Why? Well, for one thing, in my late thirties, I would still make the cut-off for being considered a Millennials, and Millenials are notoriously suspicious of mass-marketing, eschewing logos, slogans, and bright packaging. In fact, they are actively disengaging from direct marketing altogether.
They do, however, respond to user generated content (UGC), one of the few marketing techniques that have succeeded in engaging a millennial base. In essence, it is a shift in focus from marketing to to marketing with--something important to this age demographic. Millennials trust consumer opinions. Authenticity is important as well. Customer reviews unedited by the company (even for grammar or spelling mistakes) are by far the most trustworthy.
I have supported companies in the past that I believed in or that matched my values, companies that I felt valued my business and spoke to me with their message, delivered a quality product that met a particular need, whose customer service department was responsive and personal. The decision to buy a particular product or support a particular business was also made in large part based on reviews and word-of-mouth sharing of people’s real-life experience with the product.
What does any of this have to do with evangelization and the Church?
There are some of the opinion that as Catholics, we should not have to do any “marketing” to attract a new believer base at all. “Let them come on their own,” they reason, “if they want the Truth, they know where to find it. We’re not Protestants, after all.” This nonplussed attitude toward the demographic crisis facing the Church is, quite frankly, a little startling to me. While it is true I believe we are witnessing to a time in which “the Church will become small,” as then Father Joseph Ratzinger predicted, it is also true that “the future of the Church...will be reshaped by saints, by men, that is, whose minds probe deeper than the slogans of the day, who see more than others see, because their lives embrace a wider reality.”
I don’t want to give the impression that the Church is a business, or that we should take a kind of top-down corporate approach in evangelization. Quite the opposite. In my experience, the most effective kind of evangelization is grassroots, personal, and authentic. It doesn’t rely on programming or expensive advertising or top heavy initiatives, but responds to the lived experience of joy, fulfillment, and hope, a visible light shining in the midst of a gray and macabre postmodern environment, among ordinary Catholics simply living the faith with joy and conviction. In the light of such witness, mass-marketing and corporate advertising rings hollow and proves superfluous. But we need people to be such witnesses, to be saints, and that takes a degree of of investment in becoming an intentional disciple of Jesus Christ.
What does this look like in real life? What do “young people” want? They want the Truth, the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth. They can see through the jargon, and they don’t want to be marketed to by people who think they know what they need or want. They want a more traditional liturgy, the liturgical equivalent of “anti-marketing.” They want to hear testimonies of young people who have woken up to the lies of a secular, postmodern culture. They need to encounter people living the Faith and being public, joyful witnesses.
Although the principle of subsidiarity is typically applied to political and economic systems, the overarching concepts can be applied to the work of evangelization as well. In the Catechism we read that according to this principal “a community of a higher order should not interfere in the internal life of a community of a lower order, depriving the latter of its functions, but rather should support it in case of need and help to co-ordinate its activity with the activities of the rest of society, always with a view to the common good” (CCC 1883).
So what is this “community of a lower order?” In the social context of a subsidariast witness, it is, quite simply, the family. The family is a kind of domestic church (CCC 2204) and the essential building block of society. In the language of subsidiarity, “Authority, stability, and a life of relationships within the family constitute the foundations for freedom, security, and fraternity within society” (2207). The family, therefore, as an “institution is prior to any recognition by public authority, which has an obligation to recognize it” (2202)
St Teresa of Calcutta’s wisdom as it relates to evangelization was simple: “If you want to change the world, go home and love your family.” The family “is called to partake of the prayer and sacrifice of Christ,” and it “has an evangelizing and missionary task” (2205). In today’s day and age, in which half of children are not living with married parents and the nuclear family has become an anomaly rather than the norm, the family as evangelistic witness in opposition to the world cannot be overstated.
Evangelism starts at home. It can be the opening of one’s home to others, to invite them for dinner, to talk or bear their struggles over tea, to share the faith in an authentic and personal way. It doesn’t have to be formal and it doesn’t have to be scheduled. These are things we do as a family to instill an evangelistic spirit in our children and to teach them about charity and love of neighbor.
When I evangelize in the public sphere, I try to employ some basic practices.
I smile, because as St. Teresa of Calcutta said, “A smile is the beginning of love, and joy a net of love by which you can catch souls.” A smile is disarming, and makes approaching or interacting with someone a non-threatening prospect.
I share from a place of authentic experience of encountering Christ, and how he has changed my life. I try to do this in a place in which I meet the person where they are in their spiritual walk, and not make assumptions about them.
I speak to each person not with a one-size-fits-all message, but adapted to their particular experiences and circumstances. After all, St. Paul did not mass-produce a singular epistle and send it to the Romans, Corinthians, Ephesians, and Philippians. He knew to whom he was speaking--their unique struggles and experiences, their culture, their background--and tailored his letter accordingly.
I make every effort to be trustworthy, to not put forth falsehoods or empty promises about what a life of faith entails. If someone does not feel they can trust you, they will not listen to anything you say, no matter how well you pitch it. Many people have lost trust and been betrayed by those in the Church. I must not be one of those people.
I try to follow up periodically with those I’ve encountered, which is simply good business practice. It may be an invitation to attend Mass, sending a book to read or a sacramental, or simply a check in email. It should not feel pushy or threatening, but it should be regarded as an open invitation.
Finally, I pray regularly of course, because any kind of evangelization effort without prayer precludes the work of the Holy Spirit and is doomed to fail. If one is not committed to holiness and leading a life of prayer and integrity, you don’t have your “money where your mouth is,” so to speak. You have to walk the walk as well as talk the talk. “Do as I say, but not as I do” is a sure fire way to turn someone off from the faith. Millennials can smell a hypocrite from a mile away.
Catholicism is not a product that needs to be sold. But the pearl of great price, the teachings and saving power of our Lord, should also not be stuffed into a closet or left to gather dust. The world, especially the young, need Christ, and it is YOU that needs to bring it to them. You don’t need to wait until your parish develops a “program” to address this need, nor do you need permission from the Vatican to evangelize. You don’t need marketing material or a big budget, because you have everything you need in Scripture and the Catechism to proclaim the Good News. You don’t need a CRM or a mass-marketing campaign, you just need to be yourself.
The time is ripe for authenticity and witness. By nature of your baptism, you are called to be a worker in Christ’s vineyard, a light to the world, and, yes, a saint!