It is estimatedthat by the year 2050 the whole of Latin (South) America will be Protestant. Once a Catholic continent, with the largest number of Catholics in the world, its people are abandoning, or already have abandoned, their Catholic faith and joined the spreading Evangelical churches and Pentecostal groups.
The most obvious reason given for this colossal loss to the Church is to be found in the old story of the tortoise and the hare: the undeniable spiritual dynamism of these churches, of their leaders and their members; while the same cannot be said of the Catholic Church.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or Mormons, as its members are known, was founded in New York in 1830 by one Joseph Smith. Its purpose is to restore the Gospel of Jesus Christ to its original fullness and purity, which Smith deemed to have been lost.Accordingly, every Mormon, while still young, has to devote two years of his life as a missionary, and at his own expense.Mormons emphasise a healthy life style: no caffeine, alcohol, drugs or tobacco, and little meat.
In 1831 the Jehovahs Witnesses came into existence.The present world, they believe, is under Satans control. A new millennium will follow when Christ who they believe is a human person will return and defeat Satan definitely. This is the Armageddon. Every baptised Witness is expected to spend time each week doing missionary work, as well as attending prayer meetings and Bible study sessions several times a week.
One has to admire the sincerity and zeal of these people, both Mormons and Jehovahs Witnesses, for their self-sacrificeand dedication to the onerous task of winning new converts. By the same token, there are many Evangelical churches, their followers ardently proselytising, with their simplified doctrine of salvation: of being saved, accepting Jesus Christ as ones personal Saviour, surrendering ones life to Christ, becoming a born again Christian.
Against this background of sincere, fervent, even passionate enthusiasm to make new disciples, followers of Christ, I recall what Pope John Paul II said in his apostolic letter Novo Millennio Ineunte (on entering the new millennium). His fervent call, exhorting, summoning all Catholics, every member of Christs mystical Body, the Church, to play an active part in the New Evangelisation. The newness is not in the programme, as John Paul reminded us: It already exists; it is the plan found in the Gospel and the living Tradition of the Church. The newness must be in us, everyone, young, old and in between, the learned and the unlearned.
We must gain new impetus in Christian living, the pope said, making it the force which inspires our journey of faithso that in him and with him we may proclaim Christ to the world. There are millions of Catholics in the world. In each one of us there is the most powerful force in the world: the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Risen Christ, the very life of God himself who is Love. Is this divine power imprisoned within you, or does it overflow on to others, through your speaking, your actions, your very person? Or are you a nothing Catholic, one whogoes to Mass on Sunday, says ones prayers, puts money in the collection basket and thats about all?
You are light for all the world. Like the lamp, you must shed light among your fellows (Mt 5:14:16)
