Evangelical Catholicism

Details: 17 May 2013

"Day after day the churches grew stronger in faith and increased in number" (Acts 16:5). Pentecost is the birthday of the Church, which Jesus Christ founded. It is worthy of the solemnity with which the Catholic Church celebrates it!

At the first Pentecost, 50 days after Jesus rose from the dead, the Body of Christ, the Catholic Church, received her soul, the Holy Spirit. Stated another way, just as Adam had the breath of life (his immortal soul) breathed into him, so now the Bride of Christ, the Church, receives the Breath of God’s life and love (the Holy Spirit) at Pentecost.

Just as the human body lost its immortality as a consequence of Original Sin, so also the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church, suffers from this infamous fall from God’s grace. The head of the Mystical Body is Jesus, while the soul is the Holy Spirit. Both Jesus and the Holy Spirit are immortal Divine Persons while we, the members of that Body of Christ, have a fallen human nature, which weakened our wills and darkened our intellects.

This doesn’t sound like a very desirable existence. But wait! Before we get all negative about our plight, we should know that we have much working in our favor. After all, we are celebrating Pentecost, the birthday of the Catholic Church, the Bride of Christ, which means we have reason for hope because we have two divine advocates pleading our cause: Jesus and the Holy Spirit. In addition, we have the whole court of heaven, the souls in Purgatory and the members of the Church here on earth praying for us. So, cheer up. We have plenty to be happy about!

Have you ever heard of a CINO? That’s a Catholic-In-Name-Only. There are plenty of them around. In fact, they are probably the majority. But we can be confident that there were no CINOs on that first Pentecost. They were all "pure-breds," so to speak, Catholic to the core. Filled with the Holy Spirit, they demonstrated an evangelical Catholicism that in our day needs to be recaptured. It is no more than a rediscovery of our true identity as Christ’s disciples.

Jesus had 12 quality Catholics (the Apostles) upon whom He founded His Church. He had 120 quality Catholics present on Pentecost Sunday. That number increased to 3,000 by that very evening because of those first disciples who were not satisfied to be just nominal Catholics. It is really heartening to be around informed Catholics who are authentic witnesses to their faith. They are happy, engaging, enthusiastic, focused and alive! They are apostolic—that is, willing to do anything to keep spreading the faith genuinely by their Christ-like lives.

The Mission Statement of Jesus is: "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you" (Mt 28:19). We are to help fulfill this mission of Jesus.

The Catholic Church needs a rebirth of members who are more like the first Pentecost Catholics (not just more CINOs). We must be willing to make sacrifices and go the extra mile. It truly will be a ‘happy birthday’ for the Catholic Church when the growth in true evangelical Catholicism purges the Church of those who are Catholic in name only. May the effects of that first Pentecost be our inspiration to take an active role in carrying out Christ’s mission.