In one of today's newspapers, the Vatican is reported to have defended the right to evangelise and to accept new converts (read here).

Let's face it: few of us ever bother to open our hearts to try and understand what others believe. We're afraid that in listening, we might be "bought over". That just shows how confident we are (not) in what we believe.

I think all of us need some evangelisation. Some of us are really good at evangelising others but become stiffly resistant towards others' evangelisation efforts, as if only our gospel is worth listening to. At a human level, I think if we want others to hear us out, we too should listen. Otherwise our gospel is no more than one that defies the right to human dignity.

But what if after listening to the gospel from over the other side, we discovered the poverty of our own gospel? Frightening thought, isn't it? Here's how I see it:

If we end up being "bought over" to a belief that we have reason to think is more credible than our previous convictions because we're now more informed about the issues surrounding our faith, what's wrong with that?

In response to the newspaper article, here's something good for our souls:

The purpose of this video is to help Protestant Christians and others develop a better understanding of the Roman Catholic Church, its history and basic beliefs by listening to Roman Catholics tell their own story.