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THIRTEENTH GENERAL CONGREGATION (TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16 2012 – MORNING)
– MESSAGE FROM HIS EXC. MSGR. LUCAS LY JINGFENG, BISHOP OF FENGXIANG [SHAANXI] (CHINA)
– INTERVENTIONS IN THE HALL (CONTINUATION)
– AUDITIO AUDITORUM (I)
Today, Tuesday, October 16 2012, at 9:00 a.m, with the chant of the Hour of Terce, the Thirteenth General Congregation began for the continuation of the interventions by the Synodal Fathers in the Hall on the Synodal theme: «The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith».
President delegate on duty H. Em. Card. Francisco ROBLES ORTEGA, Archbishop of Guadalajara (MEXICO).
At the opening of the Congregation, the Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, His Exc.Msgr.Nikola ETEROVIĆ, Titular Archbishop of Cibale (VATICAN CITY) read a message from His Exc. Msgr. Lucas LY JINGFENG, Bishop of Fengxiang [Shaanxi] (CHINA), ninety years old, freed in 1979 after twenty years of incarceration during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. He was born in 1922; ordained in 1947; consecrated Bishop in 1980, legitimate, recognized by the Government on August 30, 2004. The Diocese of Fengxiang, Shaanxi, is located at the center of the Shaanxi Province. Today the Circumscription is made up of twenty thousand Catholics. The text of the Message is published in this Bulletin.
Subsequently the Secretary General, expressed the solidarity of the Synodal Fathers and of the other Participants, to the Church in Haiti and closeness to the commitment of the Episcopal Conference after the earthquake that struck that region .
Some Auditors intervened.
At this General Congregation, which ended at 12:35 am with the prayer of Angelus Domini 253 Fathers were present.
MESSAGE FROM HIS EXC. MSGR. LUCAS LY JINGFENG, BISHOP OF FENGXIANG [SHAANXI] (CHINA)
Most Reverend and Excellent Fathers of the XIII Assembly of the Synod,
I would like to congratulate you, who could participate at the Synod and give homage to the Sepulcher of Saint Peter. I am very sad that you could not listen to any of the voices of the Chinese Church. Wishing to share at least some words with you, and above all with our Pope Benedict XVI, I am sending this brief message. I would like to say that our Church in China, in particular the laity, has always maintained up to today piety, faithfulness, sincerity and devotion to the first Christians, even while undergoing fifty years of persecutions. I would also like to add that I pray intensely and constantly to God the Omnipotent so that our piety, our faithfulness, our sincerity and our devotion may turn around tepidness, unfaithfulness and the secularization that have arisen abroad because of an openness and freedom without reins. In the Year of the Faith, in your synodal discussions you can see how our faith in China could be maintained unfailingly until today. And as the great Chinese philosopher Lao Tse said: “Just as calamity generates prosperity, thus in weakness calamity hides itself”. In the Church outside of China, tepidity, unfaithfulness and secularization of the faithful has spread to much of the clergy. Instead, in the Chinese Church the laity is more pious than the clergy. Could not perhaps piety, faithfulness, sincerity and the devotion of the Christian laity shake up the external clergy? I was very moved by the lament by Pope Benedict XVI: “As we know, in vast areas of the earth faith risks being extinguished, like a flame that is no longer fed. We are facing a profound crisis of faith, a loss of the religious sense that constitutes the greatest challenge to the Church today. The renewal of faith must therefore take priority in the commitment of the entire Church in our time” (Speech by the Holy Father Benedict XVI to the participants of the plenary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, January 27th 2012). However, I believe that our faith as Chinese Christians could console the Pope. I will not mention politics, which is always transeunte.
Lucas LY
INTERVENTIONS IN THE HALL (CONTINUATION)
The following Fathers intervened:
– H. Em. Rev. Card. Telesphore Placidus TOPPO, Archbishop of Ranchi, President of the Episcopal Conference (INDIA)
– H. Exc. Rev. Mons. Ägidius Johann ZSIFKOVICS, Bishop of Eisenstadt (AUSTRIA)
– H. Exc. Rev. Mons. Launay SATURNÉ, Bishop of Jacmel (HAITI)
– H. Exc. Rev. Mons. Joseph Anthony ZZIWA, Bishop of Kiyinda-Mityana (UGANDA)
– H. Exc. Rev. Mons. Mario GRECH, Bishop of Gozo (MALTA)
– H. Em. Rev. Card.
– H. Exc. Rev. Mons. Felix GMÜR, Bishop of Basel (SWITZERLAND)
– H. Exc. Rev. Mons. Clet FELIHO, Bishop of Kandi (BENIN)
– H. Em. Rev. Card. Manuel MONTEIRO DE CASTRO, Penitentiary Major (VATICAN CITY)
– H. Exc. Rev. Mons. Arūnas PONIŠKAITIS, Titular Bishop of Sinna, Auxiliary Bishop and Vicar General of Vilnius (LITHUANIA)
– H. Exc. Rev. Mons. Geraldo LYRIO ROCHA, Archbishop of Mariana (BRAZIL)
– H. Exc. Rev. Mons. Claudio Maria CELLI, Titular Archbishop of Civitanova, President of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications (VATICAN CITY)
– H. Exc. Rev. Mons. Bonaventure NAHIMANA, Bishop of Rutana (BURUNDI)
– H. Exc. Rev. Mons. Stanley ROMAN, Bishop of Quilon (INDIA)
– H. Exc. Rev. Mons. Ignatius SUHARYO HARDJOATMODJO, Archbishop of Jakarta, Military Ordinary for Indonesia (INDONESIA)
– H. Exc. Rev. Mons. Zygmunt ZIMOWSKI, Archbishop-Bishop Emeritus of Radom, President of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers (VATICAN CITY)
– H. Em. Rev. Card. Kazimierz NYCZ, Archbishop of Warszawa, Ordinary for the faithful of the Eastern rite lacking ordinary for their rite (POLAND)
– H. Exc. Rev. Mons. Adriano LANGA, O.F.M., Bishop of Inhambane (MOZAMBIQUE)
– H. Exc. Rev. Mons. Cristoforo PALMIERI, C.M., Bishop of Rrëshen (ALBANIA)
– H. Em. Rev. Card. Laurent MONSENGWO PASINYA, Archbishop of Kinshasa (DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO)
– H. Exc. Rev. Mons. Franz-Peter TEBARTZ-VAN ELST, Bishop of Limburg (GERMANY)
– H. Exc. Rev. Mons. Joseph WERTH, S.I., Bishop of Transfiguration in Novosibirsk (RUSSIAN FEDERATION)
The summaries of the interventions are published below:
– H. Em. Rev. Card. Telesphore Placidus TOPPO, Archbishop of Ranchi, President of the Episcopal Conference (INDIA)
“When the Son of Man comes again, will he find faith on earth?” (Lk.18:8). The Holy Father Benedict XVI reviewing the Year 2011 for the Roman Curia last December, said frankly that according to many reports there is a “faith fatigue” in Europe. In his words, “The essence of the crisis of the Church in Europe is the crisis of faith. If we find no answer to this, if faith does not take on new life, deep conviction and real strength from the encounter with Jesus Christ, then all other reforms will remain ineffective.”
