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Reason 4: "Some were hurt in some way by Catholics -- clergy or laity -- and have not been reconciled."
Sometimes an inactive Catholic simply needs a practicing Catholic to listen attentively and empathetically to the hurt in his or her past. It may be a difficult Catholic school experience. It may be a story of a priest who was insensitive to them at the funeral of their mother or father. It may be a story about disillusionment with the behavior of a Catholic lay person. Whatever the story -- and we know there are many -- we need to listen well. Your simple listening, your gentle apology on behalf of the Church, is part of the reconciling ministry of Christ. You become an instrument of grace. Such a moment can result in the person going to the Sacrament of Reconciliation the following Saturday night and returning to Mass and receiving Communion on Sunday for the first time in many years.
The National Conference of Catholic Bishop's 1992 statement Go and Make Disciples: A National Plan and Strategy for Catholic Evangelization in the United States described the refined sensitivity that is necessary: "We want to let our inactive brothers and sisters know that they always have a place in the Church and that we are hurt by their absence as they are. We want to show our regret for any misunderstandings or mistreatment. And we want to help them see that, however they feel about the Church, we want to talk with them, share with them and accept them as brothers and sisters. Every Catholic can be a minister of welcome, reconciliation, and understanding to those who have stopped practicing their faith."6
Reason 5: "Some are in conflict with the teachings of the Church on...matters of faith and morality."
We mentioned above that the Church is one, holy, Catholic and Apostolic. Being apostolic means that the belief of the Catholic Church is founded upon the words and witness Jesus Christ left with his Apostles. It is his teachings that we profess. We call this the deposit of faith which makes up the moral and doctrinal teaching of the Catholic Church. We cannot "spin" these truths to satisfy polls or the contemporary American cultural myopia. But what we can do is improve the way we communicate the truth of our Church's teaching. Catholic truth will always find a home in a heart that is sincerely searching for the truth.
As a Church, we still need to absorb the teachings of our Holy Father's The Splendor of Truth and On the Relationship between Faith and Reason which not only diagnose the destructive influence of moral relativism and the culture of death but show beautifully the consistent Catholic belief that faith and reason are designed to work in harmony. Each of us needs to work on understanding the faith and being able to give a reason for the faith that is within us.
Often faith is effectively shared over a cup of coffee or during a long walk with a good friend That's the way friendship works. We discuss our experiences. We reveal our deepest convictions about life. We influence the choices and life direction of others.
Witnessing to Christ to our friends and neighbors in a way that is bold and natural is like any skill. We need to develop it.
We not only live our Catholic faith vibrantly, we also reflect on our personal faith experiences so that we can verbally share them with others. We study the marvelous logic and reasoning behind our Catholic teachings so that we can communicate the truth that will set people free.
Cardinal Newman put it well more than a century ago: "I want a laity...who know their faith, who enter into it, who know just where they stand, who know what they hold and what they do not, who know their Creed so well that they can give an account of it, and who know enough of history to defend it. I want an intelligent well-instructed laity."7
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