I was speaking with my friend (and favorite Jesuit) Fr. Robert McTeigue recently about something he often says on his radio show, “Proclaiming the fullness of truth with charity and clarity.”

He says a friend of his texts him during his show yelling for more clarity and less charity. Fr. McTeigue responds, “Shhhhh.” He is always funny and wise. If you’re not listening to him, you should. He’s like an acerbic Gandalf with an apocalyptic sense of humor, so yeah, kind of like Gandalf.

Anyway, I was thinking about the difficulty of being charitable while maintaining clarity about the faith in a fallen world. Because the thing is, we’re not just called to accept God’s grace, we’re also called to evangelize.

Many times the people who are good at digging and scratching their way to truth are not the best people to explain it to others. Case in point, ask a scientist or mathematician about their subject and prepare to be double fisting your drinks and searching for an exit. But if you ask a professional and passionate teacher to explain it you might have a better shot of understanding it. It’s just a different skill set. Elon Musk can get you to space but listening to him speak for more than five minutes is kinda’ boring.

Ask most of your computer savvy friends for help. They instantly become condescending brainiacs who don’t understand how you’re left alone to get dressed each morning. (Or is that just my brother?)

So, many times finding the one true Church in your life is a Herculean task. Some people go through several religions including dabbling in New Age and occult activities. But they persevere and struggle and find the one true faith. It’s nothing short of a miracle.

Now, go forth and evangelize. Those are two very different skill sets. Look at Michel Jordan, arguably the greatest basketball player ever. But he can’t coach. He’s admitted he can’t. So what happens is that very different people take on the teaching and evangelizing. And they see themselves as “meeting people where they are.” They don’t dump the entire faith on people at once. They sometimes think that calling someone out for all their sins right up front isn’t the best way to go. They see themselves as leading with love.

The problem is the folks who want to “meet people where they are” don’t have a plan to lead them anywhere. The motto of the Jesuit missionary is “Enter through their door; lead them through yours.”

Is there any Jesuit college or university currently living up to that standard? I don’t think so. There’s been an excessive focus on being merciful, tolerant, and charitable to the point where the faith is never really evangelized at all.

On the other hand, we’ve all met the person who tells it like it is at all times. A little too much clarity makes you lonely at dinner parties. But remember, a lack of clarity makes you lukewarm.

And sometimes you don’t know your impact. The apostles who were sent out by Jesus were killed pretty horrifically. You can only do your best and let God do the rest. They had no reason, other than Christ, to believe that a dozen men wandering the earth would transform it. In fact, they were killed. It had to look like it was coming to a pretty dismal sudden end. But God used their efforts to transform hearts and change souls.

It is a supremely difficult task to weigh charity and clarity. It seems to me that much of the acrimony online between Catholics is really about this problem. Charity and clarity.

It’s really tough to be Catholic. It’s not supposed to be easy. But we just have to do our best and pray that God does the rest.