1. Approximately one-third of those who say they were raised
Catholic no longer describe themselves as Catholic.
~Pew Research Center, Religious Landscape Survey
2. Sometimes even Catholics have lost or never had the
chance to experience Christ personally.
~Pope John Paul II, 1993 address to Catholic Bishops
3. Today there is a very large number of baptized people who
for the most part have not formally renounced their Baptism but who are
entirely indifferent to it and not living in accordance with it.
~Pope Paul VI, Evangelii
Nuntiandi (On Evangelization in the Modern World), 56
4. The New Evangelization calls all Catholics first to be
evangelized and then in turn to evangelize.
~USCCB, Disciples
Called to Witness, Preface
5. The church sometimes has locked itself up in small
things, in small-minded rules. The most important thing is the first
proclamation: Jesus Christ has saved you.
~Pope Francis, 2013 interview with Antonio Spadaro, S.J.
6. [There are] those who ultimately trust only in their own
powers and feel superior to others because they observe certain rules or remain
intransigently faithful to a particular Catholic style from the past. A
supposed soundness of doctrine or discipline leads instead to a narcissistic
and authoritarian elitism, whereby instead of evangelizing, one analyzes and
classifies others, and instead of opening the door to grace, one exhausts his
or her energies in inspecting and verifying. In neither case is one really
concerned about Jesus Christ or others. . . It is impossible to think that a
genuine evangelizing thrust could emerge from these adulterated forms of
Christianity.
~Pope Francis, Evangelii
Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel), 94
7. Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” shall enter
the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father.
~Jesus Christ, Mt. 7:21
8. There are Christians whose lives seem like Lent without
Easter.
~Pope Francis, Evangelii
Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel), 6
9. The best of evangelizers allow themselves to be converted
and evangelized again and again and in that way grow in holiness.
~Cardinal Francis George, Archdiocese of Chicago, Spreading the Holy Fire, 11
10. The love of Christ compels us.
~The Apostle Paul, 2 Cor 5:14
OK, there are 11 reasons. . .
11. Saint Paul, after his encounter with Jesus Christ,
“immediately proclaimed Jesus.” So what are we waiting for?
~Pope Francis, Evangelii
Gaudium, 120; Acts 9:20, 22:6-21
