what’s new about the new evangelization?

SILVER LAKE COLLEGE OF THE HOLY FAMILY

What’s New About the New Evangelization? Learning from our heritage

Sister Marie Kolbe Zamora, S.T.L.

1 ©Sister Marie Kolbe Zamora, S.T.L., October 2013.

Contents What’s New About the New Evangelization? Learning from our heritage. .................................................. 3

Introduction: ................................................................................................................................................. 3

Purpose of this Presentation ........................................................................................................................ 3

Outline of this Presentation .......................................................................................................................... 4

What IS the New Evangelization? ................................................................................................................. 4

Overcoming Obstacles .............................................................................................................................. 5

Defining Evangelization ............................................................................................................................. 5

First Wave of Evangelization - Evangelizing Greco-Roman World ................................................................ 6

Era Context / Recipients............................................................................................................................ 6

First Wave of Evangelization Details: ........................................................................................................ 6

Tasks / Methods .................................................................................................................................... 6

WHO? Protagonists ............................................................................................................................... 6

Historical and Theological Motivation .................................................................................................. 7

Lessons from the first wave of Evangelization .......................................................................................... 8

First Lesson: We need to believe what we speak! ................................................................................ 8

Second Lesson: We need to SOW CHRIST ............................................................................................. 8

Conclusion First Wave: .......................................................................................................................... 9

Second Wave of Evangelization – Evangelizing Barbarian Invaders of the Roman Empire .......................... 9

Era ............................................................................................................................................................. 9

Context / Recipients – Germans, Celts, Slavs, Saxons .............................................................................. 9

Tasks - Religious and Cultural ................................................................................................................. 10

Protagonists ............................................................................................................................................ 10

Successes ................................................................................................................................................ 11

Lessons to be Learned ............................................................................................................................. 11

Cantalamessa - Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 11

Third Wave of Evangelization – Evangelizing the American Continent ...................................................... 12

Era ........................................................................................................................................................... 12

Context / Recipients – The Discovery of the American Continent ......................................................... 12

Tasks - Religious / Political ...................................................................................................................... 12

Protagonists – Mendicant Orders, then the Jesuits ................................................................................ 12


Theological Motivation ........................................................................................................................... 13

Lessons to be Learned ............................................................................................................................. 13

Lesson #1: Humility in our Evangelizing .............................................................................................. 13

Lesson #2: Institutional goals are not enough .................................................................................... 14

Conclusion: Avery Dulles ......................................................................................................................... 14

New Evangelization – Evangelizing the “Catechized” / the “Sacramentalized” ......................................... 15

What’s New about the New Evangelization?.......................................................................................... 15

Context / Recipients – Baptized Catholics who are Distant from the faith ........................................ 15

MAPPING THE UNIVERSE v MAPPING OURSELVES ............................................................................. 15

Jesus Christ – Point of Departure for New Evangelization ..................................................................... 15

USCCB on New Evangelization ................................................................................................................ 16

Protagonists ............................................................................................................................................ 16

Tasks of the New Evangelization: Pope Francis ...................................................................................... 16

Primacy of Witness ............................................................................................................................. 17

Urgency of Going Out to Encounter Others ........................................................................................ 17

Pastoral Program Centered on the Essential ...................................................................................... 17

Select Bibliography...................................................................................................................................... 18


What’s New About the New Evangelization? Learning from our heritage.

As I begin, it is important to acknowledge that this presentation is heavily indebted to Raniero

Cantalamessa. Several years ago Fr. Cantalamessa delivered a series of Advent meditations to Pope

Benedict XVI in which he traced the history of evangelization in the Church. These meditations have

been published in Italian (Come la scia di un vascello, 2012) and are in the course of being translated

into English (Navigating the New Evangelization). These meditations are an important source and guide

for the Church’s thinking about the New Evangelization.

Introduction: Fr. Robert Taft, an American Jesuit Priest and an archimandrite of the Easter Catholic Church, had this to

say about the Church in relationship to enculturation – words that I think can apply to the Church’s

missionary, evangelizing activity.

