Modern Day Evangelist
Posted by Robyn Lee in Faith on Wednesday, November 11, 2009 7:00 PM
Currently I am preparing for the comprehensive exams for my master’s degree in dogmatic theology at Holy Apostles College. Luckily one of my friends (from Christendom College) is a professor at Holy Apostles and he agreed to meet with me weekly to go over the material.
We are poring over topics such as, human happiness, the ethics of marriage, sin, and even human freedom. You’d think with all this schooling I would be fully prepared to answer any theological question thrown at me. I can spout out verbatim the definitions in the Catechism, but when a scared 16-year-old confides that she wants to get an abortion, my textual definition will not give her comfort. The reality is, I have about 30 seconds to tell her she is not alone and to convince her that the life inside of her is worth the humility, the rejection, and the hardship she is about to face.
I admit that with all my higher education, I struggle with being concrete. How do you sum up a catechism definition in 140 characters or less?
I realize though, that when I need it, the Holy Spirit helps me to weave those technical definitions into parables.
For example, on a NYC bound train I got into an intense conversation with a guy about suffering, sexual ethics and even Galileo! The stranger next to me on the train won’t agree to come to a six-week course on the Theology of the Body, but he almost falls on the floor when I tell him that I am waiting until marriage. His fascination (like I’m some rare species at the science museum), brings more questions.
I won’t define John Paul II’s Personalistic Norm, but I will correct his false pretense that the Church thinks sex is evil. I explain that the Church holds the sexual act to be a beautiful, holy and selfless gift between a man and a woman in marriage. My train friend looks shocked and states: “that must be a new teaching in the Church.” I smile and respond, “it has always been that way.”
Catholics have a way of effecting people without even realizing it. How about you? Are you a modern day evangelist?
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