Pope St. Paul VI’s message of evangelization resounds for 50 years

By John J. Boucher | Special to The CFP

Years ago, our young adult group was asked to go door-to-door in our inner-city parish “evangelizing.” We knew evangelicals did this by asking people, “Have you met Jesus?” and Jehovah’s Witnesses often asked, “Do you know the world might end tonight?” But neither of these approaches seemed Catholic to us. So, we greeted people with, “Hi, we are from St. John’s Parish. Would you like to talk about the pope and the sacraments?” Many were surprised. Some invited us in, and a few came back to the Catholic Church.

A few years later, on December 8, 1975, Pope St. Paul VI published On Evangelization in the Modern World. It was, and still is, an inspiration and a challenge to find more ways to bring Christ into our everyday lives. Here are ten individual challenges from Pope St. Paul VI’s document. Each can be considered for reflection or for guidance in ministries.

1. Jesus is the first and greatest evangelizer.
“Jesus himself, the Good News of God, was the very first and the greatest evangelizer; he was so through and through: to perfection and to the point of the sacrifice of his earthly life” (EMW, 7).  
Believers have little capacity to evangelize until meeting Jesus in a real way and consciously choosing him as the ongoing center of our lives. Doing so, is the beginning of missionary discipleship.

2. Evangelization is the essential mission of the Church.
“’Evangelizing… constitutes the essential mission of the Church.’ … Evangelizing is in fact the grace and vocation proper to the Church, her deepest identity. She exists in order to evangelize …” (EMW, 14).
The Church’s mission to evangelize is meant to shape all worship, all parish groups, all service. This mission is not only for priests, nuns, and brothers sent to foreign lands. Each of us is sent to share our faith with the people around us, to share Jesus as the most essential person in our lives and in the Catholic Church.

3. Silent witness is the first act of evangelization.
“The first means of evangelization is the witness of an authentically Christian life, given over to God in a communion that nothing should destroy and at the same time given to one’s neighbor with limitless zeal” (EMW, 41).  
Sharing faith is a call that flows from our efforts to be holy, to live lives of self-giving, and to offer sacrificial love. Even if we have to start over again every day.

4. Words and proclamation are essential in evangelizing.
 “There is no true evangelization if the name, the teaching, the life, the promises, the kingdom and the mystery of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God are not proclaimed” (EMW, 22).  
When it comes to evangelizing, both actions and words are necessary.  We need a willingness to share the Gospel message through brief faith stories, moments of prayer, or conversations that include Jesus.

5. The Holy Spirit is the power and presence of God in evangelizing.
“Evangelization will never be possible without the action of the Holy Spirit … Techniques of evangelization are good, but even the most advanced ones could not replace the gentle action of the Spirit” (EMW, 75).
Evangelizing relies on the person of the Holy Spirit, empowering us to evangelize, and enabling another to accept the Gospel message. I taught children’s catechetical classes, but felt empty doing so. I needed more of God in my life. And I found that more on a college retreat, where I surrendered my life to the Holy Spirit as a daily companion.

6. The Church herself must be constantly evangelized.
“The Church is an evangelizer, but she begins by being evangelized herself. … She needs to listen unceasingly to what she must believe, to her reasons for hoping, [and] to the new commandment of love” (EMW, 15).
I am, and we are all, sinners who hurt others and neglect God’s ongoing invitations to personal and communal holiness. For me, humbly listening to God is an important antidote to sin.

7. Evangelizing requires personal and societal conversion.
 “This kingdom and this salvation … are available to every human being as grace and mercy …  through a total interior renewal which the Gospel calls metanoia; it is a radical conversion, a profound change of mind and heart” (EMW, 10).
Evangelization calls for interior change, and for the transformation of the values of society, especially through compassionate social justice.

8. Evangelizing respects cultures yet remains independent of them.
“What matters is to evangelize man’s culture … always taking the person as one’s starting-point and always coming back to the relationships of people among themselves and with God … permeating them all” (EMW, 20).
We strive to integrate the Gospel into the cultures of our families, work places and cities, allowing the Gospel to transform our vision of the human person, our patterns of relationships, and political belief systems.

9. Every baptized Christian is called to be an evangelizer united with the Church.
“[We evangelize] not in virtue of a mission which [we attribute] to [ourselves] or by a personal inspiration, but in union with the mission of the Church and in her name” (EMW, 60).
There is no such thing as a “lone ranger” Catholic evangelizer. An individualistic approach to evangelizing is not fully Catholic. We need mutual support. We need guidance from our pastors and appointed leaders.  

10. To evangelize, we need a joyful willingness to risk our lives.
“Let us preserve the delightful and comforting joy of evangelizing, even when it is in tears that we must sow …  [because many need hope from those] who have first received the joy of Christ, and who are willing to risk their lives” (EMW, 80).
The call to live a joyful Catholic, missionary lifestyle has colored how we enjoy marriage as a sacrament, how we raised children, and our desire to teach in the Church. Today, we might add foregoing social media at meal times, or sharing what we noticed about God’s presence or absence today. What does this call mean to you today?


– John J. Boucher is a frequent contributor to the Catholic Free Press, author/co-author with his wife Therese of Sharing the Faith that You Love, Praying for Our Adult Sons and Daughters, and many articles and books on Catholic Evangelization. They host the website, CatholicEvangelizer.com, and John is administrator of the worldwide Facebook page, “Holy Spirit Calling”