Furthermore, Fr. McBrien’s concept of evangelism seems to leave out something that is essential to a Biblical viewpoint: evangelizing others with truth as our aim. St. Paul writes: “From Paul, servant of God, an apostle of Jesus Christ to bring those whom God has chosen to faith and to the knowledge of the truth that leads to true religion, and to give them the hope of the eternal life that was promised long ago by God” (Tit. 1:1-2). In other words, we’re called to make others aware of the truth of the Gospel, which Pope Paul VI taught means that “The God of truth expects us to be the vigilant defenders and devoted preachers of truth” (Evangelii Nuntiandi, no. 78). Yet how can we be vigilant defenders and devoted preachers of the truth if we cannot persuade others in word and deed, clearly and in charity, of the truth of Christian beliefs, and by implication of the falsehood of their central beliefs? In speaking the truth of the Gospel, St. Paul tells us that we are called to “proclaim the message and, welcome or unwelcome, insist on it. Refute falsehood, correct error, give encouragement — but do all with patience and with care to instruct” (2 Tim. 4:2). Of course our aim as Christian apologists is not to increase the offense of the Gospel through our own arrogance, haughtiness, lack of humility, and rejoicing in iniquity. To paraphrase St. Paul, for without charity, even the best arguments in defense of the Gospel will be empty and profit me nothing (1 Cor. 13:2-3). Here we have it, then, the animating principle behind evangelizing is love of neighbor and, as Saint Augustine rightly said, “You do not love [the neighbor] as yourself, unless you do all you can to bring him to that good which is your own.” That good is nothing less than to share in the eternal love of the triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Finally, Fr. McBrien’s view, though correctly distinguishing evangelizing and proselytizing, is incomplete. Indeed, it is inconsistent with the whole teaching of the Catholic Church. In the 1968 Church document “On Dialogue with Unbelievers,” we read: “The nature and purpose of dialogue does not exclude other forms of communication, such as, among others, apologetics, contention and controversy . . . in which each participant aims to defend his own side and prove that the other side is in error . . . . Each side may legitimately hope to persuade the other that he is right” (Vatican Council II, The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents, 1002-1014, at 1003 and 1006). This document is right of course — because truth matters. As the late Francis Schaeffer wisely said: “Both a clear comprehension of the importance of truth and a clear practice of it, even when it is costly to do so, is imperative if our witness and our evangelism are to be significant in our own generation and in the flow of history.” We should make clear that the truth is not our possession, a product of our insight into the person and work of Jesus Christ. Rather, the truth possesses us and rests on what Jesus Christ revealed about himself: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

Yet, there is more: the notion of relative truth has also shaped some people’s concept of inclusion. It is sometimes used to suggest that truth of its very nature is inclusive of all viewpoints. This view of truth, however, cannot be right, because it involves denying the principle of non-contradiction. This principle states that a proposition cannot be both true and false, because truth of its very nature is exclusionary: excluding its denials and those propositions that entail its denials. Indeed, the notion of inclusive truth cannot be consistently maintained. Consider the claim, “We ought to embrace racial diversity.” If this proposition is true, then it is an exclusive truth, for it excludes views that deny it like racism and those views that entail its denial like segregation.

At this point you’re wondering what all this talk about inclusion, pluralism and tolerance has to do with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the one, holy, catholic and apostolic “faith once delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). Well, some people today cannot tell the difference between these civic values and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They declare inclusion, pluralism and tolerance the specific goals of the Church. For instance, some people speak of the gospel proclaimed by Jesus as a “gospel of inclusiveness.” What could this mean? Does this phrase make biblical sense?

To answer this question biblically, we must turn to the New Testament, particularly the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans. “No distinction is made: all have sinned and lack God’s glory, and all are justified by the free gift of his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (3:22-24). Again: “[T]he same Lord [Jesus Christ] is the Lord of all, and his generosity is offered to all who call upon him. For whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (10:12-13). All men have sinned. Jesus died for the sins of all men equally, and the gift of forgiveness and salvation is offered to all men equally. So it makes biblical sense to speak of the gospel of inclusiveness, because God desires all men to be saved and to come into the saving knowledge of the truth in Christ (1 Tim. 2:4). But alas this biblical understanding of inclusion does not always come through when inclusiveness is asserted as a primary gospel truth.

