Editor’s Note: The following is adapted from the recently-published book The Old Evangelization by 1P5 author Eric Sammons, published by Catholic Answers Press.
One day, back when I was a diocesan director of evangelization, I was meeting with a pastor and some of his staff about launching evangelization efforts in their parish. The pastor had a sincere longing to bring people back to the Church, and he lamented the large numbers who had abandoned the Faith in recent decades. But during our discussion he repeatedly blamed the Church itself for this mass exodus, insisting that evangelization should consist primarily of apologizing to disaffected Catholics.
At first I assumed he meant apologizing for the clergy sex-abuse scandals, and naturally I agreed with him about that. After all, I knew that even lesser wrongs committed by priests can drive people away from the Church. Only after some further discussion did I realize that he wanted to apologize not only for the sins of Church leaders but for some of the Church’s teachings, particularly the most countercultural ones, such as those prohibiting contraception, abortion, and divorce.
Hardness of Heart
Unfortunately, this pastor’s attitude is widespread among Catholics—both lay and clerical—far too many of whom downplay or even deny certain Church teachings to keep the pews full; they want to lighten what they see as an impossible burden.
Things were similar in Christ’s day. Although in our day the word Pharisee is used to characterize a harsh “right-winger,” the Pharisees of Christ’s time in fact advocated relaxed laws regarding divorce and remarriage. In Matthew 19 we see them challenge Jesus on this issue, looking for ways to trip him up. According to the law of Moses, it was permissible for a man to divorce his wife (Deut. 24:1–4). But Jesus supersedes this law, harkening back to the time of Creation: “Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one’? So they are no longer two but one. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder” (Matt. 19:4–6). As for Moses’ permission for divorce, he explains: “For your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another, commits adultery; and he who marries a divorced woman, commits adultery” (Matt. 19:8–9).
It’s important to remember that when the Pharisees challenged Christ, they did so as publicly as possible, hoping to discredit him. So when they asked him about divorce, they likely did so in front of a crowd, including Jews who were themselves divorced. Yet Christ didn’t hesitate to uphold the stricter law of marriage, and made it clear that to remarry after a divorce is “adultery” (Matt. 19:9). Such a “hard teaching” was surely difficult for some in the crowd to hear, and no doubt Jesus lost followers by insisting on it.
So, just as Jesus didn’t soften his teachings about divorce and remarriage in his own time, neither should we in ours. We have already seen how the modern acceptance of divorce has led to widespread suffering, especially on the part of women and children. So, while obeying the “hard teachings” of Jesus may sometimes be painful, obeying them is necessary to prevent even greater pain.
Make Disciples
The logic behind avoiding the “hard teachings” while evangelizing is simple:
- We want to evangelize and bring people into the Church.
- The “hard teachings” will drive people away from the Church.
- Therefore, we must minimize, ignore, or even reject these “hard teachings.”
On the surface this logic is impeccable. In reality it leads to the Episcopal Church. No denomination has done more to soften its teachings and make itself socially acceptable than the Episcopalians. How did that work out for them? According to the Episcopal Church Annual, in 1965 there were 3,615,000 baptized Episcopalians. Every year following showed a decline, and by 2014, there were only 1,956,042 baptized members, a 46 percent decrease. The conclusion is inescapable: making its teachings more attractive led to a mass exodus.
Perhaps counterintuitively, then, the result of avoiding Christ’s “hard teachings” isn’t flocks of people coming through the church doors, but the opposite. After all, why would someone make the sacrifice of getting up early on Sunday and spending an hour sitting in a pew to hear a message they could hear 24/7 from the mainstream media? If a church says—either explicitly or implicitly—that the vows of marriage can be broken, what distinguishes that church from everyone else? Why bother listening to it?
This does not mean that proclaiming the “hard teachings” boldly will result in a massive number of conversions and full pews. After all, they’re called “hard teachings” because they are hard. Many people will find them too hard and reject them, and reject the messenger who preaches them. But what is the goal of evangelization? Just to have full pews? No, the real goal is making disciples. In his final words to his apostles, Christ said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:19–20). Note these words carefully, for they are the marching orders of every Catholic evangelist:
- Make disciples. We’re not trying to get people to join a club; we’re inviting them to make a radical commitment that will change their lives dramatically. This makes evangelization fundamentally different from any membership drive or marketing program.