As we seek answers to the crisis of faith, one remedy would be to launch a massive campaign of preaching the kerygma afresh and more powerfully. In my country, India, time and again I have seen the power of the Gospel at work among Christians and non-Christians alike.
I would like to make a humble appeal to the religious orders to become missionary again! In the history of evangelization, a
ll the religious orders led by the Holy Spirit have done outstanding and marvelous work. Can we say the same of the Religious Congregations today? Could it be that they have begun working like Multinationals, doing very good and necessary work to meet the material needs of humanity, but have forgotten that the primary purpose of their founding was to bring the kerygma, the Gospel, to a lost world? We must appreciate many Youth Groups and new Ecclesial Movements who are taking up the challenge. But, in my opinion this Synod must appeal to the Religious men and women to explicitly and directly take up the work of evangelization and transmission of faith in collaboration with the local bishops! I would also like to call upon the Sacred Congregation for Consecrated life to be pro active in promoting the sensus ecclesiae among all religious.
Finally, a worthy celebration of the Eucharist is the foundation of New Evangelization. The Eucharist is the “source and summit of Christian life,” and cannot be celebrated in a casual and superficial way as is being done in some places and by some priests. We must bring back the dignity and the centrality of the Holy Eucharist so that the power of the Eucharist to transform and build up the faith-life of our people is felt again more intensely. Then we will successfully foster a strong faith that will endure till Christ comes again!
– H. Exc. Rev. Mons. Ägidius Johann ZSIFKOVICS, Bishop of Eisenstadt (AUSTRIA)
The dogmatic Constitution Gaudium et Spes expresses the dynamics of the thinking of one of the great believers of the twentieth century: Father Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. I would like to specifically recall his work during this Synod. Whether we like it or not, the global phenomena foreseen by him over sixty years ago surround us today. We all live in a world where the existence of not only the individual person but also all of humanity has become precarious. Teilhard saw life and the universe as a creative movement done by God, a movement which still has not reached its goal. I am convinced that this vision of the Church and the world could indicate a resolution to the crisis and, on the division which exists between faith and life, will have the same beneficial effect on the problems of understanding between Christian reasoning and technological research.
Only a deep, comprehensive cosmic vision of the Person of Christ, at the moment it drags the soul of modern man, will not remain individualistic, but will build a community where this new way of seeing things will truly be lived, starting with the family and the domestic church, to the community and the local Churches. And only when this is lived, can this vision be a new style of life, considered natural and normal, and produce in this way a new Christian culture capable of permeating and modifying the entire temporal order.
– H. Exc. Rev. Mons. Launay SATURNÉ, Bishop of Jacmel (HAITI)
The context we live in today is marked by a great crisis on various levels. It demands a new spiritual spring. Pope John Paul II, when he spoke about the new evangelization in Haiti on March 9th 1983 at the Cathedral of Port au Prince, certainly wished to give the Church the means to fight against this degradation. His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, in promoting the permanent mission in Latin America and the Caribbean, and in calling for this synodal assembly, by proclaiming the Year of the Faith, places himself on the same line as Pope John Paul II.
The initiatives by Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI were enthusiastically received by the part of the Church that is in Haiti. The ones by Pope John Paul II coincided with a time where we were fighting against a dictatorship. His words: “Some things needs to change. Things need to change here!” still echo in our hearts. Those of Pope Benedict XVI coincided with the time when in Haiti, we were trying to build and rebuild the country, devastated by natural catastrophes and more recently the earthquake of January 12th 2010.
The reflection given on the mishaps that befell Haiti leads us to the conclusion that the reconstruction and the construction of the physical buildings will not suffice; there is the need to rebuild the Haitian man. There is a need for pastoral action in Haiti for an ad intra and ad extra construction and reconstruction, beginning with the evangelical, Christian, human values, for a conversion of the hearts and structures to the Gospel and to Jesus Christ. For this, three propositions:
1. In our universities, in our Catholic schools, in our presbyteral schools, there is the need for an accompaniment to reach a deep and personal encounter with Jesus Christ, in such a way that, having become adults, the youths may commit themselves in the name of their faith in society.
2. Our pastoral closeness must have a prophetic character.
3. The new evangelization for the transmission of Christian faith demands great attention to our places of formation and to the candidates to the priesthood and to consecrated life.
The Church in Haiti favorably receives the Holy Father’s initiatives. The deep crisis of this world demands a return to Jesus Christ, and everybody’s involvement, in the name of our faith in God the Father of Creation, in His son Jesus Christ so that all things may become new and in the Holy Spirit who renews the face of the earth.
– H. Exc. Rev. Mons. Joseph Anthony ZZIWA, Bishop of Kiyinda-Mityana (UGANDA)
We cannot hope to raise human persons with strong moral character if their education is not founded on faith in God. That is why the first missionaries in Uganda simultaneously built churches and schools. Where they failed to convert directly the elders, they eventually succeeded by converting the young generation through schools. In such cases, when the young people were evangelized and converted to Christianity, they in turn evangelized the elders.
The Church as teacher and custodian of faith and morals has played an important role in the educational sector in many countries. Formulation of stable diocesan education policies have served as a foundation to start and support learning at all levels. Some local Churches have founded Catholic model schools to allow in-depth teaching of Catholic doctrines and morals to the students who in turn become Catholic professionals. Through the chaplaincy in Catholic Institutions, the Church has been able to respond to current challenges by ensuring that the Catholic values and norms are safeguarded in these institutions.
However, in some countries, in recent years, catechesis or teaching religion has been sidelined or removed from the education system even in Catholic-founded Schools or institutions of learning. The situation is aggravated in public institutions where there are no programs of catechesis or Christian religious education at all for our Catholic students. Religious education is considered to be a private matter, to be attended to only in the church or at home.
The way forward for New Evangelisation:
Catholic schools be a channel of evangelization for the transmission of Christian faith
Priests, men and women of consecrated life and other pastoral agents like catechists be qualitatively empowered to teach religion in schools.
Christian Religious Education should be reinstated in the school syllabus where it has been neglected or removed. The Church must be assertive in this area.
Lay apostolic movements should be revived in schools.
Ethics, the Catechism of the Catholic Church and Social Doctrine of the Church should be components of the syllabus in centres of higher learning.
Catholic identity in our schools and institutions should be visible and respected.
Use mass media as an effective instrument to catechize and to educate.
– H. Exc
. Rev. Mons. Mario GRECH, Bishop of Gozo (MALTA)
As the Holy Father observed in his opening homily of this Synod, marriage as a union of faithful and indissoluble love between a man and a woman “is a Gospel in itself, a Good News for the world of today”. He went on to affirm that “marriage is called to be not only an object but a subject of the new evangelization”.
While the Church will continue to proclaim this Gospel of matrimony, we cannot neglect the painful reality of many marriages that end badly.
Although recognizing the difficulties, I believe that today it is fundamental to be present as a Church in the life of many de facto couples or divorced couples who wish to follow a path of faith along with the rest of the Church. For de facto couples who feel the teaching of the Magisterium as a weight on their heads and their hearts, and find difficulties in reconciling themselves with the Church and perhaps with God, having the Church walk alongside them is truly good news for them. Experiences of this type demonstrate that “the Church is close to those with a wounded heart”.
