| January 14, 2008 | Volume 83, Number 6 | |
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Evangelical ChristiansBecause they are demonstrative about their religious faith, evangelical Christians are often singled out by the media for sound bites and photo ops of a group of them with arms uplifted as they pray to God about matters important to them. The same media often intimates that these people — evangelical Christians — are overly emotional. Their religious fervor is sometimes looked upon as regressive. They are viewed by some as intolerant because they uphold standards which others ignore or blatantly disregard. In a sense, they are dismissed as being less than intelligent. You can almost feel the smug disdain some commentators have for the people they call evangelical Christians. Seeing people pray aloud with fellow believers is cause for derision or humor by some in the media. Well, let’s not be so dismissive. Catholics, as well as other Christians, are supposed to be evangelical in that we are called to proclaim the Gospel that Jesus came to give us eternal life and save us from spiritual death. Isn’t it Christ’s message we want to hear when we go to church? We shouldn’t just leave it behind when we walk out of church on Sunday. Prayer should be a part of our daily life. God should guide us as we study the issues and learn where the candidates stand on these issues. While we’re not all called to be missionaries, we should be glad when others take on this challenge and go out and spread the Gospel message. We pray for vocations to the priesthood so others can bring Christ’s message through the sacraments. Evangelization is key to the Catholic Diocese of Richmond and the Catholic Church worldwide. In this way Catholics can rightfully be called evangelical Christians, but many Catholics would likely resist this label. We’ll certainly see and hear more of this as the Presidential campaign in 2008 gets closer. Any candidate who is perceived as speaking too much about his or her faith values would be viewed with suspicion by most in the media. Regarding evangelization, Catholics in Virginia are urged to consider their faith values when they participate in Catholic Advocacy Day on Monday, Jan. 28 in Richmond. The event is sponsored by the Virginia Catholic Conference. While we’re not called to preach about our Catholic faith when we meet legislators, we ask them to vote for legislation which reflects Christian values and helps our less fortunate brothers and sisters. Our evangelical roots compel us to do that.
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