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136 • Part I. The Creed: The Faith Professed
Christ. This is evangelization. Fr. Alvin Illig (1926-1991), a Paulist priest,
devoted his life to making evangelization a priority in the Church of
the United States. He helped us recover the great Commission of Jesus
Christ to evangelize the world. He composed some practical ways to
evangelize in an American context. Here are a few of his thoughts:
1. Are non-Catholic Christians guilty of separation from
the Church?
One cannot charge with the sin of the separation those
who at present are born into these communities [that
resulted from such separation] and in them are brought
up in the faith of Christ, and the Catholic Church accepts
them with respect and affection as brothers. . . . All who
have been justified by faith in Baptism are incorpo-
rated into Christ; they therefore have a right to be called
Christians, and with good reason are accepted as brothers
in the Lord by the children of the Catholic Church. (CCC,
no. 818, citing UR, no. 3)
2. What does
particular Church
mean for Latin Catholics?
The phrase “particular church,” which is first of all the
diocese . . . refers to a community of the Christian faith-
ful in communion of faith and sacraments with their
bishop ordained in apostolic succession. These particular
Churches “are constituted after the model of the universal
Church; it is in these and formed out of them that the one
and unique Catholic Church exists.” (CCC, no. 833, citing
LG, no. 23)
3. What is the principal vocation of the laity in the Church?
By reason of their special vocation it belongs to the laity
to seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal
affairs and directing them according to God’s will. (CCC,
no. 898, citing LG, no. 31)
FROM THE CATECHISM