RELATIO ANTE DISCEPTATIONEM DEL RELATORE GENERALE, S. EM. R. CARD. DONALD WILLIAM WUERL, ARCIVESCOVO DI WASHINGTON (USA)
Maximo mihi est honori Relatoris Generalis officium in hac Synodo explere; quam ob rem Summo Pontifici ingentem habeo gratiam, qui mihi eiusmodi velut privilegium dignatus est conferre. In eo est, ut principium demus operi nostro de Nova Evangelizatione ad christianam fidem tradendam peragendo; propterea quaedam quasi capita summa tangere lubet, ut, quemadmodum est in votis, et disceptationem certo quodam ordine digeramus et quasi fomitem cogitationis adstantibus praebeamus.
Nemo nostrum ad hanc Synodum advenit omnibus rebus imparatus, siquidem omnibus velut alimentum praebuit suum cuiusque pastorale ministerium, neque opes non obtulit eximias Generalis Episcoporum Synodi Secretaria, quae impenso opere fuso primum quidem Lineamenta edidit, quibus simul continebantur multa, quae episcoporum conferentiae, synodi catholicarum ecclesiarum sui iuris, Romanae Curiae Dicasteria, episcopi sine epsicoporum conferentiis, Unio Superiorum Generalium suaserant et proposuerant. Eiusdem autem operis beneficio recentius Instrumentum laboris nobis traditum est, quo cogitata plenius evolvuntur ratione maxime Novae Evangelizationis habita.
In Instrumento iam summis lineis velut adumbrantur capita, ad quae Sro in animo est, certa quaedam in luce collocare, quae altius enodari posse videantur. In hac denique prolusione ad Instrumentum laboris me referam.
Meis in animadversionibus haec, quae sequuntur, inclusa volo:
1) Quid Quemve proclamamus– Verbum Dei;
2) De opibus recentissimis, unde nostri officii adiumenta petamus;
3) De singularibus huiusce nostrae aetatis adiunctis, ob quae hanc Synodum necesse habeamus;
4) De Novae Evangelizationis elementis;
5) De quibusdam theologiae principiis Novae Evangelizationis causa adhibendis;
6) Quales novos evangelizatores exspectemus
7) Quae denique charismata Ecclesiae Novae Evangelizationis operi opem ferant.
1) Quid Quemve proclamamus
Proclamationis nostrae opus in Iesu velut in cardine vertitur, in Illius nempe Evangelio viaque. Occursus Iesus christifidelium vitam definit ac regit. Iesus enim, cum homines visitasset, genus vitae obtulit nobis novum et inauditum. Aestus animorum pedetemptim diffundi coepit cum Dei Filius, homo nostri similis factus, regnum praedicaret venturum. Hodieque non desiit nos in discipulorum munus vocare eandem, quam tunc auditoribus pollicebatur, sedem in regno promittens. Quod quidem his viginti saeculis homines semper idem aspexerunt. Pro nuntii captu in dies augescente lucidius usque homines intellegebant, nobis a Iesu non vitae genus modo novum offerri, verum etiam novum prope modum exsistendi praeberi et exponi. Id enim scripsit Sanctus ille Petrus: “Benedictus Deus et Pater Domini nostri Iesu Christi, qui secundum magnam misericordiam suam regeneravit nos in spem vivam per resurrectionem Iesu Christi ex mortuis …” (1 Pt 1:3). Hanc autem vitam novam filiorum Dei nobis per baptismum Iesus ipse contulit: “Amen, amen dico tibi: Nisi quis natus fuerit ex aqua et Spiritu, non potest introire in regnum Dei.” (Io 3:5). (cf Instrumentum Laboris nn. 18-19, n. 31)
Laetamur, quod filii per adoptionem facti sumus, cum Sanctus Iohannes nobis hanc adoptionem non esse iuris fictionem repromittat: “Videte qualem caritatem dedit nobis Pater, ut filii Dei nominemur, et sumus!” (1 Io 3:1)
Evangelium Christi Iesu non ideo advenit, ut aliquid de Deo nos doceret, sed ut hominibus Deum ipsum in nobis patefaceret. Deus se visum, auditum, tactum fecit. Pro hac re Deus amorem nostrum postulat, quemadmodum Sanctus Pater noster docuit in Allocutione Romanae Curiae mense Decembri anni 2011 habita: “In Adoratione situm est amoris responsum primarium et perpetuum. Responsum nostrum, quod auditu, contemplatione, adoratione constat, in corde stat totius evangelizationis.” (cf Instrumentum Laboris n. 26)
In sermone, quem iuxta Evangelium Matthaei, in monte sedens Iesus habuit, rursus mentio fit generis vitae, quod certa quadam ratione misericordes tangit et iustitiam esurientes et sitientes, flentes aeque atque pacificos, pauperesque spiritu. Eadem occasione discimus, nos vocari, ut sal terrae, lucerna super candelabrum fiamus. Paulo inferius autem, in eodem Evangelio, mirabile illud legimus: necesse esse, ut alter alterius in vultu Christum praesentem adesse agnoscamus. Discipuli enim Iesu eo vocantur, ut mente quodammodo eum concipiant et imaginentur mundum, in quo non modo esurientes saturentur, sitientes refrigerentur, hospites colligantur, operiantur denique nudi, verum etiam – quod quidem vel maiorem movet admirationem – peccata dimittantur et aeternae vitae pignus accipiatur. (cf Instrumentum Laboris n. 23, nn. 28-29)
Ad Se nos Iesus allicit. Laetificati adducimur, ut illius, quod experimur, gaudii ceteros quoque homines participes faciamus. Non discipuli modo, sed etiam evangelizatores sumus. Perinde nos atque primi discipuli vocamur, ut imaginemur nosmet ipsos iter facientes apud Iesum, qui, quasi novi generis vitae sator, semina spargit actionum ad regnum pertinentium in aeternum futurum (cf Mt 13:1-9, 18-23; Mc 4:03; Lc 8:05). (cf Instrumentum Laboris n. 25 & n. 34)
Hac nostra quoque aetate eandem visionem vividam servare debemus, quoties ceteros vocamus, ut Evangelii paginas evolventes verba legant, quibus a Domino monemur, ut veluti palmites fiamus viti dominicae insiti, utque aeternae vitae panem edamus et veritatis audiamus verba, quae verba sunt in aeternum mansura.
Oportet pares simus ad nuntium nostrum renovandum, fide viva, firma persuasione, testimonio laetabili, id pro rato habentes, quod Deus, qui nobis antiquitus locutus est, nunc quoque nobiscum colloquium serit et instituit. Quod quidem apertissime ostendit Pater noster Sanctus et Beatissimus in Adhortatione illa post-synodali, quae a vocibus Verbum Domini incipit: “Vinculum inter Christum, Verbum Patris, et Ecclesiam intellegi non potest tamquam eventus simpliciter praeteritus, sed agitur de vitali relatione in quam ut ingrediatur unusquisque fidelis personaliter vocatur. Nam loquimur de praesentia Verbi Dei hodie inter nos: “Ecce ego vobiscum sum omnibus diebus usque ad consummationem saeculi (Mt 28, 20)”. (51)
Hac potissimum differentia catholica, quam profitemur, fides nunc temporis distinguitur, quod intellegimus, adesse Christum iugiter praesentem in Ecclesia, quae aeque mediatrix est operis, per quod Deus mundum salvat, atque sacramentum actionis divinitus salvificae. Concilium Vaticanum II, dato auspicio, statim in Constitutione Dogmatica de Ecclesia Lumen Gentium id memorat: “Ecclesia est in Christo veluti sacramentum seu signum et instrumentum intimae cum Deo unionis totiusque generis humani unitatis….” (1) (cf Instrumentum Laboris n. 27)
In hoc situs est nodus primarius, quem, cum humano cultui hominumque huius temporis societati Novam proponimus Evangelizationem, praeprimis subeamus oportet: quod nonnulli specie quadam doctrinae et eruditionis allecti Christum ab Ecclesia separare audent. At, quemadmodum Sanctus noster Pater iam in Litteris Encyclicis Deus caritas est nos commonefecit, “Ecclesia est familia Dei in mundo” atque “Intima Ecclesiae natura triplici exprimitur munere: praedicatione Verbi Dei, celebratione Sacramentorum, ministerio caritatis.” Praeterea Ille id instanter adicit: “Munia sunt quae vicissim se praesupponunt et invicem seiungi nequeunt.” (25)
Ecclesia, quicquid ipsa est, a Christo illud accepit. Donum autem primum et omnium praestantissimum gratia est per Mysterium Paschatis concessa: passionem dicimus et mortem et Resurrectionem Domini gloriosam. A potestate peccati nos Christus vindicavit et a mortis dicione solvit. Ecclesia a Suo Domino non solum mirabilem accipit gratiam victoriae, quam Ille pro nobis vicit, sed etiam munus sibi collatum ad victoriam Eius participandam interque omnes communicandam. Ad id enim sumus vocati, ut fida et sincera relatione mundo Evangelium Iesu Christi tradamus. Evangelizationis munus expeditio est princeps, in quam Ecclesia missa est. (cf Instrumentum laboris nn. 23-26)
Novae Evangelizationis opus, inter certamina, ad quae nunc provocatur, praesertim genere vitae solius individui usui consulente simul et concutitur et quodam quasi vallo circumsaepitur. Sectatores enim morum recentiorum, quos civilis cultus nostrae aetatis magnopere amplificat et extollit, cum privo cuidam homini locum tribuant principem, vili pariter pendunt nexum et quasi vinculum, quo alter alteri homines iungantur est necesse. In eiusmodi hominum consociatione, ubi libertas privata et potestas sui singularis tamquam fastigium imponunt animis hominum, qui sese student perfecte consummare et suprema suae vitae iura sibi repetere contendunt, pronum est, ut obliviscamur, nos ceteris hominibus obnoxios esse, quibus consulendi officium in nos recipimus. Pater noster Beatissimus, cum anno 2008 urbem Vasingtoniam visitaret, id Episcopos Foederatarum Civitatum allocutus docuit, ex agendi ratione eorum, qui, neglecta vocatione ut membra unius communitatis redemptae efficiantur, commercium cum Deo consectantur intimum et singulare, “nonnisi ulterius argumentum provenire de necessitate, ut hominum cultum quam celerrime rursus Evangelio imbuamur.” (cf Instrumentum laboris n. 7, n. 35, nn. 43-44, n. 48)
Ecclesiam numquam taedet nuntiandi doni, quod a Domino acceptum habet. Sicut a Concilio Vaticano II monemur, in ipso corde Ecclesiae opus residet evangelizandi. In Constitutione enim Dogmatica Lumen Gentium, in qua velut solum reperimus et fundamentum doctrinae, quam de vita Ecclesiae Concilium tradidit, Patres in unum congregati id praesertim in luce collocaverunt: “Quod solemne Christi mandatum annuntiandi veritatem salutarem Ecclesia ab Apostolis recepit adimplendum usque ad ultimum terrae.” Rotundo ore Concilium proclamavit veritatem huius sententiae: esse divinam illam missionem, quam Ecclesiae Iesus commisit per Apostolos eorumque successores usque ad consummationem mundi sine intermissione propagandam. (cf Instrumentum laboris n. 27 & n. 92)
2) De quibusdam opibus recentissimis
Non ex nihilo officium sumpsimus opus Novae Evangelizationis subeundi. Abhinc non pauca decennia Magisterium Ecclesiam duxit et rexit Pontificum, qui tam malum quam remedium probe norant idoneum. Paulus Papa h.n. VI primus omnium ad hanc rem animos revocavit; beatus Iohannes Paulus II omnes incitavit, ut eius necessitatem altiore conscientia perciperent; Benedictus denique XVI, qui nuc feliciter regnat, hoc Ecclesiae officium in argumentum sumpsit perpetuum Sui Magisterii docendo et praedicando.
