…comes from the always-interesting Brandon Vogt. And it’s a good one:
New research shows that 7% of Catholics contribute 80% of all donations and volunteer hours. It’s easy to cater everything to this group. We know they’ll sign-up, they’ll show up, they’ll subscribe, they’ll buy books, they’ll give. But every Catholic needs to ask this question: what am I doing to reach the other 93%? In the press conference announcing Fr. Robert Barron as a new auxiliary bishop in Los Angeles, he said, “The most significant challenge facing the Catholic Church today is the attrition of our own people.” So what am I doing to reach the large majority of inactive Catholics who aren’t frequenting our institutions, who don’t know or care much about Catholicism, and who who have drifted away from the sacraments? What about those even beyond the 93% who have never identified as Catholic—perhaps they identify as “atheist” or “none”—for whom Catholicism is not even on the radar? Am I truly engaging them or am I just catering to the already-engaged 7%?
I know what the answer is for me, and I’m not happy about it.
Read on. Pray on. Evangelize on. Consider the question. And if you don’t like the answer, how can you change it?
Are you one of those preaching to the converted? Or are you striving to make sure the Catholic message is heard by others, too?
As Brandon notes:
The mission of the Church is essentially outward. Evangelistically, it’s centrifugal, not centripetal. It’s about the 93% more than the 7%. Every Catholic parish, ministry, blogger, and newspaper needs to constantly ask this question: what am I doing for the 93%?
And today we celebrate...