“The only way to understand the Church in regard to enculturation is to study what the Church

has been. The Church of Christ is not something that we re-invent every day according to our

personal desires. The Church of Christ is a tradition that is handed on from one generation to

the next. The only way to know that tradition in its entirety is to study it in all its concrete

historical – cultural manifestations.”1

Purpose of this Presentation What the Church has been, the Church can be! What the Church has done, the Church can do!!

Taking Fr. Taft’s affirmation as my lead, it is my hope in this presentation to jog through the 3 waves of

Evangelization that have been part of the Church’s history. The GOAL of this trip through time would be

to inspire each one of us to reflect on what the Church has been and done so that we can together

discern that the Church needs to be an do in this era of New Evangelization.

1 “The Missionary Efforts of the Easter Churches as an Example of Inculturation” (Vatican, 1998)


Outline of this Presentation • Defining Evangelization / New Evangelization

• First Wave of Evangelization – 1st Three centuries

• Second Wave of Evangelization – Middle Ages (5th – 15th centuries)

• Third Wave of Evangelization – Age of Exploration / Early Modernity

• New Evangelization – Post-Modernity

Because of the Apostolic (and sub-Apostolic) nature of the first three centuries of the Church’s life, these

three centuries were and remain a model for all time. They are, in many ways, still normative for the

Church’s life. For this reason, I will probably “stroll” through (rather than jog through) this era so that we

might be able to draw inspiration from it for this era of New Evangelization.

What IS the New Evangelization? An excerpt from a recent article by John Allen gives us a good point of departure for this presentation. The article appeared in the National Catholic Reporter, on 7 March 2013, that is, just before the election of Pope Francis. John Allen had this to say:

So far, when cardinals have been asked what they want in the next pope . . . they typically mention all sorts of things, including global vision and a capacity to govern. Quite often, however, they also refer to wanting a pope for the "New Evangelization." While that phrase may mean something to insiders, it typically leaves normal people, including the vast majority of the 5,000 journalists now accredited to cover this election, scratching their heads.

Avery Dulles (“Evangelizing Theology”, First Things, March 1996) makes a distinct though related point about the word Evangelical in a piece that appeared in First Things way back in March of 1996. He notes that:

Catholics have avoided the term Evangelical because of its general association with Protestant Christianity, particularly that slice of Christianity stemming from the great revivals of the 18th and the 19th centuries.

Catholics have not tended to focus on the intense personal, Biblical faith in Jesus Christ as savior that characterizes many Evangelical Christian denominations.

Instead, Catholic Christianity (especially in the last 500 years) has tended to focus on the Church’s organization and structure, dogmatic formulations and ensuring the validity sacraments.

As a result, Avery Dulles observes that “It might seem paradoxical, to say the least, to describe the Catholic Church as “evangelical”.


Overcoming Obstacles With these opening observations in mind, it seems fair to say that, as Catholics, we are ambivalent about the concept of “Evangelization”

Some of us are suspicious of the term “Evangelization – or even oppose the use of the term “Evangelization because we confuse Evangelization with “proselytizing” – that is, for recruiting people for Church membership in ways that risk violating their freedom or that prey on their ignorance.

Some of us are afraid of the term “Evangelization.” While we might instinctively understand it to mean that we must share our faith with others, we feel ill-equipped to do so. We say to ourselves that our “faith is a private matter” and we let ourselves off the hook.

There may be some of us who are comfortable with the term “Evangelization” because we understand it to mean the Church’s Missionary Activity. This group of people is saying to itself “What’s the big deal!?!!”

o Many of us, however, who belong to this group might still tend to identify Evangelization as the work of “Missionaries” . . . and “Missionaries” are men and women who belong to missionary religious congregations.

o We also might still tend to think that the primary goal of a Missionary’s work is to “plant the Church” in a particular area . . . forgetting that the Church exists, stands or falls depending on if and how she embraces and preaches the Gospel.

