Christianity is always the mustard seed and the tree at the same time, always simultaneously Good Friday and Easter.
—Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
January 1, 1998
In the next fifty years, due in large part to the leadership of converts from Protestant evangelicalism, the spiritual health of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States will take a marked turn for the better. Catholic media and evangelical ministries will gain national prominence, religious vocations will surge, and—most importantly—large numbers of lay Catholics will come to know Jesus Christ as their Saviour and Lord in and through the sacraments of the Catholic Church. Just twenty-five years ago, such a prediction would have met with universal derision in many sectors of American religious life—both Catholic and Protestant. The Catholic Church was beset by dissension and defections; if anything, spiritually "alive" Catholics were tempted to follow Jesus into the local evangelical Protestant church. But a careful discernment of the contemporary signs of the times suggests the seeds of a Catholic revival are taking root in post-Christian America, and that this revival will be driven in large part by former Protestants. Consider, for instance, the implications of the current conflict over "inclusive" language that has recently engulfed both American evangelicalism and Catholicism. American evangelicals were once known for their uniformly high regard for the Bible. But the sad skirmish last year between World Magazine and the International Bible Society over plans for a so-called "inclusive" niv Bible indicate how divided evangelicalism is becoming over the language and message of the Good Book. Proponents of the "inclusive" niv Bible tried to frame their action as nothing more than an effort to update Holy Scripture's language; in fact, the proposed changes amounted to an assault on the integrity of Scripture, as proponents ...
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