In spite of the fact that they are not in perfect communion with the Church on account of their irregularity, many of these people love and believe in the Lord and in the Church. I would say that these couples hope today for an “imperial message” from the Synod – an illuminating word such as that pronounced by the Holy Father in Milan: “The problem of divorced and remarried persons is one of the great sufferings of today’s Church. And we do not have simple solutions… As regards these people – as you have said – the Church loves them, but it is important they should see and feel this love. I see here a great task for a parish, a Catholic community, to do whatever is possible to help them to feel loved and accepted, to feel that they are not “excluded” even though they cannot receive absolution or the Eucharist; they should see that, in this state too, they are fully a part of the Church” (2 June 2012).
– H. Em. Rev. Card. Kurt KOCH, President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity (VATICAN CITY)
“The challenge of the new evangelization calls into question the universal Church and asks us to continue with commitment our search for full Christian unity.” (Benedict XVI, the church is a great force for renewal. Celebration of the first vespers on the solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul on June 28th 2010, in Teaching of Benedict XVI, VI, 1 2010 (Vatican City 2011) 984/987, cit. 987).With these words Pope Benedict XVI announced the establishment of the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization. The universal Church is called on in a particular way with the Synod of Bishops gathered here. The presence of the fraternal delegates and their contribution to the Synod, for which I am deeply grateful, remind us of the second exhortation, or the need for the New Evangelization to have an ecumenical dimension.
The unbreakable bond between evangelization and the search for unity among Christians was already known at the Second Vatican Council. The Council’s Decree on Ecumenism is based on the conviction that the division of Christianity “scandalizes the world” and “damages the holy cause of preaching the Gospel to every creature” (Unitatis Redintegratio, no.1.) Since its first phase, the Decree therefore states that “The restoration of unity among all Christians is one of the principal concerns of the Second Vatican Council”. Ecumenism and evangelization are always seen together. It would be a good sign if this Synod of Bishops were to pass on to other Christian Churches and Communities the invitation to perceive as anew common task, the New Evangelization and to witness together Jesus Christ in an even more decisive way.
The most credible witnesses of faith are the martyrs who gave their lives for Christ. For this reason I also wish to mention that deep dimension of ecumenism that was so dear to Blessed Pope John Paul II, that is the ecumenism of the martyrs. Aware of the fact that all the Churches and Communities today have their martyrs, Pope John Paul II saw in martyrs “the most powerful proof that every factor of division can be transcended and overcome in the total gift of self for the sake of the Gospel”. (John Paul II, Ut unum sint, no.1.) While we Christians are still in an imperfect communion on this earth, martyrs in the heavenly glory live in full communion. Therefore, we can find comfort in the hope that the blood of the martyrs of our time becomes one day the seed of full unity of the Body of Christ. And this hope we witness together with a credible New Evangelization.
– H. Exc. Rev. Mons. Felix GMÜR, Bishop of Basel (SWITZERLAND)
To be credible, we must first evangelize ourselves (no.37). The plea to conversion is for the person and the institution. The conversion of the individual finds its correspondence in the reform of the institutions. Both aim at spiritual renewal based on faith.
Many faithful give witness to their faith. They show the human and personal face of Jesus . How can we improve the evangelizing action of these lay people and recognize their skills? Do we take seriously their experiences, questions and concrete proposals, e.g. in the field of relational life? I think we need to listen more and to discern benevolence in what lay people are telling us.
A challenge is to understand what reforms are necessary. Often lacking of local communities come together around the laity ready to take on different responsibilities. It would be important to rethink whether there is an ecclesiastic mandate that gives them, men and women, a mission for the pastoral activity they carry out on the basis of their baptismal dignity.
A deeper listening and an official mandate for the laity: Two concrete signs that could make us more credible as a Church.
– H. Exc. Rev. Mons. Clet FELIHO, Bishop of Kandi (BENIN)
Reception of the evangelical message occurred progressively in our country, from the south to the north since April 18th 1861. Even if in the north there was more to be done, on the whole the Church is proud of her progress of faith in the hearts. She continues to fight for this faith to not merely be an external clothing, but to be the expression of adhering to Christ, the living Word of salvation. This is why she is actively vested in the process of inculturation, to be able to help the faithful in avoiding a double life that does not favor the blossoming of the person.
Our local Church is conscious that the reasons for involvement of her sons and daughters in the following of Christ are usually in the image of the culture that perceives the Supreme Being, a person we try to become close to profit of his gifts; in short a utilitarian god. She makes herown the rebuke of Jesus after the multiplying of the bread: “You are looking for me not because you have seen the signs but because you had all the bread you wanted to eat” (Jn 6:26). Since then, she believes that she finds in the new evangelization a means to better accompany the faithful, even beyond the period of the sacraments of initiation. Thus she decided to open schools of faith for individuals of all categories and conditions, aimed at a better knowledge of Christ and His centrality in the faithful’s life. Only in this way will we be truly the salt and the light in the spheres of politics and economy.The rise of Islam and the re-awakening of traditional religions forces the local Church towards ecumenism and interreligious dialogue, her battlefield, thanks to the coming of the new evangelization. To reach this, there is a need for convinced and pastoral agents, well-formed in the social doctrine of the Church, to see in the other just a brother walking along the path together. Also, far from dreaming about a Chu
rch of glory, she is committed to honestly working at the side of the poorest and those pushed to one side without minimizing the strong sign sent out by the blossoming of sects. Also, she tackles the task of defining herself as a Church of communion and sharing, within as well as without herself.
May the Spirit of the Lord guide her steps and may the Virgin’s intercession reinforce her commitment!
– H. Em. Rev. Card. Manuel MONTEIRO DE CASTRO, Penitentiary Major (VATICAN CITY)
The Apostolic Penitentiary, Tribunal of mercy at the service of confessors and penitents, deals with matters regarding the internal Forum, sacramental and non sacramental, as well as the use and the concession of Indulgences. The aim of our work is to help people to lead a serene, calm life in union with the Lord, who is the sole Savior of our life. This union is meaningfully expressed in the Eucharistic rite, when the celebrant pours a few drops of water – which represents our human nature – into the wine contained in the chalice. United with Christ, we are transformed by Him in His glorious Body.
The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith seeks to show contemporary mankind the face of Christ as mysterium pietatis, He in Whom God shows us His compassionate heart, and fully reconciles us to Him. It would be helpful to the faithful to be aware of the seriousness of sin in a world that has lost sight of “the meaning of sin”. To recognize ourselves as sinners encourages us to turn our heart to the Lord, begging His forgiveness and thus obtaining salvation and peace: “ For I am well aware of my offences, my sin is constantly in mind” (Psalm 51:3).
It is necessary to restore the good and correct habit of administering the Sacrament of reconciliation in the confessional.
Every year the Apostolic Penitentiary promotes a Course on the Internal Forum, Study Days on the history of Penitence and the Penitentiary, conferences on the Internal Forum in the various local Churches, and monthly formation meetings for the minor penitentiaries of the Papal Basilicas throughout Rome.