Consider the homosexual who believes that he is excluded from the Church because she teaches that same-sex attraction is objectively disordered, evidence of a fallen creation, and that this attraction inclines him towards inherently disordered behavior. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that “Homosexual acts . . . are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved” (CCC, no. 2357). In reply, the homosexual avers that the Church’s exclusiveness is contrary to the open, inviting, and inclusive message of the gospel.

In response to this charge, two things must be said. First, of course, no sinner is excluded from the Church — not the thief, murderer, adulterer, fornicator, spouse abuser, etc. For it is proof of God’s own love for us, that Christ died for us while we were still sinners (Rom. 5:8; Eph. 2:4-5). The Church is a body of sinners, and thus it makes absolutely no sense to claim that she excludes anyone, regardless of their sins. As leading Catholic scholar Fr. Benedict Ashley, O.P., notes: Sinners “are not excluded from the Church’s care, since it prays for them and, like Jesus, seeks the lost sheep’s return (Luke 15:1-7; cf. St. Paul, 2 Cor. 2:1-4 urging love for an excommunicated man).” “The Church is always,” Fr. Ashley adds, “ready to receive them into full forgiveness and communion when they are willing to return to the Chris.

In response to this charge, two things must be said. First, of course, no sinner is excluded from the Church — not the thief, murderer, adulterer, fornicator, spouse abuser, etc. For it is proof of God’s own love for us, that Christ died for us while we were still sinners (Rom. 5:8; Eph. 2:4-5). The Church is a body of sinners, and thus it makes absolutely no sense to claim that she excludes anyone, regardless of their sins. As leading Catholic scholar Fr. Benedict Ashley, O.P., notes: Sinners “are not excluded from the Church’s care, since it prays for them and, like Jesus, seeks the lost sheep’s return (Luke 15:1-7; cf. St. Paul, 2 Cor. 2:1-4 urging love for an excommunicated man).” “The Church is always,” Fr. Ashley adds, “ready to receive them into full forgiveness and communion when they are willing to return to the Christian life. The Church is obliged to do this by Jesus’ own words about the love to be shown even to enemies (Matt. 5:43-48) and the prodigal (Luke 15:11-32).”

Second, we stand condemned as sinners apart from the saving grace of Christ, and so we are called to make a heartfelt act of repentance in responding positively to the invitation of the gospel of salvation. Sometimes I think that people who claim that they are being excluded from the Church deny this basic tenet of Christian faith. They seem to be suggesting that our human nature is pleasing to God and affirmed by him, without redemption and renewal. They seem to ignore the truth that unredeemed, fallen human nature is under the judgment of God (Romans 8:1; Eph. 2:1-3). They seem to deny the atoning work of God — the cross of Jesus Christ and sanctification by the Holy Spirit alone render life pleasing to God. To quote Fr. Ashley again: “The Church does not exclude homosexuals but seeks to help them live in a way that she is convinced will be for their real happiness, rather than to be a facilitator of their denial of their problem. Thus the Church excludes no one from her care; but care, to be genuine, must be based on truth not on making people comfortable.”

The truth is that homosexual inclination, which is objectively disordered, is not a constitutive aspect of the created goodness of human nature. Those who deny this are mistaken, the Church teaches, in their knowledge of the nature of created reality. Furthermore, they commit a grave pastoral disservice in the Church by misleading others from embracing the great biblical truth of our redemption, namely, that the incarnate Son integrally restores fallen man to his original created state as an act of saving grace. Moreover, as Fr. Romanus Cessario, O.P., rightly says: “by the gracious providence of our God, the restoration that fallen nature achieves surpasses the grace that was originally bestowed in creation. For Christ came ‘full of grace and truth’ (John 1:14), and the role of the infused [supernatural and moral] virtues is to ensure that every one who believes in Christ enjoys this ‘fullness we have all received, grace upon grace’ (John 1:16).”

Finally, Fr. Cessario’s point brings us to the biblical teaching that the gospel of Jesus Christ demands hearing, discerning, deciding, following, and thus forsaking and excluding incompatible lifestyle choices. Quite simply — but radically — an encounter with the living Christ requires forsaking our sinful ways. As St. Paul warns, “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you.” Yet, St. Paul adds, the Good News is, “But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God” (1 Cor. 6:9-11; cf. Galatians 5:19-21; 1 Tim. 1:8-11).