The New Evangelization: What Are We Catholics Not Hearing?

Truth, beauty and goodness calling. Is anyone listening?

To some, the title of this meditation might come across as a bit pretentious or condescending, but even yours truly, a simple Catholic layman, am not exempt from considering the preceding question.

The situation seems somewhat obvious given growing evidence of God's movement drawing people into communion, and yet some (many?) seem deaf to what's happening.

If repetition is any indication, then the amount of information - not heterodox thinking, mind you - presented in and through diverse forums heralding truth, goodness and beauty, might be worth taking seriously.

There are internet forums wherein self-proclaimed progressive prophets cuddle or where hyper-ultra-trads huddle, but schism-adjacent and alter-magisterium forums aren’t the focus here. Griping and scheming and doing little or nothing but complain that the Church or the Liturgy is not fashioned in our own traddy or faddy image is a waste of time and effort. Rather than fume about some form of the Mass not measuring up to one's preferences, the Catholic revival that is happening is a far better preoccupation for the Catholic mind.

The following list barely captures the many conversations happening, yet the places cited will provide a necessary perspective that hopefully may help to persuade more people to consider how they participate in the renewal and to what degree.

Click on a link to visit.

1. https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2026/04/08/in-gratitude-for-the-ordinariate/
2. https://unamsanctamcatholicam.blogspot.com/2026/04/record-easter-converts-credit-catholic.html
3. https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2025/06/16/profile-of-us-converts-to-catholicism/
4. https://www.missiodeicatholic.org/p/seeking-christ-amidst-liturgical
5. https://ewtn.co.uk/article-eucharist-unity-clarity-what-attracts-converts-to-the-catholic-church/
6. https://atreasuretobeshared.blogspot.com/2026/04/pulp-it-fiction-and-convert-surge.html
7. https://zenit.org/2026/04/14/the-2026-boom-in-conversions-to-catholicism-statistics-context-and-interpretations/#google_vignette
8. https://mindingthecampus.org/2026/04/09/protestant-students-converting-to-catholicism/
9. https://www.gaudiumpress.ca/the-surprising-rise-of-adult-conversions-to-catholicism-in-2026/
10. https://www.chantcafe.com/2026/03/young-catholics-these-days/
11. https://crisismagazine.com/opinion/why-are-so-many-afraid-of-the-catholic-revival

Saint Matthew 13:10-16 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to him who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah which says:

‘You shall indeed hear but never understand,

    and you shall indeed see but never perceive.

For this people’s heart has grown dull,

    and their ears are heavy of hearing,

    and their eyes they have closed,

lest they should perceive with their eyes,

    and hear with their ears,

and understand with their heart,

    and turn for me to heal them.’

But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. Truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

Let's ask the age-old question: what do people truly need? Money? Security? Power? Love? Approval? In today’s world of viral greed, lust and confusion, many are realizing once again that material possessions might bring short-term comfort but can’t offer lasting or ultimate fulfillment. When people are treated like commodities, they often see their own lives and others through a lens of hedonism. Anything unpleasant, i.e., normal life pressures, becomes grounds for seeking power and control in a way that robs people of their humanity. Human identity is lost to any number of banal constructs that force people to compete for attention to a degree that warps relationships.

People need meaning, the meaning only Jesus can provide. All other attempts result in personal or political vendettas or both. Societies riven by persecution of vulnerable minorities tell a story of man's unredeemed nature and the atrocities man is capable of when he adopts an ideology divorced from reason and charity.

The Christian religion is not a popularity contest based on some contrived set of ditzy values that is waged to attract wealthy donors to support problematic social programs. Many clergy act like entertainers when they should be practicing humility and dignity. Many reinvent the wheel when what is needed is a return to the foundations.

The supreme law of the Church is the salvation of souls.

And yet, many church leaders seem to be missing the obvious. People need what has been missing and, God raising up sure voices to lead others to Him, they are finding the truth, goodness and beauty of God.

Human beings are made for meaning and communion. A sense of wonder waits to be awakened and engaged. Only in Jesus and His Church can healing and holiness be found.

From Bad Seed to Good Seed

The Church is slowly recovering from the 1970s era of iconoclasm. Beauty is returning to architecture; theological erudition is informing homilies, and reverence is returning to liturgies - not that those things ever left entirely. Shopping mall church designs and circus-like liturgies, while still distracting some communities, are getting the ridicule they deserve, thus clarifying what should be built and how public worship should be conducted.

For too long, clergy and laity who call themselves progressives or even prophetic have led parishes by relying on personal charisma and unfamiliar ideas, like avoiding or altering liturgical norms, to shape the Liturgy instead of deeply engaging with Church teaching to keep the Mass and religious education authentic.

In a nutshell, if one acknowledges where ordinations to the priesthood and vocations to the religious life and married life are flourishing, then the following elements are worth serious consideration.

1. Teach the Faith of the Apostles; do not compromise. Hold firm to the magisterial teaching of the Church.
2. Celebrate the sacraments with reverence and fullness, staying true to the liturgical norms.
3. Celebrate authentic sacred music; the time of saccharine ditties is over.
4. Create beautiful church buildings that embody a rich theology of the Sacred Liturgy and express continuity with the Church's legacy of architectural excellence and permanence.
5. Celebrate Mass ad orientem by turning the altars so priests and the congregation face the same direction in worship so that God is the clear focus of every liturgy, and Mass does not become a staring contest between priest and people across an altar.
6. Communion on the tongue. When asked about the most harmful development in the Church, Saint (Mother) Teresa of Calcutta simply replied, “Communion in the hand.”
7. Equip people for the mission of saving souls; it’s time to reclaim the culture and lift it out of banality, sin, and despair.

Blessed be God, we who enjoy the glories of Divine Worship in the Personal Ordinariates are indeed blessed with gifts of reverence, beauty, truth and goodness. The Ordinariate Form of the Mass is a masterwork of the Holy Spirit and serves to orient Catholics to authentic renewal so that God may be worshipped in spirit and in truth for the salvation of souls.