…especially in our emo bullying society. You nailed it perfectly:+) Truth, and it’s consequence sanity/wholeness, will attract who they are supposed to attract. In the meantime, we’ll just keep on praying, fasting, almsgiving and speaking the whole truth to fight the culture of death and lead the world back to Christ. God bless~
No, it’s nothing to do with CMTV. I have just read around (I read a lot around, but obviously can’t remember exactly where) about the need to make the message of evangelisation attractive for non-Catholics.
M
And how about the asleep-at-the-wheel bishops at VII, not to mention Paul VI, who allowed the Holy Mass to be gutted under the asinine presumption that Protestants would come to the Truth if said Truth was omitted or obscured?
This is what is preached all over…and you hear it all over: people will either leave the Church or non-Catholics wont enter the Church because it isn’t accommodating enough. Apparently at some point over the last few decades it became common thinking that being Catholic was supposed to be easy. Aside from knowing what Christ Himself had to suffer, all one has to do is think of all of the martyrs who died horribly….and even all of the suffering endured by Saints who weren’t martys, to understand that being a Catholic is not supposed to be a walk in the park. When and if it becomes that, you are most likely doing something wrong.
Thanks for the clarification Mundy:+) It’s crazy to think we need to somehow “attract” the people in the world who cling and promote the demonic. The only attraction for them is sin which is why they chose it in the first place. We are to be lights…not Hollywood movie posters…and sometimes light blinds and is repulsive to people. So be it. Like the previous poster noted, they have to reach the scum at the bottom of what they are attracted to before they look around for sanity, truth and authentic freedom. Which is why us enabling them or keeping them from that truth b/c of emotions never helps but makes the process longer for them to get free. God bless you Mundy:+)