Defining Evangelization Evangelization can be considered from two inter-related aspects: the external aspect of the Church’s

missionary activity, or the internal aspect of life in Christ / Christian existence that animates the Church’s

missionary activity.

The internal aspect of evangelization is implied by phrases like “Absorbing the Gospel” and

“Being Transformed by the Gospel”. We ourselves must permit ourselves to “become the

Gospel” before we can live or share the Gospel.

The external aspect of evangelization is implied by phrases “Living the Gospel” and “Washing

the feet of others”. Generally we understand this aspect of evangelization as the Church’s

missionary activity by which the Church reaches out to all the world. The purpose of the Church

reaching out to the world is to make it possible for all people to begin life in Christ this side of

heaven. Heaven shouldn’t have to wait!!!

This presentation, as I said, will examine the outer aspect of Evangelization. Who of us will not affirm

that the Church (in her members) must wash the feet of others? If we look at Evangelization in this way,

there would be no one who would oppose the Church’s mission to Evangelize. Perhaps this perspective

might provide a way for many of us to overcome our “allgergy” to Evangelization.


First Wave of Evangelization - Evangelizing Greco-Roman World

Era Context / Recipients First Three centuries

The situation that characterizes this wave of Evangelization is Christianity’s encounter with the

surrounding culture. Existential, life changing faith in Jesus Christ met Greco-Roman Culture, with all

that this has meant for the Church’s history!

First Wave of Evangelization Details:

Tasks / Methods

The tasks and methods employed in every era of Evangelization are largely determined by the context –

social context - ecclesial context – intellectual context – theological context – spiritual context.

In the case of the first three centuries of the Church’s existence, Christians living within the Greco-

Roman world-view needed to find ways to speak the Gospel – to speak Jesus Christ crucified – in

language that Greek and Roman culture could absorb. And so what did these early Christians do? They

adopted those terms and ways of thinking from Greek and Roman culture that enabled them to credibly

and convincingly explain the Gospel and their faith in the Gospel to and within Greek and Roman

society.

WHO? Protagonists

1. Individuals = Evangelizers - First missionary activity of the Church / the propagation of the LIFE

of FAITH was undertaken at personal initiative . . . itinerant prophets (For example, in Chapters

11, 12, 13 of the Didache). Conversions to Christ were due to personal contacts often made on

the job / between persons who shared the same trade (See also Origen, Contra Celsum)

2. Community / Bishop = Evangelizer - Mid 3rd Century – Evangelization as personal initiative

becomes more organized; no longer individual initiative, but rather an initiative of the local

Christian community. The Bishops, in response to divisive heresies at the time, begin to emerge

/ act / take on more and more the role of true leader / administrator / guide of the local

communities. Bishop becomes central to missionary activity.

3. End of 3rd Century

a. Christian faith has penetrated all strata of society

b. Has a body of literature – GREEK!!! (Latin just beginning)

c. Christianity has solid internal organization

d. Christians beginning to build more buildings, lasting building


Historical and Theological Motivation

Historical Motivation – Persecution

This very first wave of Evangelization begins with the missionary activity about which we read in the Acts

of the Apostles where we learn that this wave of Evangelization is motivated by concrete historical

events. We learn that the martyrdom of St. Stephen, which is recorded in Acts 7 (verses 54 ff), lead to a

persecution of the Church in Jerusalem. This persecution, which we might tend to view in a negative

key, bore fruit in that it lead to the dispersal of Christians, which in turn lead to the conversion of the

Samaritans (Acts 8. 4 – 17) and even an Ethiopian (Acts 8. 26 – 39). We read in chapter 8 of Acts:

there broke out a severe persecution of the church in Jerusalem, and all were scattered

throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Devout men buried

Stephen and made a loud lament over him. Saul, meanwhile, was trying to destroy the church;

entering house after house and dragging out men and women, he handed them over for

imprisonment. Now those who had been scattered went about preaching the word. (Acts 8. 1-4)

Theological Motivation – 3 Convictions

The first wave of Christian Evangelization or mission was motivated and propelled by three convictions:

