SWLC Study Week - Father Leon Strieder

Theology professor, author and priest from the Diocese of Austin, Texas, Father Leon Strieder offered a different view of evangelization in his workshop “Evangelization Misunderstood.”

“It’s not about winning argu­ments. It’s about winning hearts,” said Father Strie­der, who wrote the book “Evangeli­zation: Building and Rebuilding the Kingdom: Is­sues of Language, Culture, and Con­version.”

“Some folks think evangeliza­tion is apologet­ics. In fact, apolo­getics only works for the already convinced. It helps folks con­firm their faith,” he said. “To reach folks who have little faith, we must be better listeners.”

Father Strieder made a distinction between evangelization and “evan­gelism,” the spreading of the Chris­tian gospel by public preaching or personal witness.

“Street preaching or knocking on doors was not a part of early Christianity,” he said. “And it is highly probable that apologetics actually played a very minor role in evangelization in the early Church.”

What matters most is that the people being evangelized have to be able to hear our message, and for that to happen, we have to listen to them first, he added. “The problem is that we have never asked to have a discussion.”

Father Strieder had strong words to describe those who use evangeli­zation as a pretext for conversion.

“The desire of some is to force conversion and then judge those who do not respond as wished. This is not evangelization but tyranny.”

“Evangelization must also include living in peace with those who do not believe,” he continued. “If there is no love, there can be no freedom or faith.”

Greater attention needs to be paid to individual conscience, Father Strieder said. “If the person does not understand the word spoken, if they do not find a meaning of their own, there cannot be any communica­tion or understanding.
While there is proper concern about a certain relativism in which truth is whatever a person makes it, this must not lead to the denial of the dignity of the subjective conscience of the person, even when misguided.”

We must also consider that despite what might seem obvious error in our eyes, that only God knows what resonates deeply in a person, Father Strieder added. “He knows our hearts better than the thickness of our skulls.”

“God always makes his love available. We have to hope that every person has enough desire and humility to say ‘Yes, Lord,’ … (but) God loves us even if we are wrong and stupid.”

Father Strieder looked at the linguistic and his­torical development of the discussion over which should come first: baptism or catechesis.

Studying the Great Commission found in Mt 28:19-20, he noted a discrepancy between the older Greek text and the subsequent Latin transla­tion. In Greek, he said, the text has Jesus’ man­date being to “make disciples of all nations” as a strict imperative. However, in Latin, the impera­tive is to “teach all nations.”

“Historically, we have been more concerned with baptism rather than catechesis,” Father Strie­der said. He cited the example of Charlemagne, the first Catholic emperor of the Roman Empire from the eighth century who mandated the con­version and baptism of his troops under penalty of death. He also mentioned the early Europeans who brought Christianity to North America and which led to the baptism of up to 100,000 Native Americans in Latin America.

“They (Native Americans) didn’t even under­stand the language,” he said. “Faith is a gift. Not necessarily all receive it.”

If faith is not always received, how can God save those without it, Father Strieder asked rhe­torically.

By looking to Matthew 25 and the parable of the goats and the sheep, right actions and faith can be reasonably ascertained. “Is faith reason­able? Of course, it is!”

“If faith is not reasonable, we will not be able to speak to our world,” he added.

Christianity is a narrative theology; it tells a story that people can follow and learn from. Father Strieder cautioned against preaching how­ever, reminding that evangelization comes from hearing others.

“Often, preaching in general, and evangelical preaching in particular, is ineffectual at best and the cause of anger at worst,” he added. “Most people don’t like to be ‘preached at.’ It is per­ceived as arrogant and paternalistic precisely because the dignity of the person who is listening is ignored,” Father Strieder said.

By using narratives, one can connect “the world of the preacher and the world of the hearer or the world of the text and the world of the reader,” he added. “The hearer must hear some­thing which resonates with their truth or their own story.

It is part of the concept of the ‘inner teacher’ by which the person discovers the truth in themselves.”

It all goes back to hearing and listening, he added. “Faith and conversion are part of the dynamic of hearing. Something is spoken which must be responded to by the particular word of the hearer. Likewise, something is listened to which must find its relationship to what is spo­ken,” he said.

The failure of preaching without listening can be found even in the early Christian community, notably in the Acts of the Apostles as it reported on Paul’s missionary journeys.

The key to success is found in building “a long-term relationship with the person Jesus,” Father Strieder said.