In Adhortatione apostolica Evangelii nuntiandi,Paulus Papa h.n. VI doctrinam Concilii repetens de Ecclesia id adfirmat: “Itaque communitatem condunt, quae et ipsa vicissim fit Evangelii nuntia. Iussus Duodecim datus – Ite, praedicate Evangelium – in cunctos christianos valet, etsi diversa ratione … Ceterum, Evangelium Regni, quod advenit et iam incohatum est, ad universos universorum temporum homines spectat. Quotquot vero idem nuntium receperunt eiusque virtute in salutis communitatem congregantur, iidem hoc ipsum possunt ac debent tradere atque disseminare.”(Evangelii nuntiandi, n. 13) In hoc perennis pretii documento, Summus ille Pontifex, decimo post conclusum Concilium Vaticanum II anno, praesensit esse necesse “feliciora evangelizationis tempora.” (cf Instrumentum laboris nn. 3; 27)
Quo tempore divi Petri solium Beatus Iohannes Paulus II tenuit sine intermissione admoniti sumus de elementis ad Novam Evangelizationem pertinentibus, ut per Adhortationem Apostolicam post-synodalem Catechesi Tradendae, quae inceptum valde promovit, ita per adhortationem Christifideles Laici post conclusam de Laicis Synodum editam, cui Litterae Encyclicae Redemptoris Missio adici debent. Id praesertim Beatus Iohannes Paulus II nos monuit: evangelizatio “prima haec est opera, quam Ecclesia praebere potest omni homini et universo generi humano” (Redemptoris missio, 2), et Ecclesia onus sibi sumpsit evangelizationis novitatis “ex ardore, rationibus, expressionibus renovatis adhibendis.” (cf Instrumentum laboris nn. 3; 45)
Summus Pontifex Benedictus XVI adfirmavit in prudentia ad discernenda “ea, quae novae evangelizationi sunt necesse” idonea inesse “quoddam munus Summi Pontificis propheticum.” Idemque huic rei institit, quod “integra Ecclesiae actuositate amor exprimitur”, qui ardentissimis votis evangelizando mundo studet et incumbit. Cum autem homiliam fidelibus habens, qui in Basilicam Sancti Pauli extra moenia ad diem sollemnem divorum Petri Paulique Apostolorum agendum convenerant, dignatus est omnibus notum facere novum a Se in Civitate Vaticana dicasterium pro Nova Evangelizatione institutum, Pater noster Beatissimus conatus Ecclesiae certa quadam forma descripsit et in lucem posuit, per omnes Ecclesiae partes huic missioni esse quam celerrime plurimum studii impendendum. (cf Instrumentum laboris n. 130, n. 149)
In opibus, quae Ecclsiae universae Evangelii denuo proponendi studiosissimae sunt in promptu, Catechismus Catholicae Ecclesiae merito numerari meretur. Ex hoc enim fidei compendio, prout multiplici ratione manifestatur et adiunctis applicatur, lumen profunditur fulgidissimum, quod tenebras profliget, quibus saepissime – proh dolor!- detinentur atque involvuntur homines, qui religionem ignorant. (cf Instrumentum laboris nn. 100-101)
3) De huiusce nostrae aetatis adiunctis
Quibus in adiunctis Synodus celebratur? At videlicet intra hominum societatem, quae mutationibus repentinis et immanibus veluti scenam delineat, ubi homines fidem colligant, sibi vindicent, in succum denique convertant et sanguinem. Pernecessarium est, ut, secundum vocationem qua ciemur, rursus fidem Catholicam, Evangelii nuntium, doctrinam Christi mundo proponamus, quoniam saepissime fit, ut occurramus hominibus, qui, licet principio quidem salutiferum nuntium audiverint, posterius tamen sicci omnino et aridi facti sunt. Visionis species evanuit. Promissa vacuefacta sunt neque ullo iam omnium dierum vitae vinculo conectuntur. (cf Instrumentum laboris nn. 41-44)
Haud raro in Ecclesia, praesertim in regionibus primi, quem vocant, mundi, deprehendimus, a baptizatis fidei consuetudinem vehementissime neglegi. Pater noster Beatissimus praeterea definite circumscripsit opus Novae Evangelizationis, quod in hoc stare docuit, ut Iesus Christus Eiusque Evangelium rursus proponatur “regionibus illis, ubi, quamquam primum fidei iam est allatum et ecclesiae vivunt antiquitus constitutae, tamen, cum fideles in dies magis saeculo concedant, sensus Dei quodammodo ‘deficit et obscuratur’…” (28 Iunii 2010) (cf Instrumentum laboris n. 12, nn. 52-53, n. 94)
Neque aliter videntur res se habere in Regionibus Tertii Mundi, in quibus – quamquam recentius Evangelio crediderunt – tamen episcopi in ecclesiis localibus se idem experiri rescripserunt. (cf Instrumentum laboris nn. 87-89)
Rerum, ut nunc sunt, radices in gravissimis discriminibus et perturbationibus immittuntur, quae inter septimum et octavum praeteriti saeculi decennium evenerunt, cum per omnes educationis gradus catechesis omnino manca et incohata esset.
Obviam facti sumus hermeneuticae, quam discontinuitatis vocant, quae longe lateque permeavit sedes instructionis superioris nec liturgiam ipsam intactam reliquit, quam saepe in usu formis abnormibus foedavit. Quaedam hominum generationes omnino disiunctae et abstractae sunt a fulciminibus, quae fidem facilius tradi sinebant. Omnia propemodum videntur, quasi maris aestuantis impetus stabilis et diuturnus fluctibus vehementissimis faciem situmque culturae cardinibus evellerit, deletis simul ornamentis humanae consociationis, matrimonio, familia, notione boni communis, recti perversique discrimine, ceteris id genus. Peccata denique – o res infanda maximeque dolenda- exigui coetus diffidentiam fovit de quibusdam compaginibus velut ipsis Ecclesiae nervis inhaerentibus. (cf Instrumentum laboris n. 69, n. 95, n. 104)
Duo deinceps Catholicorum series hucusque saeculo imbutae sunt, ut ne preces quidem Ecclesiae primarias didicerint umquam. Multos fugit, quanti sit Missae sacrificio interesse neque consuerunt paenitentiae sacramento uti, cum haud raro vel sensum arcani vel rerum transcendentium amiserint, quasi ipsis vis quaedam non insit corporea et experimento pondernada.
Quae adhuc adumbravimus, omnia effecerunt, ut fideles magna ex parte nudi et imparati obviam venerint id genus culturae, quae, quemadmodum iterum iterumque Pontifex Maximus terrarum orbis civitates perlustrans illustravit, saeculo, materiae cultui, commodis unius cuiusque hominis individui plurimum concedit.
Non omnia tamen his temporibus atro colore infuscantur. Dum enim causas occasionesve distinguimus, ex quibus quae nunc improbanda videntur oborta sunt, simul et quid instantibus rebus respondeamus magis magisque faustis ominibus deprehendimus. Plurimi enim homines, iuvenes praesertim, postquam ab Ecclesia quodammodo sine sensu erant abstracti, intellegunt a cultu et humanitate religionis neglegentibus nullum sibi idoneum offerri responsum prae postulatis perennibus, quae altissime in humano corde latent. (cf Instrumentum laboris nn. 63-64, nn. 70-71)
Ut nonnulli pastores adverterunt, Novae Evangelizationis cursus duplici quodam ordine procedit, nam dum pueri fidei initiantur, eorum parentes eruditione praecipua instituuntur. Multis magistris hominibusque iam catechizatis eiusmodi tempus videtur esse omnino non commune; nunc enim iuvenes ad fidem accedunt animo apertiore, quippe qui intimo desiderio plus nosse sitiant.
Hodie nonnulli iuvenes loca idonea, ut alter alteri occurrant, inveniunt, ope pastoralis universitariae, apud Athenaea laica et instituta educationis, in operibusque per paroecias et dioeceses peractis, ubi in argumentum disceptationis insumuntur res, quae maxime cordi sunt nunc hominibus, cum ne parentes quidem neglegantur; eorum enim gratia, qui infantibus puerisque aucti sunt, instituuntur occasiones pro familiis, quae illic tum spiritualis quam socialis ordinis fulcimina nanciscuntur.
His autem temporibus familiae mentionem peculiarem faciamus oportet, quippe quae Locus et Exemplar exsistat Novae Evangelizationis cum omnibus de vita quaestionibus, quae illam sequi ac velut assolent comitari. Cum quae nunc viget hominum consociatio malit vili pendere ac ludibrio habere vitam familiae traditionalis, haec interim non desinit esse elementum quoddam ex ipsa rerum natura progressum, ac primam constituit communitatis humanae particulam. In familia enim ambitum reperimus rerum naturae ordini ac praecepto consentaneum maximeque idoneum, cuius inter saepta fides et virtutes tradantur; ad illam autem saepe confugiunt homines, qui per totum vitae cursum inde auxilium opemque petunt. (cf Instrumentum laboris nn. 110-113)
Quandam proprietatem Novae Evangelizationis in dies lucidius conspicimus in hoc sitam, quod conantes Evangelium propagare non necessario iam propellimur in regiones longinquas atque in homines alienos in ultimis terrarum finibus habitantes. Ut saepe fit, Christum sibi proclamari necesse habent quidam a nobis non ita lato spatii tractu seiuncti, cum in viciniis et in paroeciis nostris degant, quamvis eorum corda ingeniaque a nobis longe abstracta esse videantur. Ingentissimus enim numerus eorum qui aut immigraverunt aut emigraverunt eiusmodi evangelizationis adiuncta condiderunt, quae haud raro exercitii Novae Evangelizationis appareant simillima.