1. First: The Church was (and still is, by the way) convinced that Jesus Christ is the only name in

whom one can be saved. Faith in Jesus Christ is the only possibility for salvation.

a. There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven

given to the human race by which we are to be saved.” (Acts 4.12)

2. Second: If Jesus is the Universal Savior, then the Church has a universal mission.

a. Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is

baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. (Mark 16. 15);

b. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the

Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, (Matt 28.19);

c. But you will receive power when the holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my

witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

(Acts 1.8)

3. Third: Those who belonged to the first Church community lived with the expectation that the

Jesus’ return in glory and hence the end of the world was immanent . . . would be happening

“tomorrow”. As a result, if they were going to live up to or meet the universal mission to preach

the Gospel to every creature, they needed to get to work!


Lessons from the first wave of Evangelization

First Lesson: We need to believe what we speak!

It is clear that the Apostle’s missionary activity was fueled by the living encounter with the Lord Jesus

that they had experienced. So, the first lesson is this:

It is wrong-headed and even counter-productive to fast-forward to preaching the Gospel

without having

o FIRST experienced Jesus Christ in the Spirit and

o SECOND,living the transformation that this experience necessarily implies is.

St. Paul has a text from his second letter to the Corinthians:

2 Corinthians 1.14: “Since, then, we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, "I

believed, therefore I spoke," we too believe and therefore speak.

o We must BELIEVE what we speak . . . AND NOT JUST IN MY HEAD!!!

o Christians who belonged to the early Church had an indestructible certainty regarding

the goodness of their cause and its final victory.

o We must recover this indestructible certainty in the victory which is Christ’s NOT ours!!

We must recover the intimate certainty of the truth of that which we announce . . .

o I mean intimate certainty, that is, certainty which is both rational and experiential. We

must become intimately certain of who Christ is and how being baptized into His life

changes our life. We must believe, deeply and for real, in what we are announcing.

Second Lesson: We need to SOW CHRIST

Mark 4.26: "This is how it is with the kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the

land . . .

o The seed that we sow MUST BE CHRIST!!

o If I sow the seed of orthodox doctrine without FIRST

o having sown the seed of Christ first, I am sowing on dry ground.

Mark 4. 27 - 29: “ . . . and would sleep and rise night and day and the seed would sprout and

grow, he knows not how. Of its own accord the land yields fruit, first the blade, then the ear,

then the full grain in the ear. And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once, for the

harvest has come."

o After we have sown Christ, in whom we believe, then we must follow the example of

the Farmer in this short Gospel text and SLEEP.

o If we Believe in what we sow . . . and we Sow Christ . . . then, like the farmer, once we

have sown, we can go to sleep and let the Holy Spirit, who is indeed the Lord and

Giver of Life, make growth happen.


Conclusion First Wave:

“The success of the New Evangelization will depend on the mass of faith that it is able to

create in the Church, among the very ones who Evangelize” (page 18 of Come la scia di un

vascello)

Second Wave of Evangelization – Evangelizing Barbarian Invaders of the

Roman Empire

Era 4th through 14th Centuries

Context / Recipients – Germans, Celts, Slavs, Saxons 410 A.D. marks the first successful Barbarian invasion of Rome (sacking of Rome by Alaric, a Visigothic

King). This date, then, marks the death knell of the Roman Empire. The writing was on the wall, and

eventually other Barbarian tribes (see map) invaded different parts of the Empire, bringing about the

Fall of the Roman Empire in 476 (Romulus Augustus surrenders to Germanic Warlord Odoacer).

This situation created two “problems” or “opportunities” for Christianity:

Christianity had achieved “success”, we might say, with and in the Roman Empire. The fall of

the Roman Empire would necessarily have consequences for Christianity. How should the

Christians behave in the face of this new situation?

HOW should they behave toward BARBARIAN TRIBES who were either PAGAN (followers of

nature religions) or, if they were Christians, were heretical.

o Culturally / intellectually, the Roman Christians had regarded the Barbarians NOT

ONLY as OUTSIDERS, but also ENTIRELY INFERIOR to Greco-Roman Culture. The

Barbarian tribes were viewed as populations to be shunned. This is the view that

St. Jerome had . . .