I conclude by recalling the parables of divine mercy – the lost sheep, the lost drachma, and the prodigal son – and the words of Jesus: “there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner repenting than over ninety-nine upright people who have no need of repentance” (Lk. 15:7).
– H. Exc. Rev. Mons. Arūnas PONIŠKAITIS, Titular Bishop of Sinna, Auxiliary Bishop and Vicar General of Vilnius (LITHUANIA)
We need credible witnesses who, inspired by the living and constant encounter with Jesus, reach mankind in every situation, and with disinterested love and humility present to them the Word of Salvation. We need saints: men and women, priests, religious, and lay people.
From November last year, in Lithuania, we have been celebrating the year of Blessed Giorgio Matulaitis (1871-1927), bishop, and in this way we have prepared for the Year of the Faith, guided by this new evangelizer of recent times. In his spiritual diary he expressed some thoughts, confirmed by the testimony of his life, which remain current for workers of the new evangelization.
First and foremost, the ardent desire to “bring Christ everywhere, restore and renew everything in Christ, earn all things to Christ and attract all to Him”. Blessed Giorgio Matulaitis truly lived this aim through his broad pastoral activity among workers, simple people, among students and people of various languages and cultures.
His sincere aspiration to defend the faith was marked by his profound respect both for the faith itself and for those people to whom he proclaimed it. Blessed Giorgio Matulaitis wrote that we may attract men only by proposing to them “our holy faith in all its breadth, in all its depth, in all its clarity and beauty”, speaking in such a way as to persuade even his adversaries that we are “full of love and respect for them”.
Blessed Giorgio Matulaitis invited us to follow the path of humility, and begin work without fuss, beginning with the smallest and most abandoned, the little things.
For the new evangelization we need similar enthusiastic proclaimers of the Gospel, who commit themselves to “create in every place and time the conditions which lead to this encounter between the person and Jesus Christ” (Instrumentum laboris 18).
– H. Exc. Rev. Mons. Geraldo LYRIO ROCHA, Archbishop of Mariana (BRAZIL)
The New Evangelization must bring people to the profound experience of the encounter with the living Jesus Christ. The Sacred Liturgy is one of the privileged places for this encounter (cf. Ecclesia in America, No. 12). The personal encounter with the Lord is especially given in the celebration of the Eucharist (cf. Instrumentum laboris, nos. 18-19). As a consequence the liturgical celebrations have the sacred duty of making it possible to feel, experience and intensely live Jesus, the Word of the Father, who through His Spirit is among us (cf. SC 14). The Church believes in the same way as it prays: Lex orandi lex credendi. The liturgy, through rites and prayers, gives us and transmits to us the content of the faith (SC 48). The liturgy is the source and location of evangelization, since in the liturgy God speaks to His people and Christ proclaims His Gospel (cf. SC 33). As the liturgy is the special place where the presence of the Gospel is alive and therefore the privileged place for education in the faith, or rather “the permanent holy mystagogy of the Church”, this must appear in the very manner in which it is celebrated. The fascinating and contagious beauty of the mystery hidden in rites and symbols must be capable of being expressed in all its strength for the liturgy to truly evangelize. Therefore the new evangelization depends to a great extent on the capacity to make the liturgy the source of spiritual life. Probably our most demanding task and the greatest challenge is to succeed in ensuring that our liturgical celebrations are ever more beautiful and transparent in their divine beauty, source of new and renewing strength that brings joy and hope to the Christian, in order to live in Christ and in the love of the Lord.
Consciousness of the sacramentality of the liturgy is therefore of supreme importance in the New Evangelization. It educates us in the faith precisely “through sensible signs”. From this derives the need to be aware of the importance of the ars celebrandi as the best evangelization, as Pope Benedict XVI teaches us in his Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis (Nos. 38-65). The Liturgy must contribute, but in its own way, to the task of the new evangelization: “The Liturgy proclaims the Gospel by celebrating it” (cf. SC 33).
– H. Exc. Rev. Mons. Claudio Maria CELLI, Titular Archbishop of Civitanova, President of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications (VATICAN CITY)
The new evangelization asks us to be attentive to the “newness” of the cultural context in which we are called upon to proclaim the Gospel, but also to the “newness” of the methods to be used. The New Media are radically changing the culture in which we live and offer new paths for sharing the message of the Gospel. The new technologies have not only changed the method of communicating, but have also transformed communication itself, creating a new cultural infrastructure that is influencing the environment of communication, and we cannot simply continue to do what we have always done, even with the new technologies.
The digital area is not a “virtual” space, less important than the “real” world, and if the Gospel is not also proclaimed “digitally”, we run the risk of abandoning many people, for whom this is the world in which they “live”. The Church is al
ready present in digital space, but the next challenge is to change our communicative style in order to render such a presence more effective, occupying ourselves above all with the question of language. In the digital forum discourse is spontaneous, interactive and participatory: in the Church, we are used to using written texts as our normal method of communication. I do not know if this form can speak to the young, who are accustomed to a language rooted in the convergence of words, sounds and images. We are called upon to communicate our testimony, sharing in personal relationships the hope that resides in us. We cannot dilute the content of our faith, but rather find new ways of expressing it in its fullness.
We are obliged to express ourselves in a manner that involves others who, in turn, share our ideas with their friends and “followers”. We need to valorize the “voices” of many Catholics present in blogs, so that they might evangelize and present the teachings of the Church which is called upon to initiate a respectful dialogue with all, to give a reason to all for the hope we carry in our hearts.
– H. Exc. Rev. Mons. Bonaventure NAHIMANA, Bishop of Rutana (BURUNDI)
The small living Christian communities need a new breath to play a more prominent role in new evangelization. After the war and the conflicts our country has undergone with all the consequences that follow, we saw the need for a deep evangelization and to involve our living Christian communities to deepen the faith and to take care of the life of the Church.
The size of these communities allows the members to know each other and help each other, to reinforce their cohesion and their communion in a climate of fraternity and solidarity.
They are the place where Christians can live the experience of reconciliation which is first of all achieved in the sacrament of penance so the Church may answer her vocation in being at the service of peace, justice and reconciliation; the Holy Father said that the new evangelization “demands that we be reconciled with our neighbours, and that we overcome every kind of barrier, including those arising from language, culture and race” (A.M. no. 169).
Because of the dynamism of their faith and their commitment, these communities are the favorable place for the blooming of priestly an consecrate vocations. Because they favor a climate of prayer for vocations and help parents become conscious of their responsibility as teachers of the faith.
These communities are called to associate together for their development to battle against hunger, misery, all kinds of injustices, to better their condition and to find solutions to their problems.
– H. Exc. Rev. Mons. Stanley ROMAN, Bishop of Quilon (INDIA)
“You who have so little faith” addressed to the apostles in the Gospel of Matthew(6:30) can either be a reproach or a poignant challenge to us the successors of the apostles because the Lord has called us friends and bestowed on us His innumerable blessings. If it is a challenge, I wish to understand that faith means building an intimate relationship with Him. Redemptoris missio reminds me that ‘faith is strengthened when it is given to others’. (RM 1.4.) Hence it is my bounden duty as a baptized Christian to transmit it.