Missionales, qui primam evangelizationem peragendam instituerunt longe lateque immensas terrarum orbis latitudines peragraverunt, ut beatum nuntium ad ultimos globi fines afferrent. Nos, qui ad Novam Evangelizationem missi sumus, aliud genus ea quidem itinera, nullo tamen pacto breviora peragere debemus, ut homines pertingamus, qui propter doctrinas, quibus adhaerent, longissime a nobis absunt, quamvis plerumque viciniae vel etiam familiae nostrae ne saepta quidem excedant.
4) De Novae Evangelizationis elementis
Novae Evangelizationis nomine non quoddam praescriptum significamus vel consilium praestitutum, cum potius loquamur de forma cogitandi, videndi, agendi praecipua. Similis enim est perspicillo, cuius ope quid in una quaque re Evangelio denuo proclamando favere possit perspicimus ac deprehendimus. Signum insuper est operationis, quam Spiritus Sanctus etiamnunc in Ecclesia sedulo peragit.
In cardine autem Novae Evangelizationis infixam conspicimus alacritatem eorum, qui renovato impetu homines invitant, ut Domino Resurgenti Eiusque Evangelio Ecclesiaeque occurrant omnes, qui iam nihil forte invitamenti aut dulcedinis in divino nuntio esse credunt. Mea quidem sententia tria sunt quasi tempora inter se distincta, uno tamen nexu comprehensa:
a) Primum quidem nostra ipsorum fides renovatur altiusve in pectus admittitur aeque in intellectu atque in animo et affectione; (cf Instrumentum laboris n. 24, nn. 37-40, nn. 118-119, nn. 147-158)
b) Novae dein oritur fidentia de veritate nostrae fidei (cf Instrumentum laboris n. 31, n. 41, n. 46, n. 49, n.120); e
c) Quibus denique voluntas adicitur eadem fide ceteros participandi. (cf Instrumentum laboris n. 33-34, n. 81)
Novae Evangelizationis opus ex uno quoque nostrum incipit, quatenus animo alacri et florenti evangelicum nuntium complectimur et in omni dierum vita ita colimus et exercemus, ut fides renovata mentis acie comprehensa in dies magis nostris velut in medullis haereat ac versetur.
Postquam adlaboraverimus, ut renovato sensu amplitudinem nostrae fidei metiamur, nova inde orietur fidentia de veritate nuntii, cui credidimus. Illud tamen est valde dolendum, quod diutius inertes conspeximus hanc fidem corrodi atque suo loco deici a iudicio quodam et intellectu irreligioso, qui his decennis suum vitae genus divendidit profitens illud virtutibus a Iesu Eiusque Evangelio et Ecclesia proclamatis longe praestare. In excolendis educandi arte et theologiae doctrina diffunditur illa hermeneutica, quam discontinuitatis vocant, neque raro factum est, ut lippis oculis Evangelium nonnulli conspicerent, cum vox quaedam serena et familiaris excusationes interim afferret, ut omnia, quibus credimus, amandaret.
At, quemadmodum in Evangelio legimus, Iesus docebat quasi potestatem habens (Mc 1,21-22). Docuit innisus intimae suae personae naturae. Habet enim Iesus potestatem ex eo, quod Ipse est. “Ego sum via et veritas et vita”, proclamavit Ille. (Io 14:6). Hanc docendi formam etiamnunc in exemplar sumere debemus. Veritatis enim – quae sita est in revelatione, per quam Iesus semetipsum notum effecit – ope Ecclesiae nos participes reddit. Iesus nos orphanos non relinquit. Antequam ad Patrem rediit, quos elegerat et Spiritu Sancto unxerat vocavit misitque ut omnia docerent, quae illis tradidisset, Eiusque nomen usque ad ultima terrarum proclamarent.
Multis, qui hodie, ut pondus et sensum vitae intellegant, aliquid firmi anquirunt, vehementer persuadet nuntius, quem Christus apertis verbis, sine ambagibus vel trepidatione in Ecclesia declarat. Quod tamen efficaciter peragere nemo potest, quin desinat cunctari et haesitare diffisus – in hoc enim nonnulli causam iure perviderunt – veritati fidei et Magisteri sapientiae, secundum morem saeculi huius.
Tertium locum in Nova Evangelizatione occupat voluntas et animus ceteros suae fidei participes efficiendi. Nonnulli, maxime in regionibus quae ad Solem occidentem spectant, iam Christi nomen auditum habent. Quo igitur certamine provocamur? Ut in eorum omnium dierum vita et adiunctis animos commoveamus, ut renovata conscienta familiariter cum Iesu agant. Non in solum vocamur praeconium; nam nostrum est etiam viam rationemque adhibendam perpolire et acuere, donec totam quadam hominum generationem attrahat et alliciat in amicitiam Iesu, in qua thesaurus latet merus, sincerus, contrectabilis.
Evangelizationis opus non oritur ex quodam praescripto, verum ex occursu Iesu, qui Homo Deique Filius est. Ut Ecclesia confirmat “Et ipse Dominus Iesus Christus, qui Ecclesiae suae semper adest, evangelizantium opus praecedit, comitatur et sequitur, fructus afferens eorum laboribus, ut quod in primordiis evenerit, numquam desistat per historiae decursum” (CONGREGATIO PRO DOCTRINA FIDEI, Nota Doctrinalis de Quibusdam Rationibus Evangelizationis, n. 1).
A carceribus ad metas, ut ita dicamus, Iesu nosmet ipsos committimus. Qui solus est lapis angularis. Cum propius ad homines accedimus, qui a fide se frigescentes abalienarunt, id semper praestemus, ut oratione candida et summissa illos alloquamur, quo magis corda quam aures doceamus. Fratres enim sororesque adhortamur, qui baptismi unda ii quidem loti, tamen in vita Ecclesiae frequentes esse iam diu desierunt. Quibus offerri debet experimentum amoris Christi usu et factis comprobatum, non quaedam doctrina nonnullis praeceptis de bono et aequo exornata.
Operam igitur ponamus, ut in dicendo animos commoveamus; sic enim illis Spiritus Sanctus admovebit desiderium amicitiae Iesu, quem solum novimus “clavem, centrum et finem totius humanae historiae” (Gaudium et Spes, 10).
Sectator Christi Verbum factis quam verbis multo magis proclamat. Quam ob rem oportet, nuntius noster radices in vita ac testimonio agat. Haec sunt enim tempora propitia ut homines attrahamus, dispicientes ne ipsi illos repellamus.
Cum omnibus communicare debemus gaudium, quod perfecto et immenso amore diligimur ob idque diligere valemus. Neque id solis verbis, sed vivendo, orando, faciendo, agendo, patiendo exprimamus oportet.
5) Principia theologica, quibus Nova Evangelizatio continetur
Evangelizationis atque Novae Evangelizationis nomine non modo incepta quaedam pastoralia, verum etiam notiones theologicas certas ac definitas designamus.
In documento Dominus Jesus a Congregatione pro Doctrina Fidei dato novem recensentur elementa, quorum inopia theologorum philosophorumve nunc hucusque laborant idonea, ut erodant ac prope absumant conatus evangelizantium. Decem ante annis Conferentia Episcoporum Civitatum Foederatarum Americae, postquam libros plerumque in catechizando adhibitos cribravit, decem vitiorum genera exprobravit omnino eicienda et castiganda.
Quoniam theologiae doctores ad fidem tradendam notionibus utuntur, quarum radices altissime in Evangelio immittuntur, gravissimum imminet periculum ipsis nostrae fidei principiis, quoties homines velut in salebris haerent cum compaginem doctrinae contrectent. Qui saeculo et solius rationis imperio favent doctrinas placitaque ita coagmentarunt, ut fidem rationi subiciant. Doctrinam autem fidei reiciunt ad locum cogitationum, quae cum suae cuiusque indoli tantum obnoxiae sint, nullo pacto veritatem generalem attingere valeant.
Quae notiones in enodanda Iesu Christi fide a theologis maximi momenti habentur – incarnationem dicimus, resurrectionem, redemptionem, sacramentum, gratiam, cetera id genus – eas minimo aestimant non minus Catholici quam qui a catholica fide defecerunt, cum vivant circumsaepti moribus et institutis, in quibus rationalismo plurimi primas partes concedunt. (cf Instrumentum laboris n. 20)
Periculum est, ne evangelizatores, ni forte pastores ipsi, invitamento cedant, quo sollicitantur, ut, sepositis obicibus, qui arduis ex notionibus proficiscuntur, animos viresque potissimum colligant in peragendis inceptis socialibus pastoralibusve atque etiam usum loquendi exerceant, qui a sermone nostrae theologiae recepto plane abhorreat.
Ut Novae Evangelizationis opus mentem admoveat signis temporum dictisve valeat spiritus huiusce aetatis commovere non minus refert, quam ut radici illi, quae in vividissima Ecclesiae traditione iam diu theologicis notionibus exprimitur, semper adhaerescat et aptetur.
