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Another reason to love World Youth Day:
Islamic leaders in Australia may encourage participation in the 2008 World Youth Day celebration, in exchange for a promise from Catholic leaders that there will be no effort to convert young people of other faiths, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.
This summary is from CWNews - in the SMH’s own words:
The Catholic Church has given a commitment that it will not try to convert members of other religious denominations taking part in inter-faith forums and volunteering facilities.
The headline of the article speaks of a “truce”, presumably between Muslims and Catholics. I guess that for World Youth Day we’re allowed to abandon the call to preach the Gospel to all nations. Does that seem a little bit ironic to anyone else?
Once again, we are seeing the implementation of a freemasonic vision for the world: the harmony of all “faiths”, the cooperation of the world’s peoples, transcending particular dogma to work for utopia, here and now. What’s more important than preaching the Gospel? Well, hanging out with other people, sporting together (”The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils is also considering staging mixed-faith sporting competitions”), etc.
“Peace and co-operation between people of faith - especially the three great monotheistic traditions of the book - is an inspiration of most young people and given the tensions in our world, it is an urgent message for us to all hear,” Bishop Fisher said.
I don’t get it - what message are we hearing? Is being a “person of faith” a good in and of itself? As Catholics, do we pat a man on the back for being a “person of faith”? And what is this “book” that the Muslims are supposed to have in common with Jews and Catholics? Nor do Catholics and Jews have a “book” in common, nor, in fact, do “Christians”, since the protestants made their own Bible.
Not that Bishop Fisher is saying anything out of the ordinary for a Catholic bishop these days, but it’s still sad that this is the face of Catholicism, WYD, and that its coordinator thinks that the call to evangelization can be abandoned in order to have a giant lawn party.
St. Louis-Marie de Montfort,
Pope St. Pius X,
St. Joseph,
St. Ambrose of Milan,
St. Thomas Aquinas,
St. Francis (and St. Clare),
St. Catherine of Siena,
St. Alphonsus Ligouri,
St. John Chrysostom,
http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16030
I thought World Youth Day was a Catholic event. But then again I’m not surprised; you should have a look at their top non-Catholic Australian singer they got.
John Vennari of “Catholic Family News” has been reporting on less-than-Catholic activities at World Youth Day for some time.
Last was mine.
I guess that for World Youth Day we’re allowed to abandon the call to preach the Gospel to all nations. Does that seem a little bit ironic to anyone else?
While I share your concerns, I’d just point out that it’s rather narrow to equate the cessation of actively working to convert individuals to abandoning the call to preach the Gospel. In a very real way, WYD stands as one big sprawling testimony, a witness to the Faith which says a great deal just by being what it is. I know many a seminarian who’ve come back feeling even more committed to their vocation, and I know a couple who made the decision to give God a try at WYD.
It’s all about baby steps. One would hope that a Muslim coming to WYD would be able to catch a little bit of that, get curious, and start seeking the Truth. Actively confronting people of other faiths is often counter-productive, as anyone who’s had a Jehovah’s Witness knock on their door knows well.
As Catholics, do we pat a man on the back for being a “person of faith”?
In a manner of speaking, I suppose we do. There’s something to be said for those who are actively religious, because we’re all seeking spiritual truths. It’s a tough line to walk, however, between respecting someone’s dignity as a human person while simultaneously steering them toward the Truth without driving them away at the same time.
If it all comes down to Don’t Actively Convert Or We Won’t Come, you don’t actively convert: what the Muslim individual sees and hears is more likely to convert than any one-on-one meeting to begin with.
Unfortunately what they are likely to see may make them more fervent Muslims rather than Christians.
Rock music, men and women sleeping next to each other, immodest dress, etc. We’ve all seem the abuses and bad behavior from other WYDs.
It’s one thing to decide to not make an effort to convert non-Christians or non-Catholics, something that could be legitimate for a given activity (e.g. cooperating for famine relief, in a situation where the efforts at conversion would predictably fail and the famine relief would not happen if they were undertaken), although incomprehensible for a supposedly evangelistic event like World Youth Day. It is a different thing to promise to not try to convert non-Christians. I don’t see how that could not be sin.
John, events like WYD are a part of the John Paul II-styled “new evangelization,” which are aimed at evangelizing those who are already Catholics. The point isn’t to make new disciples; it’s to light a fire under the current ones.
And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest asked them, Saying: Commanding, we commanded you that you should not teach in this name. And behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine: and you have a mind to bring the blood of this man upon us. But Peter and the apostles answering, said: We ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers hath raised up Jesus, whom you put to death, hanging him upon a tree. (Acts 5: 27-30)
Saint Peter would never promise not to preach the Faith. Certainly he was not trying to walk a tightrope between offending and not offending in his manner of preaching it but rather provocative. I wonder what Saint Paul meant about preaching the Gospel in season and out of season? Good post, Josephe.