To examine when, where and how in one way or other the Church deviated from its task of oftlineconstant evangelisation is in fact a long story with painful memories. Having learnt lessons from such distressing events of the past we have now to respond to the new invitation by the Synod to launch into the deep to gather all that is good and beautiful in the various cultures for adopting newer methods to evangelise and to re-evangelise the peoples of the world. Inculturations to be encouraged.
While many of the proposals in the Instrumentum Laboris, in my humble opinion, are overshadowed by a well-accepted Catholic background, it seems to me, the voice of those who have drifted from sacramental life is missing. In India we witness that young men and women, and even men of erudition from the developed countries flocking to many ashrams (monasteries) yearning for something absent in their own nations. Their hunger and thirst for something beyond this material world assures us that Jesus is relevant and if the story of salvation is retold in their language and explained in their life situations.
To re-evangelize and transmit faith
1. Catholic schools are necessary
2. Catholic teachers of integrity
3. Well trained laity through small Christian community
4. Longer period of marriage preparation course to have an in-depth knowledge of the sacrament of matrimony
5. Greater involvement in mass media to disseminate the gospel values and the true face of the Church.
– H. Exc. Rev. Mons. Ignatius SUHARYO HARDJOATMODJO, Archbishop of Jakarta, Military Ordinary for Indonesia (INDONESIA)
I would like to share with you a simple experience I had during my visit to a parish where I met a local catechist. I asked him, “How many catechumens do you have?” I was surprised to hear that he had more than ninety catechumens. It was quite a lot. I asked him further, “Have you ever asked your catechumens why they wish to be baptized into the Catholic Church?” He answered, “Many of them said that they were touched by the way Catholics pray during public events such as wedding feasts or funeral services”. The prayers are so touching to their hearts, because in those occasions the invocations and benedictions are delivered in their vernacular mother tongue so that they readily understand the content, whereas before they usually heard prayers recited in a foreign language, as Muslims pray in Arabic.
The Church’s evangelizing activity is – as we all understand – an act of communication which entails two basic components, namely the communication content or message – God’s revelation and faith in Jesus Christ – and the communication medium – means and language within a faith community context. As far as language is concerned, translating one liturgical text to another – and any text for that matter, often prompts us to face delicate challenges or even problems. There is on the one hand, the demand for literal translation. On the other hand, we all understand that literal translation is not always possible, because of the diversity and complexity of languages. For example when the priest addresses the people, “Dominus vobiscum”, and the people are to reply “Et cum spiritu tuo”. The word “spiritus” as translated into “roh” in our language could readily evoke the idea of “evil spirit”, thus “et cum spiritu tuo” means for some communities “with your evil spirit”.
My wish – I hope that I am not alone – is that the translation of liturgical text ought not always to be done literally, rather seriously take into account the diversity of the cultural background. Could the principle of subsidiarity be applied in the task of translation and even in other areas of the life of the local Church? – subsidiarity being the spirit of Vatican II. In this way we keep our “fidelity both to the message whose servants we are and to the people to whom we must transmit it”, (EN 4), .particularly with respect to the young who live in a mass-media culture, the Church must strive to convey her message in a language that touches their hearts.
In this way, the local Church will become more communicative and expressive and as a result the faith of the people will be more energized and more relevant to their Catholic lives and engagement both in the Church and in the world .
– H. Exc. Rev. Mons. Zygmunt ZIMOWSKI, Archbishop-Bishop Emeritus of Radom, President of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers (VATICAN CITY)
The Church, in compliance with the mandate of Jesus “Euntes docete et cured infirmos” (Mt 10:6-8), during its history has always considered the service to the ill as an integral part of her evangelizing mission. In this sense, the world of suffering and disease in its various forms is a specific area and a vital way of evangelization, which therefore requires to be constantly reconsidered, as evidenced by the challenge that faces evangelization especially today in dialogue with science and applied biotechnology, which the very possibility of integral human development is radically at stake.
The health pastoral therefore has a field of action in multiple and complementary articulations, ranging from hospitals to relations with the various health professionals (doctors, nurses, properly prepared chaplains, financial resource administrators in favor of health policies, politicians involved in the formulation of legislation on delicate issues of bioethics); from the personal encounter with the people marked by the mystery of pain and dialogue with their families to pastoral work in parishes, in cooperation with the varied world of volunteering to the great work of mercy and hope that takes place in the Sanctuaries – especially Marian – which the suffering world often flows into, also during the World Day of the Ill.
In particular, the hospital is considered an ideal opportunity for evangelization, because whereas the Church is “the vehicle of God’s presence”it becomes, at the same time “instrument of the true humanization of man and of world” (CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH, doctrinal Note on Some aspects of Evangelization, no. 9): the ‘evangelized’ hospital, in particular by the chaplain, is therefore the “place where the care relationship is not trade, but mission; where the charity of the Good Samaritan is the first pulpit and the face of suffering man is the Face of Christ” (Benedict XVI, Address to ‘Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Rome, May 3, 2012).
Faithful to the mandate of his Lord and in its exercise of the ministry of healing, the Church, in her pastoral action in the world of health, is then called on to be interpreter and to testify in a way that is eloquent and always up to date to that “service of charity, which is central in the mission of the Church” (BENEDICT XVI, Message to the Participants at the XXV International Conference organized by the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers [for the Health inePastoral], November 18, 2010).
– H. Em. Rev. Card. Kazimierz NYCZ, Archbishop of Warszawa, Ordinary for the faithful of the Eastern rite lacking ordinary for their rite (POLAND)
The first week of synodal discussions showed how important and urgent the theme of New Evangelization is. In this sphere, the interventions showed the problems common to the Church in the various parts of the world. Without a doubt, the common problems in this globalized world remain: secularism, relativism, subjectivism, as well as the privatization of religion. Apart from what is common, we can also speak about a geography of New Evangelization. What in fact differentiates the various regions of the world, are the recipients of New Evangelization. In Europe we are dealing with baptized persons who then, for different reasons, have abandoned Christ and the Church. In Poland, in the majority of cases, children are baptized, the reason for leaving Christ and the Church lies in the fact that the decision of the parents to baptize their child is not motivated by an ardent faith. That is to say, the minimum attitude of faith is lacking in the parents and their loved ones. Therefore, the question arises, in these cases, on the opportunity of this sort of baptism. Therefore, the Church in Poland finds herself facing the problem of the initiation of the faith, of prayer, of the sacraments, of community. We are conscious that the primary place of initiation must remain the family, despite all the difficulties and weaknesses it is living in today’s world. Naturally, in this context, it needs the help of the parish, of movements and of communities that work in the same parish. The parish should be the privileged place of New Evangelization. I would like to take a moment on catechesis in the parish and in school. In Poland, this is an important instrument of New Evangelization. In a different way from many European countries, as Cardinal Erdo recalled, in schools in Poland not only do we carry out the teaching of religion, but we also try to introduce catechesis. In most parts of Poland, ninety percent of the students participate during the hour of religion. The disproportion between those participating in the hour of religion and those participating in the sacramental life of the Church is, for New Evangelization in Poland, a great challenge, and for catechesis in school a great opportunity and responsibility. This is valid both for young persons and their parents. Catechesis in school however remains a tool that is not completely used for evangelization and encounter with those who, despite baptism, have abandoned Christ and the Church. What must be done to not waste this opportunity? It would seem to be necessary to find a new approach to the formation of catechists and animators of the parish groups. It is not sufficient to prepare them for the pastoral and for catechesis. They must be formed for evangelization. In Poland, in the framework of the New Evangelization and the preparation for the Year of the Faith, in the dioceses and in the ecclesial and Catholic academies, many schools of New Evangelization have emerged. This would seem to be a hope for the New Evangelization.
