Courtney McGrailIn the aftermath of 2011’s World Youth Day in Madrid, John Allen attempted to discern at ncronline.org what the phenomenon of World Youth Day says about the future of the Church. Entitled ‘Big Picture at World Youth Day: “It’s the Evangelicals, Stupid!”’, the article identifies evangelical Catholicism as a potent force coursing through the modern Church.
Seeing it as largely about “the hunger for identity in an uncertain world”, Allen says it is marked by an affiliation to orthodox Church teaching and traditional devotions, combined with a robust proclamation of the Christian message and a confident acceptance that Catholicism should be a matter of conviction not convention.
He distinguishes between evangelical Catholicism and what might be crudely termed conservative or traditional Catholicism, not least as “there’s precious little cultural Catholicism these days left to conserve” and young evangelical Catholics are less interested in restoring an old status quo than in engaging with and evangelising today’s world.
Noting that this vision tends to energise “that inner core of actively practicing young Catholics who are most likely to discern a vocation to the priesthood or religious life” or to study theology or intentionally contribute to parish life, he continues, “in that sub-segment of today’s younger Catholic population there’s an evangelical energy so thick you can cut it with a knife”.
The article’s worth revisiting in light of evangelical growth elsewhere in the Christian family. The Church of England, for example, has long been recognised as in serious decline, but even then its evangelical wing looks to be in relatively rude health.
At theguardian.com Harriet Sherwood writes in ‘As traditional believers turn away, is this a new crisis of faith?’ that for many Anglicans of the traditional, liberal, and Anglo-Catholic strands, the current focus on the growing evangelical tendency “risks placing the church firmly on the fringe, in the hands of zealots”.
Uneasy
Many are uneasy with charismatic practices in evangelical Anglicanism, an emphasis on membership growth, calls for high levels of personal commitment, and a tendency towards what they see as doctrinal purity, believing instead that “the established church of the country should be broad and inclusive – even if that means a little fuzzy – rather than narrow and uncompromising”.
For Anglican Fr Eddie Green at future-shape-of-church.org, these concerns are misplaced. Acknowledging that leading the Church of England is difficult, he maintains that leadership is still required, and declares, “evangelicals have invested in leadership training over the last 20 years in a way that other traditions have not. Some of those models may be good, some may be bad, but the alternative seems to be no intentional leadership.”
Conceding that questions persist about how a central leadership vision can work in parishes that have become resistant to growth and mission, he nonetheless concludes “I cannot see the Church surviving without becoming a membership organisation with high levels of commitment to growth from all the members of the Church”.
Commitment, conviction, and intentional discipleship are all key concepts for actively-involved young Catholics, and so it’s hardly surprising that such deliberate faith should express itself in all spheres of life, including the political.
This can rub people up the wrong way, but “Christians are supposed to be unpopular,” accordingly to niallthinksandwrites.blogspot.ie, which notes that Christians are supposed to be out of touch with contemporary society, seeming weird and ridiculous to outsiders.
“Non-believers finding Christianity offensive or alienating is a feature, not a bug,” the post on ‘Salty Christian politics’ continues, exploring how “there is something in authentic Christianity to upset and challenge everyone”. It invites important questions and there’s a lot to dig through: you should start now.