It is clear in this situation that the Church of early Christianity was still learning how to translate Paul’s

words into lived reality:

Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave,

free; but Christ is all and in all. (Col 3. 11)

Only GRADUALLY (and with the help of St. Augustine) did Christians began to perceive the possibility

that these Barbarian tribes might be regarded as brothers in the faith. The Church moved from

perceiving the Barbarians simply as a threat, they began to be perceived as a new missionary field.

This wave of Evangelization, then, is characterized by the conversions of any number of Barbarian Kings.

Names like (Clovis (466 – 511), Charlemagne (742 – 814), Stephen of Hungary (975 – 1038) characterize

this wave of evangelization.


The conversion of these kings is the foundation of the Christian roots of Europe to which Pope Benedict

often refers.

Tasks - Religious and Cultural Image – the crown with which Pope Sylvester II crowned Stephen, a convert to Christianity, as king of

Hungary – Christmas day in the year 1000.

In the first wave of Evangelization, Christianity existed within a culturally developed, unified world;

politically organized, languages in common.

THIS is no longer the case in this second phase of evangelizing. As a result, Evangelization in this second

wave had two major tasks:

The RELIGIOUS task of overcoming heretical Christianity – heretics are no longer “those people

out there”

The CULTURAL task of CIVILIZING / EDUCATING – THIS is the time in history when the Church

becomes the custodian of Western Intellectual culture. The Church had to teach people how to

read and write (in some cases, give peoples an alphabet so that they can codify their language -

Sts. Cyril and Methodius who invented the Cyrilic alphabet for the Slavic peoples.

Protagonists No longer are individuals and Bishops the main protagonists . . . the stakes are “too high”, so to speak.

In this phase of evangelization, the protagonists have moved up the chain of command to be POPES and

MONKS. The dynamic was one in which Popes used Monks as missionaries: and these missionaries were

given the task of BOTH Christianizing and CIVILIZING

Pope St. Leo the Great (391 / 400 – 461) – famous encounter with Attila the Hun saved Rome

from being sacked . . .

Pope Gregory the Great

Pope Gregory II (669 - 731) – responsible for sending St. Boniface from England to the Germans

St. Patrick (387 - 460)

St. Benedict (480 – 543)

St. Boniface (680 - 755) – Apostle to the Germans

Sts. Cyril(826 / 827 – 869) and Methodius (815 - 885) – Apostles to the Slavs

Several other big names that belong to this wave of Evangelization:

St. Jerome (340 – 420) – looks at the past with nostalgia – afraid of the future

St. Augustine (354 - 430)– able to look to the future – City of God


Successes The existence of Western culture and Civilization is a tribute to the success of this wave of

Evangelization . . . the existence of Universities (which are an invention of the Catholic Church) is also a

tribute to the success of this wave of Evangelization . . .

Lessons to be Learned With men like Cyril and Methodius . . . Importance of intellectual culture to evangelization. The

Church’s mission to evangelize includes an intellectual task that cannot be forsaken or

forgotten.

With the monks as main protagonists . . . The absolute necessity that the intellectual life has to

be grounded in a deep, even mystical, prayer life.

Cantalamessa - Conclusion “Prayer is essential for Evangelization because Christian preaching is not primarily the

communication of doctrine, but rather the communication of existence, of a life. The one who

prays without speaking evangelizes more than the one who speaks without praying.”

(Cantalamessa, 34)


Third Wave of Evangelization – Evangelizing the American Continent

Era 15th century onward. This is the wave of Evangelization that has its roots in the Age of Exploration in

general. Specifically, this is the wave of Evangelization that is begun with Christopher Columbus’

discovery of the American Continent.

Context / Recipients – The Discovery of the American Continent After Christopher Columbus returned from to Spain from his 1492 landing, Spain immediately made two

decisions:

1) to take the Christian faith to this New World

2) to extend its political sovereignty to the New World. Political sovereignty was often extended

through adherence to the Church.