[00249-02.03] [IN184] [Original text: Italian]– H. Exc. Rev. Mons. Adriano LANGA, O.F.M., Bishop of Inhambane (MOZAMBIQUE)
I would like to say that Evangelization in Africa has achieved and is achieving a great work which, justifiably, is worthy of praise. But in this Church there is no lack of all sorts of problems, which hinder the progress of the proclamation of the Gospel.
In the countries of ancient Christian tradition they speak of the need for new “methods” and new “expressions” to proclaim the Gospel, since the old ones no longer have any meaning for today’s man. In Africa, the central problem is that of dialogue with the local cultures. At this time when speaking about the New Evangelization, the Church must ask herself what is the problem for the evangelization of Africa, for African man. The Church must ask herself what is this Africa and who is this African. In truth, it could be stated that, in Africa, an “unknown person” proclaimed the Gospel to another “unknown person”. The anthropological-cultural question is crucial and has been the decisive aspect in evangelization in Africa. Over the centuries, the Magisterium was called on to intervene, in different ways, to regain the attention of the evangelizers. Even today, there is a need to insist, since, for many missionaries, the orientations of the Magisterium and the voice of the human and social sciences are still unanswered letters.
Among the various consequences is that the evangelization of the “unknown person” by the “unknown person” has created a divided Christian, tortured within himself and vulnerable to sects, because of the duplicity to which he is subject in practical life, because he is obliged to abandon ancestral convictions, creeds and practices without proper catechesis.
It is necessary that the Gospel, in the person of the evangelizer, knows who the African is; it is necessary for him to know what makes this man happy or sad, culturally, socially and politically. It is necessary for the evangelizer to speak to the African in such a way that, like the Samaritan woman, he might say: “He told me everything I have done” (Jn 4:39); it is necessary that Africans say to the evangelizers just as the Samaritans said to the same Samaritan woman: “Now we believe no longer because of what you told us; w
e have heard him ourselves and we know that he is indeed the Saviour of the world” (Jn 4:42). This meeting between Jesus and the Samaritan woman undoubtedly occurred because Jesus had penetrated deeply into her life; to do this, Jesus spoke her language and used her way of speaking. He did not speak as he spoke to the Jews, to the scribes and to the Pharisees.
Therefore, it is indispensable and urgent for inculturation to no longer be an unanswered letter. A missionary, or any other evangelizer, with all his goodwill, does not invent “new methods or“languages” or “new expressions” in Africa nor for the Africans without immersing himself in this culture. If New Evangelization is a question of “methods” and of “expressions”, it will not become “new” if it doesn’t go through Inculturation.
– H. Exc. Rev. Mons. Cristoforo PALMIERI, C.M., Bishop of Rrëshen (ALBANIA)
Evangelization is a first proclamation for those in Albania who were born and have grown up without ever knowing anything about God, other than seeing a hidden Christian gesture by the elderly, or evangelization of Muslim brothers who had and still have Christian roots, and who show themselves to be open to the proclamation that was revealed, and is revealed to be more urgent and serious than ever, and more so here than elsewhere.
Therefore, we expect from this Synod some stimulating indications and new methods in order to be supported and committed to preaching at an opportune time, or otherwise, with love and sacrifices, required also due to the various difficulties faced, on account of the geographical dispersion of the population which makes encounters and gatherings more difficult, as well as the poverty of this population.
The harvest is not meager and is in part ready, but to reap it there is a lack of zealous and trained workers, capable of sacrifice, closer to the people and working only for and with love, whether local or given by other sister Churches.
The teachings of the Vatican Council II, that only after 50 years since their celebration will be brought to us in the Albanian language, will we hope familiarize us also with the word of the Church.
The prayer of those among you who take on board our problems sustains us.
The blood of martyrs was spilled during the communist regime: for forty of them the process of beatification has already progressed to a good stage with the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints, as well as for us in Albania. This is for us a reawakening of Christian life, the wish to deepen, illuminate and render more convincing the reasons for faith for the purpose of filling the void created during the years of the dictatorship; it makes us missionaries towards those far from us.
May the whole Church, those most responsible before God and for the proclamation of the Gospel, soon see the birth of a new humanity, a new man, certainly not that which presumed to create the Communist dictatorship, that is, a man without God, without Church and therefore entirely inconsistent in himself, but rather the man created by God, in justice and holiness.
– H. Em. Rev. Card. Laurent MONSENGWO PASINYA, Archbishop of Kinshasa (DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO)
In the experience of the young African Churches, the encounter with missionaries very quickly put us in a situation of interculturality, as Pope Benedict XVI reminded us during his visit to Benin in November 2011. The first bearers of the Gospel in fact came from other places, with their culture, a culture different to ours. Hence the reason for the miracle of the polysemy of missionary speech, the work of the Holy Spirit.
Long theological debates allowed for the clarification of the notion of inculturation. However, if the term is recent, the reality of it remains as old as the experience of Israel. This people who were beneficiaries of the experience of revelation were notably confronted with Hellenistic culture. They had to invent a way of “giving reason to the hope they carried”. It was the same for the Apostles of Christ and following of the Apostle Paul who, to communicate his experience of the Mystery of Christ, used Greek culture. Vatican Council II confirmed this dynamic by asking that “in each major socio-cultural area, such theological speculation should be encouraged, in the light of the universal Church’s tradition, as may submit to a new scrutiny the words and deeds which God has revealed, and which have been set down in Sacred Scripture and explained by the Fathers and by the Magisterium” (Ad Gentes, no. 22; cf. Lumen Gentium, no. 23).
Inculturation is that never fully achieved process of incarnation of the Christian life and the Christian message in the cultures. In this way, the experience of the Mystery of Christ finds, on the one hand, its expression in us, and becomes, on the other hand, the principle, the criteria and the power of recreation and unification of personal and community life (cf. Evangelii Nuntiandi, no. 19).
Evangelization is not an act accomplished once time and for all, because it is a permanent dialogue between the evangelical message and culture, which by its nature is dynamic and mobile. This continuous metamorphosis, sign of life, is also verified in our human communities where the generations follow each other. The experience of Jesus Christ can only be transmitted from one generation to the other in its form and content. But as the Scriptures taught us, we must transmit the story, the story of the joyful encounter with Jesus Christ, so that especially our contemporaries and young persons (cf. Ex, 13; Jo, 14), may open their hearts to Him (cf. Acts 3:20; Jn 4). This probably is the deep meaning of the Christian identity crisis which confuses us today. What language should be used to tell of the God of Jesus Christ to today’s man who has stopped asking questions about God or asks them badly? The image of the courtyard launched by Benedict XVI opens up interesting horizons.