- Baptizing them. Becoming a disciple means entering the Church and living a sacramental life, which entails certain prohibitions. For example, one cannot receive any other sacraments until one is baptized, cannot receive Communion if not in a state of grace, and cannot get married if there are any impediments to marriage. To live a sacramental life, then, requires abiding by some strict rules.
- Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. Note that Jesus said “all.” None of Christ’s teachings are superfluous; in no instance do we find him allowing his disciples to pick and choose which teachings they will follow. He knows that we will find our true fulfillment only if we submit to all he asks of us.
What Catholicism teaches is far deeper, far more meaningful, and far more joyful than what the world does. Yes, it often demands more of us, but it also bears more and better fruit. By undercutting Church teachings to make them more like the world’s, we paradoxically make the Church less attractive, not more. When I was first exploring Catholicism, a Catholic friend compared it to a delicious seven-course meal: it has everything to delight the palate and satisfy your hunger. Anything less is a poor substitute—more like fast food. As Catholic evangelists, then, we should always follow Christ’s lead and proclaim all of his teachings—even the hard ones—with joy and confidence, knowing they are the path to eternal happiness.
This article is a wonderful boost to souls beleaguered by the current “church of utopia”. Thank you!
May our Lord Jesus Christ give us the strength to proclaim the truth and to stand strong in the evil day. And may we always cultivate a penitent heart ourselves, knowing that we all need much mercy, no matter how hard we try to be faithful, loving, and to avoid sin.
True, we were created for these days, as much as I long sometimes for the other times. “All things work together for good, for those who trust.”
Not all Pharisees had lenient views on divorce. During the time of Christ, the Pharisees were divided into two factions, named after their ideological founders, the House of Hillel and the House of Shammai. These factions could be described, for lack of better terms, as conservative and liberal. The conservative faction had views on divorce and remarriage that we remarkably similar to the teachings of Our Lord.
Thank you for this information!!
Also the Essenes did as well (this is a subtle difference but one worth remembering, which is why the Lord also said that the perusim sat on Moshe’s trone).
I may be wrong here, but I think the point of the article was that Jesus’s denunciations of “the doctor’s of the law” referred the pharisee’s lawyer like (Jesuit like?) bending of God’s law to allow for divorce, not unlike our prelates nowadays.
I’m sure this isn’t lost on anyone here but it is very surprising how Pope Francis has managed to divorce the word from all its history and how NO catholics won’t dare to question this.
I just had this conversation today with a friend who grew up as a cradle Catholic. She wants what Pope Francis wants. She thinks that AL is merciful and loving and compassionate. Thank God for Pope Francis.
She has a good friend who is divorced after a 27 year marriage and six children. The ex-husband went on to marry a younger woman and start a new family — said he never loved his first wife and wanted nothing to do with her or their six (now adult) kids plus families from the first marriage. The first marriage was a Catholic marriage.
Any day now, a decision on the annulment application should come. If the answer is “no”, my friend thinks AL is the solution. Her good friend shouldn’t be punished for the decision of her ex-husband. It wasn’t her fault. She should be able to get married again and enjoy her senior years in a “new marriage” with all its benefits. Sex included. After all, it would be a sin to not be close in a marriage (not have conjugal relations).
It really doesn’t matter what Jesus said. It really doesn’t matter what Scripture says. They want what they want and AL is the means to get it. Because Love. Because Mercy. Because Jesus would want her to be happy.
I ask what the Catholic Church has taught during its 2000 year history. Well the exact opposite, but Jesus wouldn’t want anyone to be in an abusive/ violent marriage, would he? I say the separation/ divorce isn’t the problem; it is the remarriage without an annulment that is the problem. Or if there is a second marriage, it is the conjugal relations in the second marriage (adultery) that is the problem.
