Download Ten Characteristics of Evangelical Catholicism

Ten Characteristics of Evangelical Catholicism
By George Weigel
In his book Evangelical Catholicism (2013), George Weigel chronicles the modern reformation of the
Catholic Church. According to the author, this reformation began under Pope Leo XIII in the late 1800s,
was accelerated by the Second Vatican Council, and continues to unfold in our time. Weigel uses the term
“evangelical” to describe a Catholicism rooted in the Gospel (or euangelion, Greek for “good news”).
Although this term has generally been used to describe certain Protestant denominations, the author
reclaims “evangelical” as an apt description of a vibrant Catholicism suited to bringing souls to Christ in
the 21st century. The ten characteristics of Evangelical Catholicism are:
1. Evangelical Catholicism is friendship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Evangelical Catholicism begins with knowing Jesus through personal encounter with Him. Through
friendship with Christ we come to know both the truth about God, our merciful Father, and the truth about
ourselves, as the sons and daughters of God. Christ, who draws us into the love of the Holy Trinity, enables
us to give ourselves to others in love.
2. Evangelical Catholicism affirms divine revelation and the teaching authority of the Church.
God has revealed Himself to us through Jesus-- the Way, the Truth and the Life. In a world marked by
radical skepticism and relativism, Evangelical Catholicism is grounded in the confession of Jesus as the
saving Truth each person seeks. Entering into friendship with Jesus means being united with the Body of
Christ, the Church. The Church, guided by the Pope and the Bishops in union with him, continues to teach
the truth of Christ “until He comes again.”
3. Evangelical Catholicism celebrates the seven sacraments as divinely given means of sanctifying life.
Friendship with Jesus Christ finds its origin and nourishment in the seven sacraments of the Church,
particularly Baptism and Holy Eucharist. Baptism incorporates us into the Body of Christ and allows us to
participate in God’s own life of love. In Holy Eucharist, which stands at the center of the evangelical
Catholic life, Our Lord feeds us with His own Body that we might be sustained for the journey of our lives.
In our weekly celebration of Holy Eucharist we meet the Risen One. Daily Mass enables evangelical
Catholics to hold before us that “great cloud of witnesses” who demonstrate the way for us to live out the
Gospel. Eucharistic adoration is another privileged place of deep encounter with the Lord wherein we may
share our hearts, concerns and the petitions of others with Him. Incorporated into the Body of Christ and
nourished by Holy Eucharist, the people of God derive the strength to love and to serve others through
mission and evangelization.
4. Evangelical Catholicism is a call to constant conversion of life.
Conversion requires both the rejection of evil and active participation in works of service and charity.
Evangelical Catholics refuse to be Catholic in name only, but rather seek to live out their call by turning to
the Lord and their neighbor in love. Conversion is our lifelong growth in loving the good and choosing it
always. Since sin is part of the human condition, we must renew our efforts daily. When we fail, we seek
reconciliation with God and with our neighbor through the sacrament of Penance. Regular confession is a
central part of personal growth and the place where we meet God, the Father of mercy.
5. Evangelical Catholicism is liturgically centered.
Evangelical Catholicism embraces the ancient traditions of Catholic worship and the authentic renewal of
the liturgy according to Vatican II. Beauty, which is the cornerstone of good liturgy, is a primary means for
understanding God and the ways of God. Through its architecture, vestments, music and other tangible
elements the Church helps us to encounter the living God. Beautiful liturgy reminds us that the liturgy is
first and foremost God’s work and not ours, an act of sacramental worship and not something we create.
Evangelical Catholic liturgy is “mission-driving”: Holy Mass celebrated well allows us to leave with new
missionary energy.
Page 1 - 013 Sacred Heart Parish
6. Evangelical Catholicism is biblically centered.
Immersion in the biblical Word of God is an essential component of Evangelical Catholicism. Holy
Scripture forms the basis for Catholic preaching, teaching and evangelism. It is a key source for the life of
piety and Christian practice. Thus Evangelical Catholics strive to read Scripture daily. The Church reads
Scripture “as a whole” within the context of all of salvation history and of divine revelation and with the
goal of encountering the Lord.
7. Evangelical Catholicism is hierarchically ordered.
The Church is hierarchically ordered because our Lord wills it to be so. In a historical and cultural context
where authority is held suspect, the evangelical Catholic acknowledges and assents to divine authority as
transmitted in the unbroken chain of apostolic succession in the Church. Within our hierarchically ordered
Church are a variety of vocations in which the Church finds her full expression. By vocation the priest is a
living icon of Christ —one who makes the Lord Jesus present. As such it is the role of the priest primarily
to teach, preach, catechize and administer the sacraments. By vocation the laity are primarily evangelizers.
It is the role of the laity to bring Christ into the home, the workplace, and the neighborhood and into
culture, economics, media and politics.
8. Evangelical Catholicism is both culture-forming and countercultural.
Evangelical Catholicism creates its own culture. Friendship with the Risen Lord results in distinctive habits
and language. For the evangelical Catholic Sunday is reserved for the Lord, wrongs are forgiven, all life is
valuable, and heaven is the context of our present decision-making. They have a unique story —the Gospel
---which is the touchstone of both thinking and living. And this distinctive culture is at the same time
countercultural. It goes against the grain of today —secularism, relativism, consumerism, materialism,
nihilism. These threats cannot be met by lukewarm Catholicism. Only a robust evangelical Catholicism
lived courageously can attract souls in a world that denies the very existence of God and of transcendent
moral truth.
9. Evangelical Catholicism enters the public square.
Evangelical Catholicism is not a private matter: it enters the public square boldly. This requires a twofold
literacy in the language of both faith and reason. Nourished by the life of faith, we must use our reason to
dialogue with, inform and influence the wider culture. Evangelical Catholics are fluent with the language of
reason, so that moral and cultural arguments for the common good and for the defense of the dignity of life
can be proposed in terms comprehensible to a secular society.
10. Evangelical Catholicism is ordered to mission.
Pope John Paul II noted that the Church is mission. The Church exists for the proclamation of the Gospel.
Evangelical Catholics are missionaries. While we “wait in joyful hope the coming of the Lord” we live the
great commission of the Lord to go and spread the Good News. Evangelical Catholics believe that the
Gospel and the sacraments have been given to us that we might give them to others.
_______________________________
The synopsis of Weigel’s work was prepared by Dr. Jessica Murdoch, Professor of Theology, Villanova
University.
Page 2 - 013 Sacred Heart Parish