Rediscovering and Reclaiming Our Primary Mission
“The Church exists to evangelize. The Church belongs to Jesus and he gave her only one mission, the salvation of souls.
~ Archbishop José H. Gómez, Witness to the New World of Faith, 2
It seems that we often get lost in the details—one of the reason I think many non-Catholics will say they don’t need religion. We so easily forget that faith lies in Christ and that by calling ourselves Christians we are claiming to follow Him and that means carrying out the mission He gave us.
There are some not-so-nice moments in history where we as the Church carried out this mission in a hostile way, even forcing people to convert or die. This is mostly a result of the state trying to run the Church. And because of this we see much violence in the efforts of the European colonization of the Americas—specifically when it comes to Mexico, Central America, and South America.
“For the first evangelists of the Americas, these continents were the New World that Jesus had taught his followers to hope for. So with a zeal for souls, they came from Spain to Mexico and from there they traveled all over this beautiful new world, proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ.”
~ Archbishop José H. Gómez, Witness to the New World of Faith, 6
One of the great things about California is its rich Catholic heritage and the reason it was much more successful is that the missionaries changed their focus and their practice of evangelization. Instead of moving in and wiping out the indigenous people, they came to live amongst them. They didn’t seek to eradicate their culture, but rather to adapt it to the Catholic worldview. They took Christ’s words to heart when He told us to “baptize all nations”.
The Right Way to Evangelize
Not only did they forego the violence, they actually lived out the Gospel by living in community and loving each other. They changed the culture without ridding the native people of their customs and traditions. This is the Catholic way to evangelize. We can’t come in tell them everything they know and believe is false, but show them the truth of the Gospel by living it out in love.
“America’s first missionaries named this land’s rivers, mountains, forests and cities for the saints and mysteries of the Catholic Church. They learned local languages and customs and they sowed the seeds of the Gospel to create a rich Christian civilization — expressed in poems and plays, paintings and statues, songs, prayers, devotions, architecture and even laws and policies.”
~ Archbishop José H. Gómez, Witness to the New World of Faith, 6
Not only did the missionaries bring the Gospel, but they brought a new way of life, teaching them new trades along with the faith. They didn’t minister to them only in a spiritual sense, but also a physical, material one. The evangelized the culture.
A Guide on Our Mission
Blessed Junípero Serra is credited with founding nine of the 21 missions and is considered the godfather of California. He was a franciscan priest who stood about 5’2″. I can’t imagine how this little man walked El Camino Real, traversing California from top to bottom various times. You have to remember that in these times this was all wilderness with different tribes of natives throughout the land, natives who might not have seen your unwelcomed visits as friendly. That takes guts and a lot of grace.
This is why I think we ought to turn to Blessed Junípero Serra as a patron saint of sorts for evangelization. We can look to his example for inspiration and invoke his name in prayer, calling upon him for his intercession.
“The Church’s mission is ever ancient and ever new. And all of us in the Church — bishops, priests and deacons; religious and consecrated men and women; seminarians and lay people in every walk of life — we all have responsibility for this mission.”
~ Archbishop José H. Gómez, Witness to the New World of Faith, 2
That sounds like challenge to me. Blessed Junípero Serra, pray for us.