New evangelization, in consequence, becomes a call to look into our culture of today for the most appropriate language to make this story an experience, to translate it into concrete and eloquent acts for all the spheres of human life.
– H. Exc. Rev. Mons. Franz-Peter TEBARTZ-VAN ELST, Bishop of Limburg (GERMANY)
Number 92 of the Instrumentum Laboris, as it refers to Evangelii nuntiandi, recalls that evangelization is a process consisting of phases and levels. An example of this is the catechumenate of the primitive Church. In Germany, as in other countries, we have observed for nearly twenty years that the catechumenate has become one of the greatest fruits of Vatican Council II. Thanks to a renewed practice of the catechumenate, three circumstances have given rise to a search for a new evangelization: the ways of faith need the contents of faith. In this way a confirmation of the faith is born, which forms an identity of the faith. Therefore, biography and message are not at odds with one another; it is indeed in faith where one learns a life worthy of and able to exist always. The liturgy is not a work of man or frenetic creativity. The catechumenical liturgy enables those who seek baptism as well as those already baptized to understand that a person’s vocation to faith is an initiative and a work of God. A liturgy which reflects this becomes a catechetical school. It is the vocation of singles to lead the community of baptized to a second conversion, which is to say a new evangelization .
[00253-02.04] [IN188] [Original text: German]– H. Exc. Rev. Mons. Joseph WERTH, S.I., Bishop of Transfiguration in Novosibirsk (RUSSIAN FEDERATION)
Russia is the vastest country of the world. Catholics make up barely one percent of the population.
During the XXth century, this country saw the most horrendous persecution of the fa
ith. The external structure of the Church was completely destroyed. Only the small communities and the individual families managed to maintain the faith.And now, after over twenty years we are free! We once again have churches, communities and priests. We have Catholic schools, kindergartens, magazines, radio and a television studio. On behalf of all the Catholics in Russia, I thank all of you, the Universal Church, for your help and your support!
Communism left deep and terrifying scars. Our society needs a long path of healing.
What do we base our hope on today?
First of all on the intercession of our martyrs. Today we are building on the foundation of the XXth century martyrs. In effect, the foundation is the Cross of Jesus Christ.
Secondly, I expect a great deal for the next three years, where we wish to reassert the teachings of Vatican Council II.
Fifty years ago, the bishops from all over the world, with the help of the Holy Spirit, in the Vatican, made important decisions, leaning towards the renewal of the Church’s image. The announcement and the beginning of the Council gave rise to joy and enthusiasm among the people of believers.
And fifty years ago, the “Iron Curtain” between us Catholics of the Soviet Union and the free world, the Universal Church, was lifted.
The actual process of studying the teachings of Vatican Council II will last from October 11th 2012 to December 2015. Perhaps today we have some advantages with regards to the free Church of the past. Fifty years later, with fifty years of Church experience, today we can avoid some of the negative fallout.
May the fiftieth anniversary of the Council become a true Pentecost for the Church in Russia!
AUDITIO AUDITORUM (I)
The following Auditors intervened:
– Prof. José PRADO FLORES, Founder and International Director of the Sant’Andrea Schools of Evangelization (MEXICO)
– Mr. Manoj SUNNY, director and journalist, founding member of the movement “Jesus Youth” (INDIA)
– Dr. Riad SARGI, President of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in Damascus (SYRIA)
– Rev. F. Vinko MAMIĆ, O.C.D., President of the Union of Superiors General in Croatia (CROATIA)
– Prof. Marco IMPAGLIAZZO, President of the Community of Sant’Egidio (ITALY)
– Mr. Mikhail FATEEV, Production Manager at “United Television” TV channel in St. Petersburg (RUSSIAN FEDERATION)
– Prof. Guzmán CARRIQUIRY, Secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America (URUGUAY)
The summaries of the interventions are published below:
– Prof. José PRADO FLORES, Founder and International Director of the Sant’Andrea Schools of Evangelization (MEXICO)
If Joseph and Mary lost Jesus in Jerusalem, something similar may happen today in the wanderings of our Church.Five centuries ago we left the joyful First Proclamation and took refuge in the sacraments, dogmas and catechisms; which are not bad, so long as they come after the First Proclamation. Not before, and above all, not in its place.
Some lost the Word, and preferred the full plans of human knowledge.
I would not allow myself to state that we have lost Jesus, but I wonder…
– Do we really consider everything as loss and rubbish, upon “knowing Christ Jesus my Lord”? (Ph 3: 7-8).
– Do we experience the joy of he who has found hidden treasure? (Mt 13:44).
– Why in many acts of devotion is it so difficult to find the Risen Christ, alive?
– If the Risen Christ does not appear to all people “but only to the witnesses” who go to proclaim the Gospel (Hech 10, 40:42), can we say that we have had a personal encounter with living Jesus, who identifies us as witnesses?
The people of God repeat and demand to us: “We want to see Jesus’.
Paul failed at Areopagus because he spoke of the resurrection but not of the Risen Christ, while Peter obtained a rich haul in Jerusalem because he “pierced the heart” with the sword of the Spirit.
The problem is not that the Catholic Church does not evangelize, but rather that at times it is the “non-evangelized” who evangelize. This is to say that some evangelizers have not yet risen to Jordan to have personal experience of the love of God, and have not yet entered into the Last Supper to experience their personal Pentecost.
The pedagogy of the faith is like a football match, played in two halves: the first part is the First Proclamation. The second is the catechesis and theology. Therefore the evangelizers play in the first half, the catechists and teachers, the second.
Just as Joseph and Mary returned to find Jesus in the place where they had left him (Lk 2:45), so we too return to Jerusalem, where we find an empty tomb!
– Mr. Manoj SUNNY, director and journalist, founding member of the movement “Jesus Youth” (INDIA)
Four specific areas which need attention in the context of the “New Evangelization”:
1. The centrality of the role of the laity: More than any other section of the Church community, the laity are in the world and involved in all the seven sectors listed in Instrumentum Laboris (Art. 51-67). Realizing the importance of the laity in reaching out to crucial areas of the secular world, working along with the clergy, is vital to the “new evangelization”.
2. The significance of reaching out to Asia: We need to focus on the evangelization of Asia, given the growing economy of Asia, the fast growth of CHINDIA (China and India) and the large number of migrations from Asia to different parts of the world. Evangelizing the laity in Asia will in turn become the most effective tool for world evangelization.
3. The urgency of forming young missionaries: Considering that there are three billion people aged below 25 on this planet, there is a pressing need to form these youngsters as missionaries. In the Jesus Youth, we take the following 7 steps to build youth as missionaries: 1. Reach out and invite them into a friendly group; 2. Orient them to an encounter with the Lord; 3. Integrate them into a community and faith culture; 4. Help them to discover their call and charisms; 5. Provide catechesis to build their Catholic faith; 6. Motivate and send them for mission; 7. Help them parta
ke in the life of the movement and its culture of mission and commitment.
4. The emergence of new ecclesial movements and lay missionaries: The new ecclesial movements mentioned in Article 115 have given rise to the new phenomenon of lay full-time missionaries which is indispensable for the “new evangelization”. Many lay people are being called to forsake full-time jobs and serve as missionaries. Armed with great professional skills and better access to secular avenues, they take the Gospel to the farthest reaches of the world where the Church struggles to enter. The Church needs to recognize and encourage such lay missionaries and support their formation, for the “new evangelization” to be truly effective.
