George Weigel Speaking at Blessed Sacrament This Evening

This evening, Monday, December 2, after the 7 p.m. Mass, Blessed Sacrament will once again welcome renowned author George Weigel who will speak about the joy of "full-time Catholicism," in light of his new book Evangelical Catholicism - Deep Reform in the 21st Century Church and, no doubt, Pope Francis' recent apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium on the proclamation of the Gospel in today's world.

"Recreational Catholicism — Catholicism as a traditional, leisure-time activity absorbing perhaps ninety minutes of one’s time on a weekend — is over," observes Mr. Weigel.

Full-time Catholicism — a Catholicism that, as the Second Vatican Council taught, infuses all of life and calls everyone in the Church to holiness and mission — is the only possible Catholicism in the twenty-first century.

The Evangelical Catholicism of the future is a Catholicism of radical conversion, deep fidelity, joyful discipleship, and courageous evangelism. Evangelical Catholics put friendship with the Lord Jesus at the center of everything: personal identity, relationships, activity. Evangelical Catholics strive for fidelity despite the wounds of sin, and do so through a daily encounter with the Word of God in the Bible and a regular embrace of Christ through a frequent reception of the sacraments.


Evangelical Catholics experience dry seasons and dark nights, like everyone else; but they live through those experiences by finding their meaning in a deeper conformity to the Cross of Christ — on the far side of which is the unmatchable joy of Easter, the experience of which gives the people of the Church the courage to be Catholic. And evangelical Catholics measure the quality of their discipleship by whether, and to what extent, they give to others what they have been given: by the degree to which they deepen others’ friendship with the Lord Jesus Christ, or bring others to meet the unique savior of the world.

Mr. Weigel, Distinguished Senior Fellow of Washington’s Ethics and Public Policy Center, is one of the world’s leading authorities of the Catholic Church. He is the author of more than twenty books and is a regular columnist for the Arlington Catholic Herald. Before Evangelical Catholicism, Mr. Weigel is perhaps best known for his comprehensive biography of Blessed Pope John Paul II, Witness to Hope, as well as God's Choice: Pope Benedict XVI and the Future of the Catholic Church, written shortly after the 2005 Conclave.

Please join us this evening for this informative and timely discussion.