My friend tells me it doesn’t matter what the Church has taught. It doesn’t matter if the Church is now teaching 180 degrees different from what the Church has taught before. So there you have it: sex is a sacrament. not being happy is a sin. it is entirely proper to sin to avoid sin. Hard teachings are to be rejected.
I am lacking in mercy and compassion and I am a rigid Catholic. Got it. I pray that my friend’s friend is granted the annulment. Or that there is a conversion of heart to Christ’s teachings. For the sake of all of their souls …
I’ll pray for your friend. I am a convert, 2015 and was in a “second marriage”. The loneliness is hard…but worth it. What a testimony for my unbelieving, liberal family and Protestant friends.
May God bless you richly.
Thank you for your prayers. You are a living witness. I hope your testimony bears fruit among your family and friends. My mother lived many years in loneliness for the vow/ covenant of marriage. I did not understand then; I understand now. You will be rewarded for you faithfulness to the Lord.
You have absolutely nailed it.
I believe you have absolutely encapsulated the “religious deception” cited in CCC 675.
It has always been there, but it got an immense boost in the Reformation. So it has permeated Protestantism and now we have this termite nibbling at the keel of the Barque of St Peter. Or rather, chomping great chunks out of it.
At this point in history, Catholic practice and teaching are at a low ebb. I personally have lost all confidence in our leaders. I’ll see if it comes back at all in the next conclave. But even so, a “good Pope” isn’t the answer. A sweeping clean of the Church IS. Jesus took a whip to the Temple, and that is exactly what is going to be required, revenue to the Vatican be damned. Do we have ANY man living right now who is willing to stand in the Gap for God in that way?
I don’t know.
I don’t know either Rod. Is there going to be a next conclave? Do we have any man living who will stand in the Gap for God in that way? It hasn’t happened yet and I am not sure it will happen.
Or is Jesus’ whip to the modern-day Temple (Church) going to come as three days of darkness and the great chastisement? I think it will be Our Lord and Our Lady who will “clean house”.
In the interests of not being a hypocrite: it wasn’t all that long ago when I would have said the exact same things as my friend. “Jesus wants us to be happy”; No! Jesus wants us to be holy.
The Lord brought about within me an entire change of heart — repentance/ conversion on the hard teachings of the Catholic Church (contraception, abortion, homosexuality, divorce, etc.).
I have become Catholic — truly and devoutly Catholic — only to find that the Church I have “come home to” only exists in “pockets of resistance” and as “a remnant” here and there.
But.For.The.Grace.Of.God.Go.I.
As for Church leadership: The recent “drug filled homosexual orgy” (the police raid of a Vatican apartment) brings even more shame and mockery to Christ’s Church. As in the days of Noah ….
As in the days of Noah.
Indeed!
And the days of Joshua: “In those days there was no king in Israel: but every one did that which seemed right to himself.”
You and the rest of us were created for these times, these days, evil as they are. All in His plan for us and for those we pray for.
Often the Divine “rod” may have to be terrible.
Christ will return.
What if the finding of nullity is a lie? Is that really better?
I have thought about that. No, I suppose not.
My marriage has been declared null. I went through the process in the hopes of saving my “second marriage”, Seeing as we divorced anyway, now I do wonder if my finding was a lie. I’m just going to sit tight and wait. Don’t want to mess up yet again.
That’s the words of a good man of sound mind and guts, too.
God smiles on such.
No. If a finding of nullity is a lie, it’s a lie.
And a damnable lie, too.
But that doesn’t change the truth of the teaching.
After 27 years and six children, how is it possible to get an annulment?
My son’s RCIA teacher’s wife petitioned one after about 30 years and IIRC 6 kids. He fought it, but alas, she wanted to be with her boyfriend, and the Church gave it to her.
I believe all of his children have left the Church. All were utterly scandalized by the pathetic and disgusting travesty of this case.
Short sighted fake “mercy” IMHO.
WOW.
It is an horrific case.
Oh, and since an annulment has been issued, the wife and her new beau may now receive communion.
