The Catholic Church Is Unattractive...

...for the Same Reasons that Jesus Is.

Our Marketing Strategy Since 33A.D.

Why is the Catholic Church so unattractive? Doesn't she gives us beautiful saints, cathedrals and all of western civilization. What gives? Let's go through a quick tutorial. All but one of the Apostles were killed for their faith (only the caretaker of The Blessed Virgin was spared). Within a generation, we have the writings of St. Ignatius of Antioch. Here's what happened to him.

Marketing spot #2: "You too can be eaten by lions!"

You can see how this is becoming a less and less attractive proposition. When the new faith finally made it out of the fourth century, Europe became less combative. However, the Church knew she must go to "the ends of the earth." So, naturally, that meant Asia and Africa. Here's what happened.

The Chinese Martyrs

Uganda Martyrs

We have a pretty awkward acquisition strategy. It works, though. The third century theologian, Tertullian, said, "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church" (Apologeticus, 50). Does that seed grow up into something beautiful? Sure, it does. However, the family of God doesn't grow by not being fruitful. And, as our Lord said, "Amen, amen I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, Itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal." (John 12:24-25)

Flash forward a few years and back to Europe. We learn about neat little stories about St. Thomas Moore and these folks:

That rope thing is not a swing

You get the picture. Christ said that if you are not willing to give up homes, wealth, family, friends, your very life, you are not worthy of Him. We know the story. The rich man went away disappointed because "he had many possessions."

"But wait rich man! You can have it all!"

Of course, there are some out there that speak of Christ that actually do an outstanding job marketing. They create value for their customers, and increase their market share weekly (thanks to fallen away Catholics). We, however, as Catholics seem to be in the business of the epic fail. Some say we are still failing. Nonetheless, two thousand years later, over a billion people, we are far from failure.

Why?

Because Christ is building His Church. 

At this point, I know that I really haven't answered the question that I posed in the beginning: "Why do people reject the Church?" The answer is simple. People reject the Church because of pride. Remember our Lord's words, "He that loveth his life..."

And that is what we do.

We love our life.

Our stuff.

Our denomination.

Our thoughts, our words and what we fail to do.

We love it.

And instead of responding to the Gospel, we stay put. Today, more than ever, the Church is unattractive. Modern life has moved beyond her. The world says "the human body is a machine". The Church says "it is the temple of God". The world says that "rules are meant to be broken". The Church says that "rules gives us freedom". The world says "religion is a personal affair". The Church says "go to Confession".

"If they hated me, they will hate you."

If you don't want to be hated, don't become a Christian. Especially, do not become a Catholic Christian. The "edge of glory" -- as has become a popular phrase -- is not what this world has made it out to be. "Glory", as the saints teach us, is something for the next life. Good thing for us, it is an eternal life. Yet in this temporal and short sojourn, the "edge" is a sharp, or I should say "thorny" threshold between now and then. Everyday, we are called to "pick up our cross and follow Him".

Everyday.

Full Stop.

Here's the secret.

"Be of good cheer. I have overcome the world". 

He got it.

The Church is Not Coke

The Catholic Church is not as we say in the south "Coca-cola". Not one of my more profound statements, I know. Well, maybe. Let me explain.

You see, some people say the Catholic Church needs a better marketing strategy. She's old, they say. She's slow, they say. Coke is fast. Coke is everywhere. Look how successful Coke is!

In reply, I say that products need marketing strategies. In fact, if you are being sold to, beware! It is precisely in the moment one realizes they are being sold to, that there has been some strategy crafted to coerce their hand to highlight the fuzzy feeling while diminishing the possibility of diabetes, they should pull back.

But we don't.

We buy.

A lot.

Of stuff.

Junk.

Coke.

But...the Catholic Church, the Catholic faith, is not Coke. The Catholic Church doesn't need a marketing strategy anymore than the ocean does. In fact, we might say that our "marketing strategies" for the ocean do harm to it. We could even say that the ocean is God's marketing strategy. Nonetheless, we ignore His message and think He needs a better one. We turn God's beautiful landscape into this:

Yet if you've ever stumbled upon this:

you know the difference. And when one finds the truth, it is always like the second image. We long for this, to be with Truth in its raw and authentic "being". Of course Coke exists and so does Miami Beach, but both exist as an object of human art, and as such subject to a passing away. Sometimes, this obsolescence can even occur suddenly -- which is frightening. Thus, we are suspicious of both and for good reason, because we were made not for the fire but for eternity.

And so too must be the faith of the Church, lived not in Mormon-esque YouTube commercials choreographed to entice and allure yet constantly communicating a "production" that wreaks of salesmanship and assumes a naivety to the whole affair. Instead, the Catholic "strategy" must remain singularly unfocused. Unfocused? Yes, unfocused, because the moment we take the wheel and imagine that we are building His Church -- we have ceased to understand the magic. The magic is that the Catholic Church is His Church, and He is building it and His marketing plan is simple yet painful: martyrdom.

Will you join him?

That's right: death. Which is a counterintuitive theme for "marketing", I might add. Can you imagine a marketing campaign centered on the phrase:

"Come, die with me!"

If "the medium is the message", then death is the medium of Christianity. Which is the message of Christianity: death to self, a giving up of ego, an existence in a constant state of "for". At first blush, this would seem to be an awful proposition. No marketing agent would take this up. Even many Christian groups fail to make this their central message, instead trading it in for a few coins.

But the fact is, the message of the Gospel is just the opposite of marketing. It is the truth that in the experience of the real solicitude of the givenness of the other, a world would come to meet the Other who died on a Cross for them. This is the Truth we long for and that no product, even for a moment, can distract us from enough to quiet the voices in our head. It is why some of us constantly listen to music, fill our lives with meaningless "activities", and so forth, because we are trying to escape the fact that we have an eternal soul. But we do, and behind every "cutter" is someone who simply wants to know they are real. 

"Am I more than a consumer?"

"Yes. But, will you join Him?"