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*Image: The Forerunners of Christ with Saints and Martyrs by (probably) Fran Angelico, c. 1423-24 [National Gallery, London]. This was the inner right predella panel of the San Domenico Altarpiece in Fiesole, Italy, Blessed Fra Angelico’s birthplace.

By Stephen P. White, The Catholic Thing, Aug. 26, 2021

Stephen P. White is executive director of The Catholic Project at The Catholic University of America and a fellow in Catholic Studies at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.

Stephen P. WhiteFor two thousand years, the Church has been proclaiming the Good News. Billions of souls have been converted by the power of the Gospel and have come to faith in Christ. Saints innumerable have lived and died as witnesses to this truth: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.”

Yet the Church today, especially in the developed world, struggles to proclaim the Gospel. Why? Why does it seem that, at least in some parts of the world, the Church has stalled out in her mission to evangelize?

One partial explanation, I think, is that the Church does proclaim the Gospel, but our materialistic age has been inoculated against receiving it. It is hard to proclaim salvation to a world enamored of the idea that it can save itself. And the illusion of control is an age-old temptation. …

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