Good News, Bad News

Evangelization, Conversion and the Crisis of Faith

A review of Father McCloskey's book by Ryan Anderson.

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"Have you ever thought of becoming a Catholic?" That is the question more of us should be posing. Or so argue C. John McCloskey and Russell Shaw in their new book. McCloskey, a Wall Street analyst turned Roman Catholic priest (of Opus Dei), and Shaw, a Catholic journalist and former communications director for the U.S. bishops' conference, propose a plan for Catholic renewal based on the personal apostolate of the lay faithful. Drawing from his experience as Washington's "convert maker"—notably credited with the conversions of Bernard Nathanson, Sam Brownback, Lawrence Kudlow, Laura Ingraham, Alfred Regnery, and Robert Novak—McCloskey peppers the book with the first-person written conversion accounts of those he's led into the Church. The result is a how-to guide for a Catholic apostolate—a word, the authors fear, that many Catholics don't know.

Along the way, McCloskey and Shaw fight against the corrupting tendencies of many who champion the "vocation of the laity" as entirely lay ministries, parish committees, and administrative structures—all of which tend only to clericalize the laity while failing to reach non-Catholics. In fact, the authors say, the authentic vocation of the laity is to be Christ in the middle of the world and to bring other people to Christ right in the middle of the world—not in the parish hall. This is the real work of an apostolate that must be carried out by the laity.

Mindful that only God causes conversion, the authors provide a concise road map on what Catholics can do to prepare the way: emulate the success of the early Christians by being models of love, service, and holiness; provide a compelling response to life's deepest questions by showing the relevance and centrality of Jesus and the intellectual coherence of the Catholic faith; educate themselves in history, theology, and apologetics—and don't be afraid to discuss them; invite others to experience Catholicism through the liturgy, intellectual tradition, and masterpieces of literature, music, and art; clarify misconceptions, relieve doubts, answer questions, and embody Christian joy.