I can say plenty of awesome things about what the New Evangelization is, how it is best to go about it, how one can be successful, and how to do it in 3 easy steps. I have been affected by it.
I fit the description of the target of the New Evangelization: a “None.”
A None is one of the largest growing religious affiliations, or non-affiliations rather, persons who chose to not be affiliated with any religion. The Spiritual Wanderers. The Truth-Seekers. The Unsettled. The Restless. Yeah, I was one of them.
Statistically, I was born into a more than average Irish-Italian Family in Hispanic Catholic Southern California. Baptized in one of America’s Oldest Churches. My dad graduated from a Franciscan Minor Seminary. My mom was from a large Irish Catholic family. My dad’s twin sister, my godmother, is a Dominican Sister.
Somehow, none of this was good enough for my young and pompous heart, that I would rather tickle myself uncommitted with whatever whims and fashionable fancies I encountered. There is so much in exotic religious practice in Los Angeles that this does not become difficult.
At times, I imagined when I was older and more free, I ought to do something more trendy like Buddhism. Of course, not the Buddhism with all the difficult meditation and aesthetic practices, the kind that fits on my wrist in a jade beaded bracelet, and gets a round of applause for being vegetarian.
I took it for granted that Christendom, or the Church, ruined the humanistic progress of discovery. I accepted uncritically that the future of humanity need not religion, superstition or anything else on Dawkins’s list of favorite delusions. The fact is that none of my classmates, nor their families either practiced the stuff we learned about in religion class or attempted to go to Church. I went to Church because it wasn’t worth arguing over. Nobody in my neighborhood did anything on Sunday. We were all Nones, and my family was that obscure oddball bunch that pretended like the Church still mattered.
Beneath it all, I was ashamed that I had this unmanageable hunger for mystery. I was a suppressed mystic. I wondered what lay beyond the Big Bang. I wondered what sparked human life. Science didn’t satisfy me, and death terrified, if not intrigued me. Despite the priority I gave to science, I was still not convinced that it could ever have all the answers. The mainstream gave science way too much credit. I was perhaps a typical None, but I was quite ashamed that I was not like them: the rest of the Catholics, and the rest of the Nones.
I went on a Life Teen retreat required by Confirmation. I had put off getting confirmed in order to be genuine with what was in my heart. I even put off going to the retreat, for fear of being brainwashed. Finally I gave in. The retreat staff intended to facilitate an encounter with Jesus Christ. Jesse Romero came in and preached. I was Evangelized to. I encountered Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, and it turned my world upside down.
The Holy Spirit was at work. Everything in my own personal machinations would not have me be Evangelized. I wanted experiences and encounters. Real exotic stuff. Not Church Stuff. The adults and young people involved were convinced that Christ was alive, and an encounter with him would be more meaningful then anything else I could do.
I did not have a dramatic 180. I did not instantaneously assent to all the doctrines and teachings of the Magisterium. I did not become Augustine in the Garden. There was no bed of roses awaiting me. I really struggled to do what I felt in my heart was right, according the message proclaimed to me at the retreat. Besides I became crazy in love with Jesus, and I was doing crazy things.
I think what made it so hard was actually settling down. There were so many exotic religious experiences to be experienced. There were adventures to be had. Why be constrained? Why settle down with one religion, when you can play them all? Being a None was a lot easier. Yet it never provided the depth of satisfaction, conviction, and confidence of the grace of harmonizing with the Spirit sent by Christ in his Church.
If anything is not the substance of what my faith is now, nor what it became after having being Evangelized to. I was a None. I was a wanderer, restless, and unsettled. I found something that stopped my wandering, provided me rest, and I settled down. Being a None was like one-step closer to being a Nobody. Taking a step in the opposite direction to him who is Truth, was like becoming a Somebody.
I am the product of the New Evangelization.
Mark Menegatti
Brother Mark Menegatti is a Friar with the Order of Saint Augustine. He is a hip hop beatmaker & lyricist for the New Evangelization. Under the patronage of Saint Ephrem of Syria, he integrates theology, mysticism, and hip hop in his blog and in all of his music. He is currently in his fourth year of Theology in Chicago, and looks forward to ordination to the Priesthood. You can find his writings, theological reflections, chastity exhortations, and original music on his tumblr. He’s also found at Bandcamp music page, Twitter, and Facebook.
2 responses to “I am a product of the New Evangelization.”
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Awesome testimony. I will be sharing this with many young people. Peace.
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