Ut initium igitur demus operibus et cogitationibus de Nova Evangelizatione, libet nonnulla capita proponere theologice fundata, quae profecta sunt tam e Lineamentis et Instrumento laboris, quam e responsis a Conferentiis Episcoporum totius orbis missis. In animo est, quibusdam punctis instare.
a) Fundamentum Anthropologicum Evangelizationis
Cum propter animi cultum saeculo faventem e computo Deus deletur, necesse est, ut, homo quid sit, perverse intellegatur. Ob idque novae evangelizationis munus est, ut originem ostendat, unde hominis dignitas eiusque facultas semet ipsum cognoscendi ac perficiendi protinus proficiscantur. Quod quilibet homo conditus est ad imaginem et similitudinem Dei, ut exemplum afferamus, solum est et quasi fundamentum, quo universalis iurum humanorum indoles continetur. Iterum pervidemus, quam necesse sit, ut firma persuasione alloquamur hominum communitatem, qui dubiis haerent et quodammodo in sole caligant, cum agitur de veritate et integritate matrimonii, puta, familiaeve, de lege morali naturali, de finibus bonorum malorum, de ceteris id genus. (cf Instrumentum laboris nn. 63-64, n. 151)
In hoc igitur oportet aedificium Novae Evangelizationis constituamus, quod, quemadmodum a theologia docemur, homini homo quid sit Christus enuntiat retegitque, nam genuina hominis indoles in Christo, qui Adam est novus, sita est. Quae Novae Evangelizationis pars non modo doctrina, verum etiam usu magni momenti ab hominibus habenda est. Nam siquidem Christus nobis patefacit, perinde Deus quis sit, atque – quod illud consequitur – nos qui simus et quae nobis sit causa et ratio cum Deo, ergo non procul a nobis abest Deus neque longissimo intervallo interiecto ab Illo seiungimur. (cf Instrumentum laboris n. 19)
Existimare licet, Novam contineri Evangelizationem desiderio, quo nostra ipsorum natura omnes animamur, ut Deo, qui omnia transcendit, adhaereamus. Nullius hominis cor non aspirat ad transcendentia, ad bonum vitae ordinem, quem rerum natura gigni persentimus. Ut Catechismo Catholicae Ecclesiae admonemur, praeceptis Decalogi iuris naturae forma scilicet exprimitur egregia. Novam Evangelizationem inniti oportet huic persuaso, quod per fidem Christianam malum quid sit comprehendere valemus, cum enodet notionem peccati, lapsus, vocationis in vitam novam.
Malum ac peccatum Evangelio obicis loco obsistere pro comperto habemus; nihilo minus ex ipso Evangelii nuntio intellegere pronum est, quid de vita sensu coniciendum sit, cum ex illo doceamur, fieri posse ut nova vita donemur, quae fines humanae fragilitatis superet ac vincat. Ad summam, oportet, Novam Evangelizationem hac sententia contineri: quid humanitatis vocabulo plene significetur, non posse nos intellegere, nisi Iesu Christi lumine sinamus nos collustrari.
b) Fundamentum Christologicum Novae Evangelizationis
Quemadmodum superius animadvertimus, Novae Evangelizationis nomine vocamus actionem, per quam, ut ita dicamus, re-introducimus vel re-proponimus Christum. Enimvero cum Christum nuntiare incipimus, apertis verbis secundum theologiam exponamus oportet, Christus Quis sit, quid causae rationisque cum Patre habeat, quomodo simul et Deus et homo exstet, Eum a mortuis surrexisse confirmantes vere. Christus medium nostrae fidei locum occupat. Christum sane proclamamus, at Christum secundum Revelationem, quemadmodum Illum Ecclesia cum Traditione intellegit, non autem somnium alicuius hominis vel fructum ex aliqua disciplina sociali enatum vel denique quoddam genus aberrationem theologicam. Numquis nostrum suis solius viribus possit mentem, cor, amorem, naturam Dei attingere aut invenire? At Iesus, cum in mundum venisset, veritatem patefecit – ut de Deo ita etiam de nobis ipsis. (cf Instrumentum laboris nn. 18-21)
c) Fundamentum Ecclesiologicum Novae Evangelizationis
Necesse est, ut per Novam Evangelizationem sine ambagibus secundum theologiam exponamus, sine Ecclesia salutem nullam esse. Partem hoc loco tangimus spinosam nostrae praedicationis, quam saepe in catechesi neglectam vidimus. Vulgata et communis est fama per maximam huius aetatis culturam dissipata, salutem attingi posse ab illo, qui causam rationemque privatim cum Christo habeat, seorsum ab Ecclesia. Illud tamen instanter repeti et demonstrari debet, quod Christus homini ubiubi versanti occurrit, sed in Ecclesia ac per Ecclesiam. (cf Instrumentum laboris nn. 35-36)
In Scripturis Ecclesia diversis et imaginibus et parabolis describitur. Interdum depingitur per similitudinem amplae hominum familiae, qui per baptismum in Christo inter seque artissime conectuntur. Ecclesiam divus Paulus docet esse corpus Christi, cuius caput est Dominus noster, nos autem sumus membra. In epistula ad Corinthios ille scripsit: “Vos autem estis corpus Christi et membra ex parte.” (1 Cor 12:27).
Statumen conaminum, quae Novae Evangelizationis causa sumimus, in hoc est, ut in baptismo unicuique nostrum a Christo dona Spiritus Sancti data esse cernamus. Eodem enim Spiritu, qui anima est Ecclesiae, inter nos una comprehensione coniungimur, quavis separatione deleta. (cfr. 1 Cor 12:13). (cf Instrumentum laboris n. 119)
In Nova Evangelizatione disseramus oportet non minus de voluntate Dei, qui universum mundum salvum fieri vult, quam de itinere, quod unum apertissime Iesus esse ostendit, quo ad redemptionem homines et ad salutem perveniant. Non una de multis viis est Ecclesia, quibus calcandis pariter et efficaciter Deum consequamur. Ob id ipsum quod Deus vult, omnes salvos fieri, Christum misit, qui nos in adoptionem adscitos in gloriam si forte adduceret aeternam.
d) Fundamenta Novae Evangelizationis doctrina salutis contenta
In medullis comprehendimus, quid sibi velit, Deum nobiscum esse, si iudicio et intellectu novimus, quid Regni nomine significemus. Ubicumque enim in Novo Testamento regnum proclamatur. Id autem Iesu magnopere cordi esse videtur. Ex quo “coepit Iesus praedicare” non desiit illud nuntiare: ‘appropinquasse Regnum caelorum’ (Mt 4:17). Locutus est Iesus de subditis regni, de eius potestate, de finibus, de diuturnitate. (cf Instrumentum laboris n. 24)
In corde Evangelii Regnum situm est. Si volumus vitam Christianam viveve – si nobis volumus vindicare, quod sectatores Christi sumus – hoc regnum prospiciamus oportet, quod Ille proclamavit.
In terris regnum latet arcane eique ubicumque sane occurrere possumus, at ratione dumtaxat spirituali. Regnum Dei “iam exsistit et in fine temporum adimplebitur « Regnum caelorum », « Regnum Dei » quod in Persona Christi advenit et in corde eorum qui Ei sunt incorporati” (CCC 865).
Ita discimus, a Christo regnum iam in terris esse constitutum, quamvis nondum attigerit plenitudinem gloriae suae. Hic adest, sed adhuc augetur. “Regnum Dei, in fine temporum, ad suam perveniet plenitudinem.” (CCC 1060). Interea, “Christus Dominus iam per Ecclesiam regnat” (CCC 680).
Per haec velut fundamenta theologicae Novae Evangelizationi substructa id in aperto ponitur, quod, quidquid speramus a nobis in Synodo perfectum iri, quidquid nobis praestituimus Christi nunc hominibus iterum proponendi causa, id tamen agamus semper oportet incunctanter radicati in forma hominis, quam Scriptura describit, utpote qui ad imaginem et similitudinem Dei conditus particeps sit creati mundi, ubi divina splendet sapientia, ac suapte natura prae se ferat ordinem morum in humanis actionibus inscriptum.
Per peccatum splendorem rerum creatarum vastari constat, propter idque omnes hominum generationes, quae subinde sunt consecutae, immanis sui amor turpissime foedavit. Tamen Filium in mundum Deus misit, qui nos vita donaret nova. Ecclesiam autem condidit, ut per ipsam Ille non desineret in nobis praesens adesse vivus et salvificus. Nostra enim salus intrinsecus adhaeret communioni, quam cum Ecclesia ac sacramento per illam significato, fovemus: hoc enim pacto in votis est, ut aeque manifestum efficiamus regnum, quod pedetemptim crescit et perficitur, atque gloriae participes fiamus ipsi.
6) Quales Novos Evangelizatores exspectemus
Plus una proprietate qui nunc evangelizant ornari et cumulari debent. Quattuor tamen prae ceteris proprietates eminent et clarescunt: audacia fiduciave, societas cum Ecclesia coniunctioque, sensus instantis necessitatis, gaudium. (cf Instrumentum laboris n. 46, n. 49, nn. 168-169)
In Actibus Apostolorum post Spiritum Sanctum die Pentecostes effusum Apostoli dicuntur pleni “fiducia” fuisse. Inducitur enim Petrus fidenter annuntians Beatum Nuntium Resurrectionis, quod serius Paulus resumens argumentum fidentissime proclamavit per universum illius aetatis orbem terrarum, quem indefesse longe lateque peragravit. (cf Instrumentum laboris n. 41)
Hac nostra aetate Novae Evangelizationi fidentia esse debet, quae ex familiaritate Christi nascitur. Nec pro certo desunt homines, qui exemplo docuerint, qui fiat, ut quis simul et pacificus et fidentissimus exsistere possit: Sanctus Maximilianus Kolbe, Beata Teresia de Calcutta hisque antiquiores fuerunt Beatus Michael Pro et omnes martyres, qui recens in Lithuania et in Hispania et in Mexico sanguinem effuderunt, quibus adicias tot sanctos, qui in ultimis terrarum finibus, in Corea, Nigeria, Iaponia bonum de Christo testimonium praestarunt. (cf Instrumentum laboris n. 128 & n. 158)
Quum autem de fiducia loquimur, id quoque advertamus oportet, esse omnino necesse, ut in ecclesiis particularibus testimonium reddatur etiam ab institutionibus, si qua sunt, quibus Ecclesia sese exprimit, ut sunt scholae, studiorum universitates, praesidia valetudinis tuendae, auxilia indolis socialis eaque omnia, quae egenorum causa sunt constituta; testimonium de Verbo Dei, ut par est, ab iis quoque vitae ecclesialis institutis praebendum esse quis neget?
Novam Evangelizationem evangelizantes artissima societate Ecclesiae, Evangelio, pastoribus coniunctos esse debere necessario patet. Non enim aliter sinceritatem proclamati verbi nuntiique veritatem, quod sunt verba vitae aeternae, comprobare possumus, nisi cum Ecclesia communionem habeamus ac solidis dilectionis vinculis eius pastoribus adhaereamus. (cf Instrumentum laboris nn. 77-78)
Proprietatibus, quas in Novae Evangelizationis opere et administris requirimus, sensus quoque adicitur necessitatis instantis. Fortasse oportet mentem denuo advertamus ad evangelistam Lucam, qui narrat Visitationem Mariae Elisabetham invisentis, in qua fulget exemplar instantis, qua egemus, sollicitudinis. In Evangelio narratur Maria exsurgens abiisse in montana cum festinatione in civitatem Iudae, quae a Nazareth multarum dierum et angustiarum iter aberat. Nullam licebat in tanta re moram interponi. (cf Instrumentum laboris n. 138 & n. 149)
In immenso denique campo, quem circa nos iacere circumspicimus conserendum, non est dubium, quin cum gaudio semina spargere debeamus. Eum nuntium proclamemus oportet, qui ceteros invitet, ut nobis laeti adiungantur viam sequentibus ad regnum Dei. Gaudio evangelizator distingui debet. Gaudio enim nuntius noster abundat, quoniam Christus resurrexit, nobiscum Chritus est. Quibuslibet in adiunctis testimonium, quod praebemus, cum fructibus Spiritus Sancti, amore, pace, gaudio splendere debet (Gal5:22).