Indigenous peoples of the American Continent were the recipients of this wave of Evangelization.

Tasks - Religious / Political If in the second wave of Evangelization there is an overlapping of Religious and Cultural tasks, in THIS

THIRD wave of Evangelization, there is a clear over-lapping of Religious and Political tasks . . .

Protagonists – Mendicant Orders, then the Jesuits . . . IN WHICH Spanish Conquistadores (or later colonizers from other countries) and Christian

Missionaries worked together. (Movie The Mission).

Conquistadores / Colonizers: motivated by a desire for adventure and for economic gain were

committed to the expansion of Spain (or whoever was the colonizing country)

o arrived on the American Continent

o required all of the natives to recognize the sovereignty of the Spanish crown.

Missionaries in this case were NO LONGER MONKS but rather the members of the MENDICANT

ORDERS . . . Franciscans . . . Dominicans . . . later the Jesuits . . . These Mendicant Missionaries

fulfilled the religious task entrusted to them by ensuring that all indigenous peoples embraced

Christianity. The goal of these missionaries was to ensure that as many people entered the

Church as possible in order to be saved. This meant that missionaries sought to baptize as many

persons as possible in this wave of Evangelization. Institutional enrollment in the Catholic

Church was of paramount importance.

We are painfully aware of the lights and shadows of this era in evangelization . . . perhaps more aware

of the shadows at times.

We know, for example, that in many cases, indigenous peoples were forced to convert and made into

slaves. I cannot help but wonder if our allergy to Evangelization and Prosyletism has its roots here.


We also know that some Mendicants . . . Bartolomeo de Las Casas, Antonio de Montezinos (Dominican

Friars) - the only ones with the courage to speak out against the abuses against the natives. Natives in

Central and South America (colonized by the Spanish and the Portuguese) fared much better than

natives in North America (colonized by the British). As much as these tribes may have suffered, the

majority survived with their own language, on their own land.

Positive Contribution: the heroism and personal sacrifice of many of these missionaries. We must not

forget that these missionaries sought souls for Christ, even though they gave expression to this in ways

that might cause us to think twice today. They undertook the mission with generosity, at great personal

risk. The movie The Mission

Theological Motivation We have all heard of the adage of St. Cyprian, “Outside of the Church there is no salvation”. The

Theological formation of the missionaries of this time lead them to take this adage in a literalist sense

that ignored the context in which Cyprian himself spoke this adage. As a result, these missionaries were

convinced that they needed to baptize the greatest number of souls in the shortest amount of time so

that they could guarantee entry into the Church and hence salvation. The GOAL here, then, was

increasing institutional enrollment in the Church.

Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus – Origen, Cyprian

This 3rd Century adage first used by St. Cyprian was not originally intended to qualify the “salvation

status” of individuals outside of the Church; it was NOT originally directed toward non-Christians or

those outside of the Church. Rather, it was intended to qualify the “salvation status” of those who were

INSIDE the Church but were jumping ship by becoming either heretical or schismatical.

St. Cyprian’s words “extra ecclesiam nulla salus” was intended to mirror St. Peter’s own words in the

Gospel: “Lord, to whom shall we go?” It was intended to interrogate those who were leaving the Church

with regard to what they were leaving behind and what they hoped to find “out there”. It was intended

to be a reminder to those who were breaking ecclesial communion. This understanding changes

everything with regard to how we understand this adage.

Only later, after Christianity had become the “religion of the State”, did this axiom take on the meaning

of being directed against pagans and Jews. This is the spirit in which it was understood in the 15th

century. For this reason, it is clear that the discovery of an entire continent of peoples who had never

heard the Gospels would put missionaries into high gear.

Lessons to be Learned

Lesson #1: Humility in our Evangelizing

It has become so “fashionable” to criticize the Evangelization of the American Continent to the degree

that, in some circles, the opinion is held that America would have been better off had it never been

Evangelized. Whether we like to admit it or not, in 1492, the Americas discovered Christ. It may be true


that the Christ who was proclaimed was not the Christ of the Gospel in his entirety . . . but how many of

US carry Christ of the Gospel in his entirety to others? To say NO to the Evangelization of the Americas

would, in the end, be equivalent to saying NO to our own faith.

