Work and Enthusiasm: Evangelization Council Turns 1

In speaking with Vatican Radio following the June 29 first anniversary of the Pope's announcement of the dicastery, Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella evaluated progress.

During this year, "we have established the structure -- now the dicastery is almost complete -- and enthusiasm has grown," he said.

The archbishop pointed to the need "to take to the road to proclaim again the Gospel of always, and with more credibility and conviction."

"Work has been going on with the new evangelization for a long time," he said. "We are not at the point of departure, but are constantly on the way."

A major event for the new council will be a synod on the topic of evangelization scheduled for October 2012.

"We must try to give a unity to all this," Archbishop Fisichella stated. "However, we must also do so by listening to the episcopal conferences, listening to all these ecclesial realities -- old and new -- that, in these last years, have rolled up their sleeves and really implemented these methodologies of new evangelization, with great results."

Finally, Archbishop Fisichella reminded that the "new evangelization cannot be carried out" without "new evangelizers."

"We wish to give signs to the Church," he said, "of the presence of new evangelizers to awaken enthusiasm and to renew the missionary spirit that must be present in our particular communities, in our local Churches."