7) Quae charismata Ecclesiae Novae Evangelizationis operi opem ferant.
De negotiis in aequitate sociali
Fides, quam profitemur, catholica nuper magno aestimari coepta est propter officium et operam aequitatem socialem tuendi causa suscepta. Nam in confessum venit, doctrinam socialem Catholicam, quae centum iam annos amplius aucta et composita est, in peramplis orbis terrarum regionibus aequitati sociali magnam partem afflasse. At non ex nihilo orta iustitia socialis Ecclesiae crevit. Postremis ante Litteras Encyclicas Rerum Novarum datas decennis, gravissima de aequitate sociali humanisque iuribus pugna oborta erat, quibus obvenire conata est Ecclesia, quae Litteris Encyclicis Rerum Novarum anno 1891 datis vocem auxit adversus operariorum vexationem, qui inopes et egentes exeunte saeculo XIX plerumque vivebant. (cf Instrumentum laboris n. 71, nn. 123-124, n. 130)
Erret sane qui dicat, Iesum operam dedisse certae cuidam doctrinae de re publica moderanda vel de forma humanam consociationem et publicum aerarium administrandi quiddam suum praecepisse; posuit nihilo minus quaedam velut principia digna, quae in quodvis genus re publica et aerario administrando primas partes agant, si modo aequitatem et humanam dignitatem servari volumus. Sola fides nobis persuadere valet, quidquid aequo bonoque servato per nos factum sit, id non nihil tribuere regno Dei ex divino consilio perficiendo.
Hodie, dum prospicimus quaestiones, unde invitamentum quoddam proficiscitur pro illis, qui se ab Ecclesia abalienaverunt, novam interim sumimus fiduciam pervidentes complures iuvenes, qui ardenti desiderio optant actioni pastorali inservire. Pro illis ea, quae ab Ecclesia de sociali aequitate docentur, perinde necopinatae revelationis similia apparent atque invitationis, ut in Ecclesia ipsa vitam pleniorem vivant.
De Novis Communitatibus Motibusve Ecclesialibus
Novae Evangelizationis officium non soli, velut quavis ope destituti, subimus. Neque nunc primi omnium studemus viis rationibusque huic muneri explendo idoneis. Novae Evangelizationis signum deprehendimus in motibus ecclesialibus novisque communitatibus, quae nunc Ecclesiae ingenti benedictioni sunt. Eiusmodi incepta, per quae Spiritus Sanctus operam suam ostendit, thesauro adduntur charismatum veterum, quae in ordinibus religiosis et in congregationibus, sodalibus firmo studio perfectionis consilia servantibus, testimonium praebent de regno venturo. Non defecit neque aruit sermo Christi, qui multos hortatus est, ut discipuli fierent, immo hortatus adhuc in Ecclesia viret vigetque praesertim in vita religiosorum . (cf Instrumentum laboris n. 115)
Non conabor deinceps recensere novas communitates religiosas, ne propter numerum ingentem nimis multas praeteream, quae iam fructus edunt copiosos. Idem dicam de novis motibus ecclesialibus, de quibus, ut exemplum afferam, tantum trium mentionem faciam, quos nuncupare solent: Communionem et Liberationem, Opus Dei, Iter Neocatechumenale. Omnes in operam Spiritus Sancti deriguntur, qui nunc Ecclesiam incitat, ut propius accedat illis, qui a fide longe recesserunt.
Inter munera nobis commissa, ut Ecclesiam totam implicemus in opere Novae Evangelizationis peragendo, possumus fortasse cunctos motus novos ac recentiores communitates hortari, plenius etiam vires laboresque suos inserant integrae vitae totius Ecclesiae, maxime in ecclesiis locorum particularibus, sub episcopi cura apostolica. (cf Instrumentum laboris n. 116)
In coetu mense Septembri anni 2011, Pontificio Consilio pro Nova Evangelizatione iubente, habito, perbelle didicimus, haud exiguum iam esse iuvenum manipulum, qui animo fidei et ardoris pleno Novae Evangelizationi operam impendunt iique circulos constituerunt, in quos motus et centra spiritualia diversi generis in unum confluunt et convergunt.
Conclusio
In ipso velut limine laborum, quos suscepimus, ut respondeamus Sancto Patri, qui nos in hanc Syndoum convocavit Novae Evangelizationi studendi causa, oportunum mihi videtur, ut vobis suadeam, nobis quadrifariam propositam esse missionem, ut scilicet:
1) Confirmemus evagelizationis munus esse omnino pernecessarium;
2) Advertamus, quibus theologiae fundamentis Nova Evangelizatio contineatur;
3) Hortemur et animemus vias rationesque, quibus plurifariam iam Nova Evangelizatio fit manifesta;
4) Subiciamus vias rationesque, quibus in usu Novam Evangelizationem provehere, ordinare, peragere possimus, ut exemplum afferam, in paroeciis, in actionibus pastoralis universitariae, in artificum collegiis, in capellaniis coetuum peculiarium, quorum in numero sunt milites, operatores rei sanitariae et socialis, quibus adicitur auxilium iuvenibus, qui nunc artes exercere incipiunt praebendum, ut intellegant, se quoque quodammodo instrumenta esse utilia Ecclesiae in opere Evangelizationis, quod provehit. Propter peculiare momentum rei politicae, in qua fulget signum humanae libertatis ac dignitatis et ordinis moralis naturalis, in votis est, ut in luce collocemus per nostras animadversiones usui aptas generationem hominum, qui apud posteros operam vitae politicae daturi sunt.
Quantum quidem videtur, e consultationibus de huius nostrae aetatis condicione, cui Ecclesia obviam ire debet, exspectandum est, fore, ut non modo confirmetur illam praecipue et necessario vocatam esse ad evangelizandum, verum etiam ut agnoscantur multiplicia, quae iam adsunt, renovationis elementa et instrumenta pariterque via, quam in usu sequamur, ostendatur, ac fiducia denique oportunis hortamentis iniciatur atque augeatur.
Hac Synodo Ecclesia tota vocari debet, ut vitam ac res circumspiciat ope Novae Evangelizationis, ut in lucem id prodeat, quod nonnulla incepta iam peragi coepta sunt ac complures fideles familiari usu iam tractant huius quaestionis partes, licet interdum non vocabulo Novae Evangelizationis designari consuerint.
Nunc, cum principium demus operibus nostris, optimo iure possumus animis bonae spei et alacritatis plenis labores aggredi, quoniam semina Novae Evangelizationis sparsa his decennis, cum Solium Beati Petri deinceps Paulus VI, Iohannes Paulus II, Benedictus XVI occupaverunt, iam germinare coeperunt. Nostrum igitur est reperire, quibus modis germina colamus et alamus, quo celerius crescant et augeantur.
“On 10 October His Grace Rowan Williams, archbishop of Canterbury and primate of the Anglican Communion, will address the assembly to outline the Anglican approach to the challenge of new evangelisation for the transmission of the Christian faith”.
Same old ecumenical crap.
But… but… LOTI, look! It’s in LATIN! And he even has names and titles of popes in Latin, too!
I mean, uhhh, doesn’t that mean that the cardinal is turning Trad, or something?
RING! RING!
“Hullo?”
“Look, dimbulb! Did you read who wrote this? Ever hear of the hermeneutic of discombobuluity, ace? How about ‘hybrid mass’, genius? You think Wuerl just wrote this out on the back of a DC Men’s Club cocktail napkin and faxed it to Rome? The guy who did the translation is probably the Latin guru over there, that ueber-liberal cleric who CAN’T STAND the idea of a return of the Latin Mass and has said so on the record! These characters would use Swahili if it they thought it would help them make us all into one big Sesame Street stage show!”
( CLICK! )
Oh…..
[English-language summary:] In major synod address, Cardinal Wuerl rues secularism and poor catechesis, analyzes new evangelization
CWN – October 09, 2012
www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=15843
Poor catechesis and a “tsunami of secular influence” have led to a situation in which the need for the new evangelization of once-Christian societies is urgent, Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington said in an important Latin-language address to the Synod of Bishops.
Cardinal Wuerl, whom Pope Benedict appointed the synod’s relator-general, delivered the relatio ante disceptationem (report before the discussion) following a meditation by Pope Benedict, brief remarks by Cardinal John Tong Hon of Hong Kong in English, and a lengthy Latin-language overview of the synod process by Archbishop Nikola Eterovic, since 2004 the secretary-general of the Synod of Bishops.
The relatio ante disceptationem inevitably helps shapes the synod fathers’ deliberations in the weeks that follow.
“This current situation is rooted in the upheavals of the 1970s and 80s, decades in which there was manifest poor catechesis or miscatechesis at so many levels of education,” Cardinal Wuerl said. “We faced the hermeneutic of discontinuity that permeated so much of the milieu of centers of higher education and was also reflected in aberrational liturgical practice. Entire generations have become disassociated from the support systems that facilitated the transmission of faith.”
“It is as if a tsunami of secular influence has swept across the cultural landscape, taking with it such societal markers as marriage, family, the concept of the common good and objective right and wrong,” he continued. “Tragically, the sins of a few have encouraged a distrust in some of the very structures of the Church herself.”
Cardinal Wuerl added:
“The missionaries in the first evangelization covered immense geographic distances to spread the Good News,” he observed. “We, the missionaries of the New Evangelization, must surmount ideological distances just as immense, oftentimes before we ever journey beyond our own neighborhood or family.”
Cardinal Wuerl also discussed elements of the new evangelization, its theological foundations, and the qualities of “new evangelizers.”
“The New Evangelization is not a program,” he said. “It is a mode of thinking, seeing and acting. It is a lens through which we see the opportunities to proclaim the Gospel anew. It is also a recognition that the Holy Spirit continues actively to work in the Church.”
