"If the church cannot formulate the essential message of Christianity in the course of a typical conversation running no more than a half-hour, then there simply will be no evangelization."
"It is not enough to say: Do you know that God resurrected his son, Jesus Christ? The remark may be true, but our interlocutor might well say that he knows lots of other news that is much better."
"The people dispensing the Christian rites must recognize what they are actually doing in their packed churches. They are dispensing security, just as the shaman or witch doctor of a primitive tribe does."
"Try arr experiment. Let the Precept of attending Mass be fulfilled without including a sermon in the Mass itself. Then invite people to come back later
in the day, if they wish, to hear a sermon in the church or someplace else. The number of those missing, especially after the initial curiosity has worn off, should be a good indication of the number of people who hear Mass out of pressure."
"Underlying our present Pastoral approach is the conviction that the message no longer possesses the power it once had."