FACULTY SPOTLIGHT
In your book , you talk about the urgency of evangelization . What makes it more urgent now ?
It is a paradox to say that evangelization is urgent today . There has never been a day or night that evangelization was not urgent since the resurrection of Jesus . Evangelization is urgent by definition . From its Latin root urgere (“ to press , urge ”), the urgency of evangelization incessantly presses on our collective conscience of the Church to “ go make disciples of all nations ” ( Mt 28:19 ) and to “ be his witnesses to the ends of the earth ” ( Acts 1:8 ). This urgency reminds us that “ now is the day of salvation ” ( 2 Cor 6:2 ) and that the Holy Spirit is the principal agent of authentically inculturated evangelization . There is a paradox evident in the term “ New Evangelization ” as well since there is a perennial newness of the mercy of God and conversion of heart . On what day are we not called to deeper conversion ? When do we experience the mercy of God as moribund , rusty , passé , or obsolete ? Instead , we profess that “ the LORD ’ s acts of mercy are not exhausted , his compassion is not spent ; they are renewed each morning — great is your faithfulness !” ( Lam 3:22 – 23 ).
In the writing of your book , what did you come to learn or appreciate about the Black Catholic experience ?
On Jan . 23 , 1943 , Duke Ellington performed his jazz symphony Black , Brown and Beige at Carnegie Hall in a bold effort to raise American jazz music to a level of respect and rigor equal to European classical music . This composition aimed to challenge and reform normative racist attitudes rooted in the American collective unconscious . Something similar is at work within the New Evangelization of the Catholic Church : a summons to racial justice anchored in the truth that we are one body in Christ ( 1 Cor 12 ) and renewed by the “ vision of a great multitude , which no one could count , from every nation , race , people , and tongue ” ( Rev 7:9 ). Chapter 6 of Motown Evangelization features the powerful essay “ Race in the Catholic Imagination ” by Black Catholic theologian Cary Dabney . Prof . Dabney was a consultant for the late Jesuit Bishop George Murry ( Diocese of Youngstown ), who began serving as the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops Chair of the Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism in 2017 , advising Bishop Murry on racial justice issues in light of the growing tradition of Catholic social teaching . Prof . Dabney ’ s essay continues to instill in me the truth that “ the human race is rooted in the loving , creative act of God , who made us and called us to be a family , one human family , made in God ’ s image and likeness . There is no basis to sustain that some are made more in the image of God than others ” ( 105 ).
What particular hurdles are evangelizers facing in the postpandemic / postmodern world ?
In a word , fragmentation . Chapter 8 of Motown Evangelization presents my essay “ Cor Quietum : Saint Augustine and Saint Teresa of Ávila on the New Evangelization ,” in which I reference French philosopher Jean-François Lyotard ’ s 1979 diagnosis of postmodernity with its defining characteristics of ( 1 ) skepticism toward metanarratives , ( 2 ) computerization of society , ( 3 ) commodification of knowledge , and ( 4 ) spiritual and relational fragmentation . In our era , we are witnessing “ the fragmentation of storylines . The fragmentation of personhood and community . The fragmentation of knowledge . The fragmentation of the body and the soul . . . The nuclear family , as well as the extended family , have been fragmented to the point of nonrecognition ” ( 132 ). Effective evangelization needs a pastoral strategy to find common identity markers that unify the fragmentation of the plurality of parts in people ’ s lives . Evangelizers must remain students of culture , conversant in those trending tropes of meaning that bear potential to gather and reunite scattered souls within the hull of the Church . More concretely speaking , Motown Families of Parishes need buses to go out , pick people up , and bring them into the fold of faith .
What inspired you to start the Catholic Fragments and The Shoeless podcasts ? Is your listening audience different from your reading audience ?
These two podcasts are part of a larger online apostolate that I began with my 14-year-old son , Callum , in April of 2022 called My Interior Castle ( myinteriorcastle . com ). At that time , I sensed the call to evangelize on the “ digital continent .” The website houses links to my books , an original blog , free self-paced online minicourses , theological and spiritual advising , and two weekly podcasts . I promote this content through social media , and I have witnessed it touching many lives , facilitating new encounters with the Risen One . The Catholic Fragments podcast features expert commentary on various writings from Scripture , the saints , and Church teachings . The Shoeless podcast is co-hosted by my wife , Megan , and I and is framed as a candid conversation about marriage , parenting , and living Catholic with abandon . New topics are published weekly for both podcasts . The growing audience is similar yet different from my reading audience , with people listening from 36 countries worldwide .
What Church theologians or philosophers do you wish were more integrated into the mainstream ?
All of them — including children . Catholic thinking is inherently anthological and symphonic . It avoids ideology and renounces intellectual reductionism , whether in the forms of fundamentalism or relativism . It listens with both ears that extend from both sides of the head . There is a reason that we have two ears and one mouth . Authentic Catholic theology and philosophy remain ready to learn from the mouth , pen , and meaningful work of the other , no matter if the voice is old or new , veteran or juvenile . The pedagogical genius of the child must be regarded as on par with the abstract sophistication of the adult . A theology of childhood must be brought together with a theology of adulthood . For Catholic thought , the end is the beginning because in the beginning is the end . shms . edu 33