In addition, it is presumptuous to suppose that we will evangelize perfectly in this era of New

Evangelization. Thanks be to God that our weaknesses do not need to define our efforts and that God

can redeem all our efforts, even those efforts tainted by our weakness.

Lesson #2: Institutional goals are not enough

Institutional goals are not enough of a foundation for a lasting Evangelization. We can have institutional

goals, like increasing Mass attendance, but if we do not go deeper than this, we will not be terribly

successful, and in 500 years, people will be denouncing us in the same way that we sometimes enjoy

denouncing the Spanish. Again, humility in all that we do.

Conclusion: Avery Dulles “The external mission of the Church can never be separated from its inner life.” (Avery Dulles, 22)


New Evangelization – Evangelizing the “Catechized” / the

“Sacramentalized”

What’s New about the New Evangelization? I like to say that WE ARE what is new about New Evangelization. Never before has the Church existed in

Post-Modern Culture . . . Never before has the Church had to discern ways to speak the Gospel credibly

to this particular culture.

Never before has the Church been so conscious of so many who are baptized, but who have no living

sense of their Baptism and what it means for their existence / life:

John Paul II: “Thirdly, there is an intermediate situation, particularly in countries with ancient

Christian roots, and occasionally in the younger Churches as well, where entire groups of the

baptized have lost a living sense of the faith, or even no longer consider themselves members

of the Church, and live a life far removed from Christ and his Gospel. In this case what is

needed is a "new evangelization" or a "re-evangelization.” (Redemptoris Missio, #33)

Context / Recipients – Baptized Catholics who are Distant from the faith

Recipients: Baptized / Catechizes Catholics who have drifted away from the Church and who live

without reference to Christ or their Baptism. (Pope Benedict, Homily for the opening of the Synod 2012)

MAPPING THE UNIVERSE v MAPPING OURSELVES

We are living in a time when we no longer have a clear idea in our mind of what it means to be Christian.

We have mapped DNA and the genome . . . we have taken photos of Mars and Saturn . . . we have

witnessed through our many lenses on the universe the birth of new stars . . . we have mapped the

universe . . . we have mapped the depths of the ocean . . . we investigate quasars and sub-molecular

biology. As a human race we have accomplished all of this. But at the end of the day, we know even less

about ourselves as human persons than ever before.

Jesus Christ – Point of Departure for New Evangelization We have forgotten that in order to know ourselves we must know Jesus Christ . . . we have forgotten

that Jesus Christ is more fundamental to both our identity and our existence than either the genome or

the universe.

Jesus Christ, then, must be the point of departure for the New Evangelization, as Pope Francis said:

"People have to see the Gospel in the way we live....we are starting from Christ again. It means

being familiar with him, staying within him, listening to him and learning from him".

Jesus Christ is, in His person, the DNA of both human and Christian Existence. We are transfused with

this DNA by the power of the Holy Spirit at our Baptism. Our Baptism introduces us into Christ’s body of

believers called the Church. More profoundly our Baptism inserts us into the life of Christ so that, like St.


Paul, we too can say “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” We have been Christi-formed

by our Baptisms. We need to learn to appreciate this initial encounter with Christ and live in such a way

as to both deepen and manifest this encounter.

USCCB on New Evangelization The USCCB, in its document Disciples Called to Witness: the New Evangelization published in 2012 had

this to say:

The New Evangelization is a call to each person to deepen his or her own faith, have confidence

in the Gospel, and possess a willingness to share the Gospel. It is a personal encounter with the

person of Jesus, which brings peace and joy.

When we use the word “faith” we can tend to mean “doctrine”, and when we speak about “handing on

the faith” we can mean “teaching doctrines”. Catechesis, in large part, has been reduced to this – the

teaching of doctrines.

