It was a beautiful answer from a man who had a childlike faith and love for his spiritual mother. It was also a true, albeit partial and incomplete answer.

On the other hand, considering the particular audience, it was a horrible answer. You have to think about how it comes across, just as Jesus always did – as one poster said, a little training in rhetoric would have been beneficial.

But Mary’s right about the root problem – lack of catechesis and formation. If all it took was the old, “If you died today, do you know where you’d go?” to get this guy to question his Catholic faith and lead him on the path to forsaking the sacraments, then obviously there was something a little defective in his Catholic catechesis, apologetics, formation, and as a result, his Catholic convictions. Isn’t that obvious?

I don’t find the man being 80 years a Catholic and yet his son had a Protestant funeral to be relevant. He died and cannot be faulted for where his funeral was held. Since his son was attending this Protestant church and since he was attending with his son, this is no surprise.

Moreover, the nature of the question, “I finally asked him one day, ‘If you died and stood before the Lord and He asked you why He should let you into heaven, what would you say?’”, requests this man’s answer. Since he is speaking in the first person to God, his answer, “I just ask the Virgin Mary to pray for me,” is telling. Let’s evaluate it.

His answer first brings forth that he is not guilty of the sin of presumption. The very question asked seems to expect some sort of presumption. Prayers for the Virgin implies he sees himself as a wretched sinner. In what way is this attitude different than St, Francis of Assisi or any other of the saints? The answer is, it’s not different, his attendance at a Protestant church aside, for we are evaluating his answer. Mary is Queen Mother and as such, asking for Mary’s prayers are quite noteworthy, for it has always been Mary’s role to bring us to Jesus.

Surely there will be objections about the failure of this Catholic man by attending a Protestant church, having a Protestant funeral, etc. There’s no doubt the man was far from a model Catholic in judging what the article reveals. Be that as it may, the man’s answer which is what is being criticized in the article, is actually the best thing about the man as you have revealed him, in my opinion.

I thought it was a very good article. But I think the argument should not be over what you think about the centrality of Christ in our salvation and in evangelization, but what the Church teaches – which is very clear. Below, are some quotes from Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II. Are those that disagree with your article willing to disagree with what these two Catholic men of God have taught in their writings and teachings.

Paul VI, Evangelization in the Modern World, Evangelii, Nuntiando

•”Evangelism will always contain – as the foundation, center, and at the same time the summit of its dynamism – a clear proclamation that, in Jesus Christ…salvation is offered to all men, as a gift of God’s grace and mercy.”

•”We wish to confirm once more that the task of evangelizing all people constitutes the essential mission of the Church. It is a task and mission which the vast and profound changes of present day society make all the more urgent. Evangelizing is in fact the grace and vocation proper to the Church, her deepest identity. She exists in order to evangelize…”

John Paul II, “The Mission of Christ the Redeemer, Redemtoris Missio

· “The Kingdom of God is not a concept, a doctrine, or program subject to free interpretation, but is before all else a person with the face of Jesus of Nazareth, the image of the invisible God. If the Kingdom is separated from Jesus, it is no longer the kingdom of God which he revealed…”

· “No believer in Christ, no institution of the Church can avoid this supreme duty: to proclaim Christ to all peoples.”

· “An essential characteristic of this missionary spirituality is intimate communion with Christ.”

· “It is not possible to bear witness to Christ without reflecting his image, which is made alive in us by grace and the power of the Holy Spirit.”

· “The new evangelism is not a matter of merely passing on doctrine, but rather of a personal and profound meeting with the Savior.”

· “The moment has come to commit all of the Church’s energies to a new evangelism [a reevangelization of Christian communities that have lost their original vigor] and to the mission ad gentes (the Church’s mission “to the nations,” regions not yet touched by Christianity).”

Other Quotes of John Paul II on the Centrality of Christ
· “Sometimes even Catholics have lost or never had the chance to experience Christ personally; not Christ as a mere ‘paradigm’, but the Living Lord: ‘the way, the truth, and the life’ (John 14:6).” John Paul II’s address to American Bishops

· “Evangelism cannot be new in its content since its very theme is always the one Gospel given in Jesus Christ.” John Paul II, “The Task of the Latin American Bishops,” Origins 12, March 24, 1983.