“At its heart the New Evangelization is the reproposing of the encounter with the Risen Lord, his Gospel and his Church to those who no longer find the Church’s message engaging,” he continued. “The New Evangelization begins with each of us taking it upon ourselves to renew once again our understanding of the faith and our appropriation of it in a way that more deeply, willingly and joyfully embraces the Gospel message and its application today.”
“We rely first and always on Jesus,” Cardinal Wuerl said. “He alone is the cornerstone. As we approach those who have grown cold or distant in their faith, the touchstone is the simplicity of instruction that motivates and speaks to the depth of the human person. We turn to our brothers and sisters who have received baptism, and yet, no longer participate in the life of the Church.”
“The personal witness of the follower of Jesus is itself a proclamation of the Word,” he continued, adding:
[English translation:] “New Evangelization is the Re-Introduction, the Re-Proposing, of Christ”
Cardinal Donald Wuerl’s Report at the Synod of Bishops
www.zenit.org/article-35675?l=english
VATICAN CITY, OCT. 9, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Here is the translation of the report given yesterday by Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington, D.C. and General Relator of the Synod of Bishops.
* * *
It is a great honor for me to serve as the Relator General at this Synod and I am grateful to our Holy Father for this privilege. As we begin our deliberations on the New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith, I want to touch on a number of points that I hope will help focus our discussion and provide some themes for reflection.
None of us come to this Synod without previous preparation realized in our own pastoral ministry, but also supported by the work of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops that produced first the Lineamenta that resulted in suggestions and recommendations from episcopal conferences, synods of the Catholic churches sui iuris, the dicasteries of the Roman Curia, bishops without any episcopal conference and the Union of Superiors General. Observations also came from individual bishops, women and men in consecrated life and the laity, not to mention various Church movements and organizations.
Most recently we are the beneficiaries of the Instrumentum laboris, whic7h provides a carefully developed reflection on the New Evangelization. The Instrumentum is already a framework for much of the Synod’s discussion and I intend to highlight certain areas which can be more deeply developed.
Throughout this presentation I make reference to the Instrumentum laboris.
In my observations, I include the following points:
1) What or Who it is we proclaim – the Word of God;
2) recent resources to help us in our task;
3) particular circumstances of our day that render this Synod necessary;
4) elements of the New Evangelization;
5) some theological principles for the New Evangelization;
6) qualities of the new evangelizers; and finally,
7) charisms of the Church today to assist in task of the New Evangelization.
1) What / Who we proclaim
Our proclamation is focused on Jesus, his Gospel and his way. Christian life is defined by an encounter with Jesus. When Jesus first came among us, he offered a whole new way of living. The excitement spread as God’s Son, who is also one of us, announced the coming of the kingdom. The invitation to discipleship and a place in the kingdom that he held out to those who heard him, he continues to offer today. This has been true for 20 centuries. As his message was more fully understood, it became evident that Jesus offers us not only a new way of living, but also a whole new way of being. As Saint Peter wrote: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in his great mercy gave us a new birth to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…” (1 Peter 1:3). This new life as child of God through baptism is revealed to us by Jesus himself: “Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit” (John 3:5). (cf Instrumentum Laboris nn. 18-19, n. 31)
We rejoice that we have become adopted children and Saint John assures us this adoption is no legal fiction: “See what love the Father has given us, that we should become children of God: and so we are” (1 John 3:1).
The Gospel that Jesus Christ came to reveal is not information about God, but rather God himself in our midst. God made himself visible, audible, tangible. In return, he asks our love.
In the Sermon on the Mount presented in Matthew’s Gospel, we hear of a new way of life and how it involves the merciful, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, those who mourn, the peacemakers, the poor in spirit. Here we learn of the call to be salt of the earth and a light set on a lamp stand. Later in that same Gospel, we hear the extraordinary dictum that we should see in one another the very presence of Christ. Jesus’ disciples are challenged to envision a world where not only the hungry are fed, the thirsty are given drink, the stranger is welcomed and the naked are clothed, but also most amazingly sins are forgiven and eternal life is pledged. (cf Instrumentum Laboris n. 23, nn. 28-29)
Jesus beckons us. The joy we experience compels us to share it with others. We are not only disciples, we are evangelizers. Like those first disciples, we are called to envision ourselves walking alongside Jesus as the sower of the seeds of a new way of living, of a share in a kingdom that will last forever (cf Mt 13:1-9, 18-23; Mk 4:3; Lk 8:5). (cf Instrumentum Laboris n. 25 & n. 34)
That same vision we must hold out today when we invite others to open the pages of the Gospel and read about the invitation to be branches connected to the vine of the Lord, to eat of the bread of everlasting life and to hear the words of truth, words that endure forever.
We need to be able, with lively faith, firm conviction and joyful witness, to renew our proclamation with the understanding that as God spoke to us in times past, so does he continue to speak to us today. As our Holy Father’s post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Verbum Domini so clearly points out, “The relationship between Christ, the Word of the Father, and the Church cannot be fully understood in terms of a mere past event; rather, it is a living relationship which each member of the faithful is personally called to enter into. We are speaking of the presence of God’s word to us today: ‘Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age’ (Mt 28:20).” (51)
What distinguishes our Catholic faith today is precisely the understanding that the Church is the enduring presence of Christ, the mediator of God’s redeeming action in our world, and the sacrament of God’s saving acts. The Second Vatican Council in the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, began by recalling for us that “the Church, in Christ, is in the nature of sacrament – a sign and instrument, that is, of communion with God and of unity among all people….” (1) (cf Instrumentum Laboris n. 27)
The intellectual and ideological separation of Christ from his Church is one of the first realities we must deal with as we propose a New Evangelization of culture and people today. Already in his encyclical letter God is Love (Deus caritas est) our Holy Father reminded us that “the Church is God’s family in the world” and that “the Church’s deepest nature is expressed in her three-fold responsibility: of proclaiming the word of God, celebrating the sacraments, and exercising the ministry of charity.” Further he points out that “these duties presuppose each other and are inseparable.” (25)
Everything the Church is, she has received from Christ. The first and most precious of his gifts is the grace bestowed through the Paschal Mystery: his passion, death and glorious Resurrection. Jesus has freed us from the power of sin and saved us from death. The Church receives from her Lord not only the tremendous grace he has won for us, but also the commission to share and to make known his victory. We are summoned to transmit faithfully the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. The Church’s primary mission is evangelization. (cf Instrumentum laboris nn. 23-26)
One of the challenges that both precipitates the New Evangelization and represents a barrier to it is the individualism of our day. Our culture and the emphasis in so much of current society exalts the individual and diminishes each person’s necessary relationship with others. In our society which values individual freedom and autonomy, personal achievement and dominance, it is easy to lose sight of our dependence on others as well as the responsibilities that we have towards them. In his talk to the United States bishops during his 2008 visit to Washington, our Holy Father taught us that the emphasis on our private relationship with God at the expense of our calling to be a member of a redeemed community “is simply further evidence of the urgent need for a renewed evangelization of culture.” (cf Instrumentum laboris n. 7, n. 35, nn. 43-44, n. 48)
The Church never tires of announcing the gift she has received from the Lord. The Second Vatican Council has reminded us that evangelization is at the very heart of the Church. In Lumen Gentium, the fundamental text and nucleus of the Council’s expression on the life of the Church, the Council Fathers emphasized, “The Church has received this solemn mandate of Christ to proclaim the saving truth from the Apostles and must carry it out to the very ends of the earth.” The Council spoke eloquently of the truth that the divine mission that Jesus entrusted to the Church continues through the Apostles and their successors and will last until the end of the world. (cf Instrumentum laboris n. 27 & n. 92)
2) Recent Resources
We do not address the task of the New Evangelization in a vacuum. For decades the Papal Magisterium has guided the Church into a profound awareness of both the problem and how we must confront it. Pope Paul VI initiated the focus, Blessed John Paul II urged a deeper awareness of its need and our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, has made this task of the Church a constant theme in his teaching and preaching.
In his apostolic exhortation Evangelii nuntiandi, Pope Paul VI drew on the teaching of the Council when he affirmed that the Church is “a community which is in its turn evangelizing. The command to the Twelve to go out and proclaim the Good News is also valid for all Christians, though in a different way … the Good News of the kingdom which is coming and which has begun is meant for all people of all times. Those who have received the Good News and who have been gathered by it into the community of salvation can and must communicate and spread it.” In this historic document, issued ten years to the day of the close of the Second Vatican Council, the Pope discerned the need for “a new period of evangelization.” (cf Instrumentum laboris n. 3 & n. 27)
The pontificate of Blessed John Paul II provided us constant referral to elements of the New Evangelization and encouraging teaching in the post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Catechesi Tradendae, the exhortation following the Synod on the Laity, Christifideles Laici, as well as the encyclical letter Redemptoris Missio. Blessed John Paul reminded us that evangelization is “the primary service which the Church can render to every individual and to all humanity,” and took up the commitment to an evangelization, “new in ardor, methods, and expression.” (cf Instrumentum laboris n. 3 & n. 45)
Pope Benedict XVI has affirmed that the discernment of “the new demands of evangelization” is a “prophetic task of the Supreme Pontiff.” He emphasized that “the entire activity of the Church is an expression of love” that seeks to evangelize the world. With the announcement, in his homily for the Solemnity of the Apostles Peter and Paul at the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, of the formation of a new Vatican office for the New Evangelization, our Holy Father gave a formal structure to this effort and highlighted the urgency and all-inclusive nature of this mission of the Church. (cf Instrumentum laboris n. 130, n. 149)
Also among the resources available to the Church Universal in the effort once again to repropose the Gospel is the Catechism of the Catholic Church. This compendium of the faith in its many manifestations and applications provides a beacon of light in what, unfortunately, has become in too many instances the gloom of religious ignorance. (cf Instrumentum laboris nn. 100-101)
3) Circumstances of Our Day
The dramatically changing societal background for the reception, appropriation and living of the faith is the context of this Synod. The call to repropose the Catholic faith, to repropose the Gospel message, to repropose the teaching of Christ, is needed precisely because we encounter so many who initially heard this saving proclamation and for whom the message has become stale. The vision has faded. The promises seem empty or unconnected to real life. (cf Instrumentum laboris nn. 41-44)
Across the Church we deal in many instances, but particularly in most of the so-called first world countries, with a dramatic reduction in the practice of the faith among those who are already baptized. Our Holy Father has further specified the work of the New Evangelization as the reproposal of Jesus Christ and his Gospel “in the countries where the first proclamation of the faith has already resonated and where churches with an ancient foundation exist, but are experiencing the progressive secularization of society and a sort of ‘eclipse of the sense of God’…” (June 28, 2010). (cf Instrumentum laboris n. 12, nn. 52-53, n. 94)
The responses from bishops in the so-called third world – more recently evangelized societies – indicate the same experience in their own local churches. (cf Instrumentum laboris nn. 87-89)
This current situation is rooted in the upheavals of the 1970s and 80s, decades in which there was manifest poor catechesis or miscatechesis at so many levels of education. We faced the hermeneutic of discontinuity that permeated so much of the milieu of centers of higher education and was also reflected in aberrational liturgical practice. Entire generations have become disassociated from the support systems that facilitated the transmission of faith. It is as if a tsunami of secular influence has swept across the cultural landscape, taking with it such societal markers as marriage, family, the concept of the common good and objective right and wrong. Tragically, the sins of a few have encouraged a distrust in some of the very structures of the Church herself. (cf Instrumentum laboris n. 69, n. 95, n. 104)
Secularization has fashioned two generations of Catholics who do not know the Church’s foundational prayers. Many do not sense a value in Mass attendance, fail to receive the sacrament of penance and have often lost a sense of mystery or the transcendent as having any real and verifiable meaning.
