The Mission of Evangelization

The Church’s mission to evangelize should not ever be conflated with colonialism.  Evangelization, according to the Church is a spiritual movement that can embrace the culture of any civilization, whereby it adopts that culture into the family of Christ, having Christ as its head.  This work of evangelization is offered as an invitation, it is to be proposed and not imposed, since in any relationship or marriage, coercion is foreign to its authenticity. 

When politics and the Church are combined, the Church loses its way, falling into the same error that many made when trying to make Christ an earthly king who would dominate the nations by military power.  This violent short-sited paradigm itself was a temptation for Christ in the desert. If it was a temptation for Him, we better believe it would be a temptation for His Body, the Church.  Whenever we hear of a conflation of politics with the Church we often arrive at the false-messiah, to whom Christ was asked to bend the knee, so that he would rule over all such kingdoms.

When we look through the past, we see the Church not ordering its relation with political power rightly, and we need to be honest about that.  Without that honesty, we are unprepared for the evil one’s temptation.

As one indigenous man said on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) said today, the effects of the residential schools are inherited today.  Figures who have passed away in both government and the Christian churches, along with those alive today, are blame worthy.  But if those today are indifferent to be dedicated towards truth and reconciliation (in the genuine meaning of both these terms), then our inaction and indifference is to condone the ongoing effects of those decisions of others.

We cannot emphasize the good we do as if to eclipse the bad.  It’s like an abusive husband who tells us to only focus on the eye of his wife that isn’t black.  We do need to acknowledge our wrongs, and to do so primarily, as Christians, to unite ourselves to Christ.  We should remind one another of what happens to the communities in scripture that do not repent, and of those that do. 

Christ new from the beginning that great sins would exist in the Church he established, wolves were spoken about by Him.  But He still created the Church so that “some would be saved.”  The Church needs to therefore be sorrowful for offending Christ in failing him in all the times we have consented to that temptation in the desert to reduce His mystical body to a governmental agenda, and we ought to be sorrowful for offending those who were unjustly taken from their families. 

As Fr. Cristino Bouvette states, a priest who is also indigenous, this is still happening by the government today.  Many indigenous families are separated from their family members, water is not offered to them, and the records the government had were burned. The Church and the government united to create this mess, and we need to unite to offer healing.

The mission of the Church is still to evangelize, and what better way than to be Christ to those who have wrongly witnessed to a cruel false-messiah.

Photo: Rosie Frasier, Unsplash / PD-US

Fr. Christopher Pietraszko

Fr. Christopher Pietraszko

Fr. Christopher Pietraszko serves in the Diocese of London, Ontario, Canada. He has a blog and podcast at Fides et Ratio; he also blogs at Father Pietraszko’s Corner.

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  1. Pingback: 5 Fascinating Facts About the Crucifix, Socked by a Demon, and More Great Links! - JP2 Catholic Radio

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