Evening Lecture: Ethical Evangelization: “Not by Proselytizing”

Catherine E. Clifford

 

Date: January 31, 2018, from 7 to 8 p.m.

A recording of this lecture can be viewed here.

 

How might we respond to Pope Francis’ invitation to be more actively engaged in mission and evangelization, including his call to engage in common witness with other Christians in the service of humanity? At the same time, he insists, “It is not by proselytizing that the church grows, but ‘by attraction’” (EG 14). What are the basic “ground rules” for Christian evangelizing activity? This webinar explores conversations taking place today between the historic Christian churches and newer Evangelical and Pentecostal movements to consider this very question. The way we choose to answer it has profound implications for the proclamation of the Gospel in our time and the future shape of Christianity. 

 

Biography

Catherine E. Clifford is Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology at Saint Paul University. She holds a PhD in Theology from St. Michael’s College, and an STL from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. Her teaching and research interests lie in the areas of ecclesiology, ecumenism, and the history of the Second Vatican Council. She is the author of Decoding Vatican II: Interpretation and Ongoing Reception (Paulist, 2014), and Keys to the Council: Unlocking the Teaching of Vatican II (Liturgical Press, 2012), co-authored with Richard R. Gaillardetz. She is presently a consultant to the Global Christian Forum project on Mission and Proselytism, and a member of the Methodist–Roman Catholic International Commission.