No longer with her kids, since, you know, they left the Church…
PS: To his credit, our new bishop selected a fine young priest and shipped him off to Canon Law school. Said Bishop has, so-to-speak, lots of broken glass, crumbled walls and smoke damage to clean up around the church of this diocese, that’s for sure…
Shocking. And very common.
The great harm to families and marriage that is going on in the name of conscience and ease.
In the end a pronouncement of annulment won’t save you when you were not honest and stand before Christ at your own judgement. Just to add a different story, quite a few people in our prayer group are abandoned spouses, living single and chaste; both young and old, male and female. Guess what? They are serenely happy! Times are sometimes hard ESP financially but they are truly blessed and God always gives abundant help and comfort to them. They are gentle, humble and kind; beautiful Christians. The early church had them too!
I have no idea. I plan to follow up with my friend and find out if her good friend has been granted the annulment (or not). But not to worry, if the annulment is denied, that is why AL was written. (Do I really have to say that my last line was “tongue in cheek”?)
Very easy. After 27 years, practice of NFP, 6 miscarriages and 3 living children, my husband was granted an annulment by the local diocesan tribunal. Thanks to Cardinal Burke, then head of the Apostolic Signatura, I was able to wrestle the case away from the local archdiocese and appeal to the Roman Rota where the marriage was upheld.
Thank God for Cardinal Burke. My adult children stayed in the Faith thanks to his intervention and my living according to the marriage vows we made regardless of their father’s behavior.
Strictly speaking then, from your case, we can assume it is not really possible to get an annulment after 27years and six children provided the prelate deciding the case is faithful to the teachings of Christ.
God bless you….and Cardinal Burke
Good on you Lillian!! You did him a service!!
As you rightly say, they want what they want. Prayers for all concerned.
The great harm that this pontificate has given us is its consistent ambiguity with Catholic faith and morals. In creating confusion and doubt, it has lead to the many clerics offering what is false and full of so much error in the place of clear truth.
The awful thing is that those we love and care about, have fallen for the easy way that appeals to our human nature rather than the Word of God that leads to salvation, because it’s given us a way to believe that our reasoning and conscience is higher than anything else in the history of the Church or even in holy scripture. In the end, our prayers will do them good, I’m sure of it.
Eric, I remember when you were in our diocese and came to our parish for a faith formation talk … and maybe three of us showed up. I felt so badly for you. And for us. We were (and are) the remnant of Catholics who want to hear the “hard teachings” which our pastors refuse to even come close to. I applaud you for shaking the dust off your boots and moving on where you can do the greater good. I am ordering your book right now. Thank you and God bless you.
Thank you for your kind words, Pamela – and for coming to my talk! Keep fighting for the Faith!
…in 1965 there were 3,615,000 baptized Episcopalians. Every year following showed a decline, and by 2014, there were only 1,956,042 baptized members, a 46 percent decrease.
In fact, bad as this sounds, these raw membership numbers greatly understate the collapse of the Episcopal Church. Even more than most establishment denominations, the ECUSA is loathe to take people off the books. Even once one sets aside the large number of parishes and even dioceses which have split off over doctrinal disputes, participation is withering. Average Sunday Attendance (ASA) – even by the ECUSA’s inflated numbers (often taken at Easter) – falls by 2.5-3.0 percent.per year, and is now plunging below only 500,000. Things are similarly bad for its sister churches, the Anglican Church of Canada (which on present trends will be extinct in 2061) and the Church of England, of which former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey warned a few years ago is on path for extinction in only a generation.
And yet, few churches have more aggressively embraced the tenets of the Sexual Revolution.
Indeed.
I contend that a Catholic Pope {must use the qualifier there} that sweeps the Church clean of heretics would see an initial “collapse” but would also very quickly see substantial numbers entering in from the Anglican Communion, Lutherans, even the Evangelicals. I myself stayed away from the Catholic faith because I thought the Catholic Church was nothing more than a dressed up version of Methodislutheranglicanism.