We have forgotten that:

“in the beginning” Catechesis presupposed an experience of the Lord Jesus that moved the

catechumen to entrust their life to Him.

“in the beginning,” Catechesis was formation in Christian existence . . . that is, it was formation

in the right worship of God made possible in Jesus, and in how to conduct one’s life in syntony

with the life of Christ into which Baptism inserted a person.

We must recover the “other half of faith”, and that is faith as an act of entrustment of our lives to Christ.

This can only happen as the result of A LIVING ENCOUNTER WITH THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. On the

strength of this encounter, each one of us can (MUST) become a “space”, so to speak, where others can

encounter Christ.

Doctrinal faith is founded on faith as the entrustment of our lives to Christ.

In other words, the goal of the New Evangelization cannot settle to be the adoption of new programs.

The goal of the New Evangelization must be new Christians. The Church must become a clear and

credible community of disciples; of individuals who have entrusted their lives to Christ.

Protagonists All of the Baptized as baptized!!

Tasks of the New Evangelization: Pope Francis There are more “places” and “ways” of the New Evangelization than can be discussed here. The

recovery of a sense of our Baptism and the mystical life; recovery of an awareness of the

transcendentals – goodness, truth and beauty; liturgical understanding and competence; catechesis;

ecumenical dialogue; social conscience and the plight of the poor; political conscience; the building of an


intellectual culture that dialogues with post-modernity; the building of an ecological culture that

respects creation . . .

Pope Francis has recently given focus to all of these “places” and “ways” of the New Evangelization in his

“Address to the Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization”:2

What I would like to say to you today can be summarized in three points: primacy of witness; urgency of

going out to encounter; pastoral program centered on the essential.

Primacy of Witness

What we need especially in these times are credible witnesses who with their life and also with

the word render the Gospel visible, reawaken attraction for Jesus Christ, for God’s beauty. (Pope

Francis)

There is need of Christians who render the mercy of God visible to the men of today, His

tenderness for every creature. . . . must show mercy in gesture . . . (Pope Francis)

This sentiment is echoed by the Instrumentum laboris that the Bishops used in the Synod on

Evangelization:

"Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to

teachers, it is because they are witnesses.3 [...] It is therefore primarily by her conduct and by

her life that the Church will evangelize the world, in other words, by her living witness of fidelity

to the Lord Jesus, by her witness of poverty and detachment, and by her witness of freedom in

the face of the powers of this world, in short, the witness of sanctity." (Synod of Bishops, The

New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith, Instrumentum Laboris, #158)

Urgency of Going Out to Encounter Others

Every baptized person is a “cristoforo,” a bearer of Christ . . . Whoever has encountered Christ . . .

cannot keep this experience to him/herself, but has the desire to share it, to bring Jesus to others

(cf. John 4). It is for all of us to ask ourselves if one who meets us perceives in our life the warmth

of faith, sees in our face the joy of having encountered Christ!

The New Evangelization is a renewed movement towards him who has lost the faith and the

profound meaning of life . . . We can go out to encounter everyone, without fear and without

giving up our membership.

Pastoral Program Centered on the Essential

It calls for a common commitment to a pastoral plan that recalls the essential and that is “well

centered on the essential, namely on Jesus Christ. It is no use to be scattered in so many

secondary or superfluous things, but to be concentrated on the fundamental reality, which is the

encounter with Christ, with his mercy, with his love, and to love brothers as He loved us.

2 From http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/pope-s-address-to-the-plenary-assembly-of-the-pontifical-council-for-

promoting-the-new, accessed 15 October 2013. 3 Citing Paul VI, Evangelii nuntiandi, # 41.

http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/pope-s-address-to-the-plenary-assembly-of-the-pontifical-council-for-promoting-the-new

http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/pope-s-address-to-the-plenary-assembly-of-the-pontifical-council-for-promoting-the-new


Select Bibliography RANIERO CANTALAMESSA, Come la scia di un vascello, 2012.

AVERY DULLES, “Evangelizing Theology”, First Things, March 1996.

what’s new about the new evangelization?

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