Simeon’s Prophesy v. The Blob, by Brad Miner 

And Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary his mother: Behold this child is set for the fall, and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted. (Luke 2:34)

By 1973, there’d been one papal trip to the U.S. – by Paul VI in 1965, and that was for all of 15 hours. And before that visit, no pope had even left Italy since Pius VII was forcibly removed to France by Napoleon’s troops in 1812. Yet Catholicism managed to encourage converts.

I would never argue against evangelization. In one way or another, evangelizing is what The Catholic Thing’s contributors do daily. We proclaim, “Jesus Christ and him crucified.” (1 Corinthians 2:2) But clerics daily diving into the media scrum or popes having wings (John Paul II made 104 pastoral trips outside of Italy) may not be as conducive to conversions as are the Faith’s doctrines and rituals. …

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