Since coming to the Church I realize that I was, in fact, largely right, except that we have both the promise and the consistent teaching at least on paper, even if both are ignored by vast swathes of the prelature and “faithful”.
What many Catholics see as somehow unique challenges to the Catholic Church are just boring old, overdone mainline liberal mantras, godless denials of truth and celebration of flatout evil. These demons have been puking their way thru the liberal Protestant sects for a hundred years.
I confess. I want to see a theological war. I want to see leaders stand up for Jesus and not sit down when the fight starts. I want to see conviction demanded and decision required. I am sick of watching everything I value in purity and hope and holiness get spit on and worse, watch the lost left in the gutter by faggoty Church leaders who would rather cater to the rich Kraut dioceses than do the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Because the hard teachings of Jesus SAVE.
I am most happy in a fight where my hands aren’t tied behind my back, and right now I feel like all our prelates have to arm us with is rope.
“All human conflict is essentially theological.” – Cardinal Manning
You won’t be familiar Rod with the Phantom Flan Flinger of Old London Town (“Tiswas”, 1980s). The Phantom’s attacks were actually made with shaving foam covered paper plates rather than with flans as per the name. Our prelates remind me of those shaving foam flans – no power, no strength, no purpose. Anyway, search for the PFF on youtube and have a laugh.
Thanks!!
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
Surely all that rope is good for something. Maybe what we really need to be searching for is a few good lampposts.
I can’t disagree with much of what you write here, Rod.
Catholics were made to fight for right. Isn’t our daily struggle a constant struggle with self, as St. Padre Pio said.
The hard teachings are the best teachings as they are our way of the cross to eternal life. The way of the cross is the way of love. The way of love we must follow is generosity, obedience and sacrifice. This is what Christ did to save us. This is what we must do in order for Christ to save us. Christ will not save us without our cooperation. He did say, “my burden is light”, which it is if we agree to carry it with His help. “My grace is sufficient for you”.
In many countries, following the “hard teachings” may put you in jail
Like Cardinalj Mindzenty…a true witness to Christ .
And Cardinal Slipyj, who was 18 years in the gulag until he was released as part of the Vatican-Moscow agreement. When he found out how he was released, he wanted to go back to the gulag rather than have the Vatican sign an agreement with Moscow.
Ours is the Way of the Cross, not the way of the dross.
A very good piece, Eric. Every Catholic is called to be a disciple and the more demanding the faith is, the more committed and holy the disciples wll be.
Disciple is defined; in part, by Father John Hardon’s Modern Catholic Dictionary as; “any follower of Jesus’ Teaching.” Jesus and His Teaching are One. To follow His Teaching is to follow Him! He is the Word of God. 2 Timothy chapter 3 says: “12 Indeed all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted;” It says “ALL!” Would it be good to be persecuted for wrongdoing? Of course not! Of – course – NOT!
1 Peter 4: 13 But rejoice in so far as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. 14* If you are reproached for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory * and of God rests upon you. 15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or a wrongdoer, or a mischief-maker;
The only thing that bonds – unites brothers closer than enduring some hardship together – is combat. Combat includes at times intense suffering, death, and loss. The bonds formed out of the crucible of suffering are the strongest you will find in this life. We give names to them like camaraderie. Camaraderie is defined in the military as: “Brotherhood.” Suffer on my brothers – but not for being a murderer, thief, wrongdoer, or mischief! Ask God for that grace.
I agree with all that of course.
But I do have one comment about “especially women and children” are hurt by divorce.
I don’t know about in the USA, but certainly in the UK, it is often men who suffer more as the Courts are far more likely to take the side of the woman, both financially and certainly with regard to custody of children. There are many men who would rightly be appalled this suggestion.
Interesting article.
“What Catholicism teaches is far deeper, far more meaningful, and far more joyful than what the world does”.
Exactly.
When others (even Catholics) see Catholics living the “hard” teachings with joy, do they stop and look deeper and even want what Catholics have. That’s the power of God in us. That’s the attraction holiness has over us.
The easy way will not convert anyone to a deeper life of communion and friendship with Christ until we follow in earnest, after Him.