All of the above resulted in a large segment of the faithful being ill-prepared to deal with a culture that, as our Holy Father has pointed out on his many visits around the world, is characterized by secularism, materialism and individualism.
But the circumstances of our day are not all bleak. Just as it is possible to identify the causes or at least occasions for the negative situation today, so it is also possible to identify an increasingly recognized positive response. Many people, especially the young, who have been alienated from the Church are finding that the secular world does not offer adequate responses to the perennial and demanding questions of the human heart. (cf Instrumentum laboris nn. 63-64, nn. 70-71)
Many pastors have noted that the New Evangelization is unfolding on two levels simultaneously, the introduction into the faith of young children, and the instruction of their parents. For many teachers and those catechized, this is a particularly enriching moment because this time around, the young adults approach the faith with a great deal more openness out of their own need to know more.
Points of contact for many young adults today are found in campus ministry programs at secular universities and colleges, parish or diocesan programs with a focus on current issues of concern today, as well as family orientated events for those with children who seek both spiritual and social support.
Today special mention should also be made of the family itself as the Model – Place of the New Evangelization and related life issues. While contemporary society downplays, and at times even ridicules traditional family life, it remains a natural reality and the first building block of community. The family presents the natural and ordinary context for the transmission of both faith and values, and the reality we so often turn to for support throughout our lives. (cf Instrumentum laboris nn. 110-113)
A quality of the New Evangelization that is increasingly evident is that our efforts to spread the Gospel no longer necessarily take us to foreign lands and distant peoples. Those who need to hear of Christ, all over again, are with us in our neighborhoods and parishes even if they are distant from us in their hearts and minds. Immigration and widespread migration has created a new neighborhood environment for evangelization that too often is really an exercise in the New Evangelization.
The missionaries in the first evangelization covered immense geographic distances to spread the Good News. We, the missionaries of the New Evangelization, must surmount ideological distances just as immense, oftentimes before we ever journey beyond our own neighborhood or family.
4) Elements of the New Evangelization
The New Evangelization is not a program. It is a mode of thinking, seeing and acting. It is a lens through which we see the opportunities to proclaim the Gospel anew. It is also a recognition that the Holy Spirit continues actively to work in the Church.
At its heart the New Evangelization is the reproposing of the encounter with the Risen Lord, his Gospel and his Church to those who no longer find the Church’s message engaging. I believe there are three distinct, but interrelated stages:
a) the renewal or deepening of our faith both intellectually and affectively; (cf Instrumentum laboris n. 24, nn. 37-40, nn. 118-119, nn. 147-158)
1. a new confidence in the truth of our faith; (cf Instrumentum laboris n. 31, n. 41, n. 46, n. 49, n.120) and
2. a willingness to share it with others. (cf Instrumentum laboris n. 33-34, n. 81)
The New Evangelization begins with each of us taking it upon ourselves to renew once again our understanding of the faith and our appropriation of it in a way that more deeply, willingly and joyfully embraces the Gospel message and its application today.
Following on our efforts to renew our own appreciation of the faith should be a new confidence in the truth of our message. Unfortunately, we have for too long seen this confidence eroded by an appropriation of so much of the secular value system that has been lifted up in the past decades as a superior and better way of life than the one proposed by Jesus, his Gospel and his Church. In the educational and theological culture reflective of the hermeneutic of discontinuity, too often the vision of the Gospel was clouded and a sure, confident voice gave way to apologies for what we hold and believe.
In the Gospel we read how Jesus taught with authority (Mark 1:21-22). He taught out of his own self-identity. Jesus has authority because of who he is. “I am the way, the truth and the life” he proclaimed (John 14:6). This divine pedagogy remains the model for us today. The truth – the very revelation of who Jesus is – he shares with us through the Church. Jesus did not leave us orphans. As he returned to his Father, he called those he had chosen and anointed in the Holy Spirit to continue to teach everything that he had made known to them and to proclaim it even to the ends of the earth.
Many of those who today seek some assurance of the value and meaning of life are persuaded by the clear, unambiguous and confident message of Christ presented in his Church. To do this well we need to overcome the syndrome of embarrassment as some have identified the lack of confidence in the truth of the faith and in the wisdom of the Magisterium that characterizes our age.
The third element in the New Evangelization has to be the willingness and desire to share the faith. There are numerous people, particularly in the western world, who have already heard of Jesus. Our challenge is to stir up again and rekindle in the midst of their daily life and concrete situation, a new awareness and familiarity with Jesus. We are called not just to announce but to adapt our approach so as to attract and to urge an entire generation to find again the uncomplicated, genuine and tangible treasure of friendship with Jesus.
The first moment of any evangelization originates not from a program, but in an encounter with a Person, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The Church maintains that “it is the same Lord Jesus who, present in his Church, goes before the work of evangelizers, accompanies it, follows it and makes their labors bear fruit: what took place at the origins of Christian history continues through its entire course” (CDF, Some Aspects of Evangelization, 1).
We rely first and always on Jesus. He alone is the cornerstone. As we approach those who have grown cold or distant in their faith, the touchstone is the simplicity of instruction that motivates and speaks to the depth of the human person. We turn to our brothers and sisters who have received baptism, and yet, no longer participate in the life of the Church. To them we offer our experience of Jesus’ love, not a philosophical thesis on behavior.
How we communicate must gain access to hearts in a way that the Holy Spirit can reacquaint our sisters and brothers to friendship with Jesus, who alone “is the key, the center and the purpose of all human history” (Gaudium et Spes, 10).
The personal witness of the follower of Jesus is itself a proclamation of the Word. Our message today must, therefore, be grounded in the testimony of our life. These are also moments to invite, not to scold.
Into our world we need to communicate our own joy of being definitively and completely loved and, therefore, capable of loving. Our communication should be in words and in life, in prayer and in deed, in action and in bearing suffering.
5) Theological Foundations for the New Evangelization
Evangelization and the New Evangelization are theological concepts as well as pastoral initiatives.
The document Dominus Jesus from the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith presents nine theological/philosophical deficiencies prevalent today in our conceptual thinking that undermine our evangelizing efforts. A decade earlier the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops conducted a survey of catechetical texts and identified ten doctrinal deficiencies that needed correction.
Since theology uses concepts to convey our faith that is rooted in the Gospel, the very tenets of our faith are threatened if people struggle with its conceptual framework. Secularism and rationalism have created an ideology that subjugates faith to reason. Religion becomes a personal matter. Doctrine in matters of faith is reduced to idiosyncratic positions without any possibility of ever claiming universal truth.
Concepts such as incarnation, resurrection, redemption, sacrament and grace-core themes of theology used to explain our belief in Jesus Christ – have little meaning for the Catholic and the fallen away Catholic in a culture where rationalism prevails. (cf Instrumentum laboris n. 20)
The temptation for the evangelizer, and perhaps for pastors, is to not confront these conceptual obstacles and instead place our focus and energies on more sociological priorities or pastoral initiatives or even develop a vocabulary apart from our own theology.
While it is important that the New Evangelization be alert to the signs of the time and speak with a voice that reaches people today, it must do so without losing its rootedness in the great living faith tradition of the Church already expressed in theological concepts.
As we begin our deliberations and reflections on the New Evangelization, I would suggest that from the Lineamenta, the Instrumentum laboris, and so much of the material provided from Conferences of Bishops from the around the world, a number of theological foundation stones have emerged. I would like to touch on four of them.
a) Anthropological Foundation of Evangelization
If secularization with its atheistic tendencies removes God from the equation, the very understanding of what it means to be human is altered. Thus the New Evangelization must points to the very origin of our human dignity, self-knowledge and self-realization. The fact that each person is created in the image and likeness of God forms the basis for declaring, for example, the universality of human rights. Here, once again, we see the opportunity to speak with conviction to a doubting community about the truth and integrity of realities such as marriage, family, the natural moral order and an objective right and wrong. (cf Instrumentum laboris nn. 63-64, n. 151)
The New Evangelization must rest upon the theological understanding that it is Christ who reveals man to himself, man’s true identity in Christ, the new Adam. This aspect of the New Evangelization has a very practical meaning for the individual. If it is Christ who reveals to us who God is and, therefore, who we are and how we relate to God, then God is not remote or distantly far off. (cf Instrumentum laboris n. 19)
The presumptive foundation of the New Evangelization must be the natural desire that all have for communion with the transcendent – with God. Within each human being is the basic orientation to the transcendent and the right order of life rooted in the natural created order. The Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us that the Decalogue is itself a privileged expression of the natural law. The New Evangelization has to rest on the understanding that it is the Christian faith that offers us some understanding when we address the problem of evil, the reality of sin, the fall and the call to new life. Evil and sin are indeed obstacles to the Gospel, but it is precisely the Gospel message that makes sense of the human condition and the possibility of a life that overcomes the inherent limitations of human frailty. Ultimately the New Evangelization must rest on the recognition that it is in the light of Jesus Christ that we understand fully what it means to be human.
b) Christological Foundation of the New Evangelization
As has already been noted, New Evangelization is the re-introduction, the re-proposing, of Christ. Our proclamation of Christ, however, begins with a clear theological explanation of who Christ is, his relationship to the Father, his divinity and humanity, and the reality of his death and Resurrection. At the center of our Christian faith is Christ. But the Christ we proclaim is the Christ of revelation, the Christ understood in his Church, the Christ of tradition and not of personal, sociological, or aberrant theological creation. On our own, none of us could come to know the mind, heart, love and identity of God. Jesus came to reveal the truth – about God and about ourselves. (cf Instrumentum laboris nn. 18-21)
c) The Ecclesiological Foundation of the New Evangelization
The New Evangelization must provide a clear theological explanation for the necessity of the Church for salvation. This is a sensitive aspect of our preaching and too often has been neglected in catechesis. Rampant in much of the revival culture of today is the sentiment that salvation is achieved through a relationship with Jesus apart from the Church. But what needs to be emphasized and demonstrated is that Christ meets man wherever he is, in and through the presence of the Church. (cf Instrumentum laboris nn. 35-36)
The scriptures provide many images and parables to describe the Church. One image of it is a great family of people united in Christ and with each other through baptism. Saint Paul speaks of the Church as the body of Christ with our Lord as the head and we as the members. Writing to the faithful of Corinth he says: “Now you are Christ’s body and individually parts of it” (1 Corinthians 12:27).
