Synod of Bishops 2012

Interview with Sr. Paula Jean Miller

A member of the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist, Sr. Paula Jean Miller teaches theology at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas, and directs its “Living Learning Center” as well as its Catholic Studies program. She’s among the theological experts invited to take part in the Oct. 7-28 Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization.

Miller sat down Oct. 16 for an interview at a residence of her community in Rome, just a stone’s throw from the Vatican, as the synod reached its half-way point.

John Allen in Rome: The topic of Islam keeps coming up at the synod, which is a pretty good sign that it's an issue the church is worried about.

Once upon a time, there was almost no subject the Catholic church could raise more guaranteed to elicit fear and trembling among other Christians than “evangelization”, which usually smacked of proselytism, competition, and a retreat from ecumenism – in other words, going fishing in someone else’s pond.

From the point of view of many Orthodox, Protestants, and Anglicans, an “evangelizing” Catholic church was seen as a menace.