– Dr. Riad SARGI, President of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in Damascus (SYRIA)
During the last few days of this Synod, we have heard a lot of speeches from the Fathers of the Churches in different countries all over the word. We exchanged the knowledge and the experiences of the main topic of this Synod. In my view, the goal of the church is how to let the Christian people live the Gospel in their own families, in their Cities, their Countries, and across the entire World. To achieve this purpose, we have to let children and young people be nourished on the Gospel, the catechism, and the teachings of Christianity and later on they will spread this knowledge. To achieve this purpose we have to find the methods for attracting the girls and boys. We can’t oblige them to come to the Church to get a Christian education. Therefore, we have to find the means to encourage them come to the Church through creating an atmosphere full of joy and blessing and giving them Christian knowledge based on updated technology: through the media, computers and the latest communication systems. Bishops and Priests also need to cooperate with adults in their parishes and dioceses and to use all the existing possibilities in them.
Most Holy Father, we are the minority in our country and we have two Easter feasts. The coming year, 2013, the difference will be five weeks. This situation embarrasses the Christians and many feel guilty about this situation in front of the resurrected Jesus. Christ. We humbly ask that a solution be found to this deep problem between our Church and the Orthodox Churches.
– Rev. F. Vinko MAMIĆ, O.C.D., President of the Union of Superiors General in Croatia (CROATIA)
I find it significant that in the Preface of the Instrumentum Laboris Mt 8:26 is quoted, “Why are you so frightened, you who have so little faith?”, whereas in its Conclusion there is another citation from Mt 28:5, quoted twice, “Don’t be afraid!” The last sentence of the document affirms, “”Don’t be afraid!’, be the words of the new evangelization”.
To evangelize basically means to assist people to arrive to the gift of faith and Christian conduct. Consequently, the proclamation of God’s Word is just a part of this task. As mentioned in these past days, evangelization consists of contemplation and silence, as well. In fact, the most memorable and probably the most effective act of evangelization during the visit of the Holy Father Benedict XVI to Croatia last year, was a short period of silence and Eucharistic adoration with the youth gathered in the main square of Zagreb, the capital city. In that silence, which lasted for about five minutes, many who were present at the gathering – as they testified later – experienced God’s closeness and loving care. Nobody felt fear; they were delivered from their burdens and anxieties; they enjoyed being together; they were truly happy and spent the rest of the day in joyful singing and thanksgiving to God. I do not think that words or wonderful thoughts could have been more evangelizing than that moment of the contemplative silence which allowed them to personally encounter Jesus Christ.
Silence and contemplation are only sporadically mentioned in the Instrumentum Laboris. I believe that they should be elaborated to a greater extent if we want to better trace the path towards an actualization of the key words of the document, “Don’t be afraid”. Some of the ideas that are in the Message of the Holy Father for the 46th Communications Day, entitled, “Silence and Word: Path of Evangelization” could be used as a launching ground.
– Prof. Marco IMPAGLIAZZO, President of the Community of Sant’Egidio (ITALY)
I would like to highlight two signs of times in which to place the theme of New Evangelization. The first: globalization.
In a globalized world, man and woman are “confused” because lacking many forms of community. A real, quiet, anthropological revolution. Man and woman are alone.
Catholicism has had to deal with the reality of secularization for a long time, less with globalization that is not ideological, but nevertheless having anthropological consequences .
The Christian spiritual dimension is deeply connected to a social community dimension, in other words, human nearness. In this culture, New Evangelization is the discovery of a community dimension and of communion. Church is communion. There is a second disruptive sign of the times: the number of poor and poverty are growing. We must recognize that, in recent years, there has been a way of speaking about the encounter with the poor that has not been attractive, rather it has been inactive, administrative, at times politicized or socialized, unable of communicative and vital expressions. Instead, we must say that friendship with the poor is the heart of Christianity. The presence of the poor is mysteriously and humanly powerful: it changes more than a speech, it teaches fidelity, it helps to know the fragility of life, to pray for and with them. Contact with the poor should be more present even in the educational paths of the young persons. New Evangelization also involves a new encounter with the poor, in which man lost and individualistic can be guided to the encounter with Christ Himself.
– Mr. Mikhail FATEEV, Production Manager at “United Television” TV channel in St. Petersburg (RUSSIAN FEDERATION)
In Russia most of the Christians represent only the first generation of believing people. Many peoples started our Christian life as adults. As we were not raised in Christian families, we don’t have any experience, necessary for upbringing our own children.
This problem is now common for every Christian confession in Russia: for the Catholics, for the Orthodox and Protestants. That is why we are trying to solve it together. An official magazine of the Russian Orthodox Church in St Petersburg regularly asks Catholic authors to write texts on Christian upbringing, catechism and Christian life in families. So we have an inspiring example of cooperation between two Sister Churches. This cooperation is a testimony of a real Christian unity that we need so much in the modern secularized world.
Nevertheless, in search for unity we should not reject or forget our Catholic identity. The people are more ready to speak with us as exactly with the Catholics, not as with “common Christians”. We could see this after a meeting organized by the lay Catholics in one of the largest bookstores of Saint Petersburg. The event attracted much interest in media. So we decided to start a series of public meetings and discussions on Catholic Church, its faith and traditions. We, Catholics, went out to meet the people and were met with a great interest!
Russian Catholic community is very small. The number of those who actually practice their faith, is even smaller and instable. That is why is so important to reach those, who is losing his Catholic identity, through media. The Catholic community in Russia is very poor, so the most effective way is to use new media, such as soc
ial networks, blogs and websites. That is the best way to be heard by the young people and also by the young families. We should also cooperate with secular media. All these media resources will help us to invite the people to come back to the Church, to invite them for more deep and personal Christian life.
– Prof. Guzmán CARRIQUIRY, Secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America (URUGUAY)
I call attention to an important event of the “Year of the Faith” which will be the occurrence of New Evangelization for the transmission of the faith to the new generations. I refer to the World Youth Day, which, through God, will be presided by the Holy Father and will take place in Rio de Janeiro in July next year. This important appointment providentially calls for a great educational and missionary mobilization of Latin American youth. Many of our young people may be more or less near or far from the Church but await much from her. Who but the Church can give our young people reasons of life and hope? Who but the reasonable , attractive amd fascinating witnessing of Christ can satisfy their desire for truth and love, justice and happiness?
The path of preparation for this event should demonstrate the ability of the Christian communities and ecclesiastical movements to touch the hearts and minds of many young people, oftlineeven beyond the ecclesiastical boundaries. We must enable faith in the students from our Catholic educational universities. We cannot ignore the serious deficiencies in the evangelization of the vast worlds of universities. It is a good opportunity to support evangelizing efforts in the 20% of Latin American youth who neither study nor work, excluded, disoriented, many times seduced by networks of drug trafficking and violence. We must involve parents and grandparents in the journey of the young to Rio . And finally, we must now take up the challenge of educating all young pilgrims to combine their enthusiasm with a rediscovery and firm commitment towards the contents of the Christian faith.