The basis of our efforts in the New Evangelization must be the recognition that in baptism Christ gave each of us the gifts of the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit, the soul of the Church, that binds us together in a unity that overcomes every kind of division. (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:13). (cf Instrumentum laboris n. 119)
The New Evangelization must speak about God’s universal salvific will and at the same time recognize that Jesus has provided a clear and unique path to redemption and salvation. The Church is not one among many ways to reach God, all of them equally valid. While God does wish all to be saved, it is precisely out of his universal salvific will that God sent Christ to bring us to adoption and eventual eternal glory.
d) Soterological Foundations of the New Evangelization
Intrinsic to the understanding of God’s presence with us today is the awareness of what we mean by his kingdom. In the New Testament, we find the kingdom everywhere. To Jesus, it seems to be a preoccupation. From the moment he “began to preach,” he announced that “the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). Jesus spoke of the kingdom’s subjects, its power, its boundaries, its duration. (cf Instrumentum laboris n. 24)
The heart of the Gospel is the kingdom. If we want to live a Christian life — if we want to make a credible claim that we are followers of Jesus — it’s essential that we look to this kingdom he has proclaimed.
On earth the kingdom is hidden mysteriously and may be encountered anywhere, but only in a spiritual way. God’s reign “already exists and will be fulfilled at the end of time. The kingdom has come in the person of Christ and grows mysteriously in the hearts of those incorporated into him” (CCC 865).
Thus we learn that Christ has established his kingdom on earth, though not yet in the fullness of its glory. It is here, but it is still growing. “At the end of time, the Kingdom of God will come in its fullness” (CCC 1060). In the meantime, “Christ the Lord already reigns through the Church” (CCC 680).
The four theological foundation blocks for the New Evangelization point out for us that whatever we hope to achieve in this Synod and whatever pastoral goals we set for reproposing Christ to this age, we must do so firmly rooted in the biblical vision of man created in the image and likeness of God, as part of a creation that reflects God’s wisdom and presents a natural, moral order for man’s activities. Marring this created beauty is sin and the egoism that has marked every successive generation. However, into this world God sent his Son to offer us new life. He established a Church to continue his living and saving presence. Our salvation is intimately related to our participation in the great sacrament that is the Church through which we hope both to manifest the kingdom coming to be now and to realize our part in it in glory.
6) The Qualities of the New Evangelizers
Among the qualities required for the evangelizer today, and there are many that can be identified, four stand out: boldness or courage, connectedness to the Church, a sense of urgency and joy. (cf Instrumentum laboris n. 46, n. 49, nn. 168-169)
In the Acts of the Apostles the word that describes the Apostles after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost is “bold.” Peter is depicted as boldly standing up and preaching the Good News of the Resurrection, later Paul takes up the theme and in frenetic movement around the world accessible to him, he boldly announces the word. (cf Instrumentum laboris n. 41)
Today the New Evangelization must show a boldness born of confidence in Christ. Examples abound of the quiet boldness: Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, and before them Blessed Miguel Pro and the recent martyrs of Lithuania, Spain, Mexico and the more distant witness by the saints of Korea, Nigeria and Japan. (cf Instrumentum laboris n. 128 & n. 158)
When we speak of courage, we must also recognize the need for institutional witness in the those particular churches that enjoy the presence of institutional expressions of the Church, colleges, universities, hospitals, health care ministries, social services and other types of outreach to the poor, there must be a recognition that these institutional expressions of the life of the Church should also bear testimony to God’s Word.
The evangelizers for the New Evangelization need also a connectedness with the Church, her Gospel and her pastoral presence. The authentication of what we proclaim and the verification of the truth of our message that these are the words of everlasting life depend on our communion with the Church and our solidarity with its pastors. (cf Instrumentum laboris nn. 77-78)
Another quality of the New Evangelization and, therefore those engaged in it, is a sense of urgency. Perhaps we need to see in Luke’s account of the Mary’s Visitation of Elizabeth, a model for our own sense of urgency. The Gospel recounts how Mary set off in haste in a long and difficult journey from Nazareth to a hill country in the village of Judea. There was no time to be lost because her mission was so important. (cf Instrumentum laboris n. 138 & n. 149)
Finally, when we look around and see the vast field open, waiting for us to sow seeds of new life, we must do so with joy. Our message should be one that inspires others joyfully to follow us along the path to the kingdom of God. Joy must characterize the evangelizer. Ours is a message of great joy, Christ is risen, Christ is with us. Whatever our circumstances, our witness should radiate with the fruits of the Holy Spirit including love, peace and joy (Galatians 5:22).
7) Charisms of the Church Today to Assist in the New Evangelization
Social Justice Issues
An area that points to a renewed appreciation of our Catholic faith and interest in it is the value being placed on questions of social justice. We recognize that more than a century of articulated Catholic social teaching has shaped and continues to influence much of the development of social justice in large parts of the world. Catholic social justice did not develop in a vacuum. In the decades prior to the encyclical Rerum Novarum, the stage was set on which the struggle for social justice and human rights would take place. With the promulgation of Rerum Novarum in 1891, the Church sought to confront the terrible exploitation and poverty of workers at the end of the nineteenth century. (cf Instrumentum laboris n. 71, nn. 123-124, n. 130)
While it would be inaccurate to say that Jesus promoted any particular political, social or economic program, he did establish basic principles that should characterize any just, humane, economic or political system. Only faith can provide the conviction that our works of justice endure as part of the plan of God to bring about the kingdom of God.
Today when we look at issues that offer an invitation to many who are disaffected from the Church, we can take great encouragement from the desire of so many young people today to be involved in service ministry. For them, the Church’s teaching on social justice is both a revelation and an invitation to a fuller life in the Church.
New Communities / Ecclesial Movements
We do not set out on the task of the New Evangelization alone. Nor are we the first to address how this task must be carried out. A sign of the New Evangelization underway are the ecclesial movements and new communities that bring such blessing to the Church today. These expressions of the movement of the Holy Spirit add to the spiritual wealth of the long present charisms of the religious orders and congregations that work so faithfully to bear witness to the coming of the kingdom through their commitment to living the evangelical counsels of perfection. Christ’s invitation to many to close discipleship endures in the Church in a special way in the religious life. (cf Instrumentum laboris n. 115)
I will not attempt to list the new religious communities for fear of leaving out too many that are already bearing great fruit. The same is true of the New Ecclesial Movements such as Communion and Liberation, Opus Dei and the Neocatechumenal Way, to mention just three. All point to the work of the Holy Spirit engaging the Church today with those who have drifted away.
One task of our efforts to engage the Church in the work of the New Evangelization might be to call upon all the new movements and new communities to integrate their energy and practices more fully into the life of the whole Church, especially as manifested in the local, particular Church under the apostolic care of the bishop. (cf Instrumentum laboris n. 116)
At the September 2011 gathering sponsored by the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization, it became very apparent that there is a rich core of young, vibrant faithful who are already engaged in the tasks of the New Evangelization and who are already gathered in groups composing a vast array of movements and spiritual homes.
Conclusion
As we initiate our response to the call of our Holy Father for this Synod to address the New Evangelization, it seems appropriate to suggest that what lies before us is a fourfold mission:
1) reaffirm the essential nature of evangelization;
2) note the theological foundations of the New Evangelization;
3) encourage the many current manifestations of the New Evangelization;
4) suggest practical ways in which the New Evangelization can be encouraged, structured and implemented, for example, in parishes, campus ministry programs, organizations of professionals, chaplaincies to divergent groups, including military, health care and social service ministries, as well as the encouragement of young professionals in every area to see themselves as instruments of the Church’s evangelizing activity. Given the importance of public policy that is reflective of human freedom, human dignity and the natural moral order, the next generation of those involved in political life should also be a focus of our practical observations.
It would seem that out of the deliberations on the current situation that the Church faces today, should come the affirmation of her essential call to evangelization, the recognition of so many agents and instruments of renewal and a presentation of practical guidance and encouragement.
This Synod should be a call to all of the Church to see life and reality through the lens of the New Evangelization in a way that highlights that much is already underway and that many of the faithful are already familiar with aspects of it, even if not always identified by the name New Evangelization.
As we undertake our work, we have every reason to do so with optimism and enthusiasm because the seeds of the New Evangelization sown over the pontificates of Paul VI, John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI are already beginning to sprout. Our task is to find ways to nurture, encourage and hasten the growth.
As we undertake our work, we have every reason to do so with optimism and enthusiasm because the seeds of the New Evangelization sown over the pontificates of Paul VI, John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI are already beginning to sprout. Our task is to find ways to nurture, encourage and hasten the growth.
So I guess the New Evangelization only started with Pope Paul VI, the one who closed VC II.
Compare the fruits of these popes’ New Evangelization against the real Evangelization of our first Pope, St. Peter and all his successors up to VC II.
Which group has produced more Catholics? Which has lost more Catholics to damnation and discouraged non-Catholics from even converting?
P.S. I have never heard of seeds that have taken 50 years to be “beginning to sprout”. Sounds more like a dormant fungus.
P.S. I have never heard of seeds that have taken 50 years to be “beginning to sprout”. Sounds more like a dormant fungus.
Especially when Donna Wuerl invites the Archdruid Rowan Williams, protector and promoter of homosexual male and lesbian female pretend “bishops”, “priests” and “priestesses”, to address Wuerl’s and Benedict’s little army of New Evangelizers on how to go about evangelizing.