Bridging the Gap – some reflections on missional Evangelical ministry in a Catholic context Scott Brill – August 2012

This is an attempt to summarize briefly some of what I’ve learned over the past three years about the unique challenges and opportunities of applying InterVarsity New England’s mission of “advancing ’s Kingdom through whole- life conversion to Jesus” on Catholic-affiliated colleges and universities and with Catholic students. There is always the danger with brevity of over-simplification, but it is my hope that these reflections can help the staff and student leaders of the region get their bearings for working more effectively in these contexts.

The Great Divide The first, and possibly biggest, challenge is understanding the nature of the divide between Evangelicals and Roman Catholics. Often the starting point for tackling this is the theological and ecclesiological debates of the 16th century – especially around the doctrine of justification – which culminated in the Reformation. While this could be a pages-long, nuanced treatment, for the sake of space I think it’s fair to say this: over the past 50 years, significant theological work has been done to bridge this gap (see for example the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification1) and the recent debates within the Evangelical community over the nature of justification reveal a wide spectrum of conviction about what 400 years ago were -dividing issues. It has been my experience that the more significant gap between Evangelicals and Catholics is in our understanding of what the Church is and how it functions. Both communities see themselves as inheritors of the Apostolic witness (the post- resurrection commission of Jesus to his followers [see Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 1:4-8; 1 Cor. 11:23-26]). Evangelicals tend to see this witness as embodied in the Apostolic message (Scripture) and faithfulness to that. Roman Catholics would see it as embodied in Apostolic succession (through the bishops in communion with the Bishop of Rome) and faithfulness to that. The outworking of this then becomes the question of what is the focal point of worship/the Church? Again, Evangelicals would see it primarily as the Word (expressed in preaching, Bible study, singing or – for Pentecostals – “word gifts” like prophecy, tongues and healing). And for Catholics the focal point would be the Sacraments (expressed most profoundly in the Eucharist and Baptism). This divide is not entirely resolvable at this point (and so we are not a body of Christ in full community [communion]) – but I believe our fundamental divide is over an understanding of the nature of the Church and its outward expression, rather than “a different gospel” (Gal. 1:6-9). Therefore, we can share the good news of the Gospel together. As Pope Benedict eloquently expressed it a few years ago: Unfortunately, the issues that separate us from each other are many, and we hope that they can be resolved through prayer and dialogue. There is, however, a core of the Christian message that we can all proclaim together:

1 http://www.lutheranworld.org/LWF_Documents/EN/JDDJ_99-jd97e.pdf the fatherhood of God, the victory of Christ over sin and death with his Cross and Resurrection, and faith in the transforming action of the Spirit.”2

For InterVarsity to continue to take our place in this proclamation partnership, we need to become more effective at contextualizing our mission for Catholics. I want to suggest four areas where we can articulate better:

Conversion Often Catholics think we mean “conversion from Catholic to Protestant” (or possibly vice-versa). Here are some phrases that can help us enhance what we mean when we use that word: “awakening (or coming alive) to faith”, “affirming (or coming alive to) one’s Baptism.” These phrases could also express the experience of someone raised in an Evangelical church who is no longer actively involved (with slightly different language, depending on the Protestant tradition). I believe we can affirm together that anyone baptized or taught in a Christian faith tradition has already had some kind of encounter with Christ, and that when we give a “call to faith” we are either calling those folk back to faith or folk who have no Christian faith background to “first-time” faith. Also, our use of the term “whole-life conversion” in our mission statement can enrich what is typically the Evangelical understanding of conversion as a one- time point-in-time moment by adding the Catholic understanding of conversion as a lifetime experience of transformation into the image of Christ.

Evangelism/Evangelization In the Evangelical world, we talk about evangelism and understand it as something that individual do (e.g. – evangelists) and an activity that all Christian should be engaged in to some degree. Catholics will use the word “evangelization” rooted in an understanding of proclaiming the gospel as something the Church does. I believe both communities mean pretty much the same thing in their use of the words, and I feel free to use the terms interchangeably – while acknowledging that each emphasis can enrich something that is lacking in the other. Similarly, the Evangelical tradition emphasizes proclamation of the gospel with words; Catholic tradition emphasizes proclamation embodied in actions. And again, by bringing the worlds together we have an opportunity to enrich each other.

Worship Probably the biggest “cultural” gap that Catholic students encounter in InterVarsity is the experience of Evangelical-style worship. Since, as I mentioned above, the focus of Catholic worship is rooted in the Sacraments, the liturgy of the Mass is the primary structure for the Catholic worship experience. Evangelical worship tends to emphasize freedom of expression (within the confines of faithfulness to God’s Word) which can seem confusing and even overwhelming to folks who are not familiar with its traditions. I think it’s always helpful to continue to explain what we are doing and why we are doing it whenever we lead worship and prayer experiences that include folks who are new to our gatherings. What InterVarsity has learned about multi-cultural worship amongst Protestant

2 from a homily given during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, January 25, 2010 (source: ZENIT news service 100129) traditions3 can be expanded to include Roman Catholic worship and prayer traditions.

What is InterVarsity? Finally, we can grow in our ability to articulate the purpose and mission of InterVarsity in language for Catholic settings – either with students, Catholic Campus Ministry staff or Catholic donors. We are not a church, even by a Protestant definition, but parachurch (alongside the Church) or, as my Catholic theologian friend (and Brown IV alum) Dr. Vito Nicastro prefers, diakonochurch (serving the Church). We serve the mission of the Church as a mission society (in Protestant terms) or as a sodality or (Catholic terms). We offer to the Church the gifting (or charism – to use another Catholic term) that the Holy Spirit has developed in us over the years: to effectively bring the gospel to highly secularized college and university communities and call for a response of faith. And we are committed to seeing those who respond become more active in a local (modality) community of the Church.

Over the years of its ministry, InterVarsity has developed great skill at crossing cultural barriers for the sake of the Gospel. We are inheritors of a deep tradition of training tools (like the “Embracing Differences Diagram”) and contextualization strategies (like ethnic-specific ministry) that have allowed us to take risks and embrace personal discomfort for the sake of reaching into new and different communities. It is my hope and prayer that God will use the specific mission and our regional strategies of building and planting to compel us to more effective ministry with Catholic schools and Catholic students in New England.

3 see Chapter 4 – White People Worship? in A Transforming Vision. Paul Sorrentino. Doorlight Publications, South Hadley, MA. 2011.