October 30, 2012      Martin Mallon  (Ireland)      Martin's previous articles

 

             NEW  EVANGELISATION?

 

The closing message of the Synod of Bishops for the New Evangelisation was issued on Friday 26 Oct. In section 3, on The personal encounter with Jesus Christ in the Church, is stated:

We must form welcoming communities in which all outcasts find a home, concrete experiences of communion which attract the disenchanted glance of contemporary humanity with the ardent force of love – “See how they love one another!” (Tertullian, Apology, 39, 7).  

It is unlikely that anyone could object to this sentence, however, the remainder of this paragraph raises some debateable issues:  

The beauty of faith must particularly shine in the actions of the sacred Liturgy, above all in the Sunday Eucharist. It is precisely in liturgical celebrations that the Church reveals herself as God's work and renders the meaning of the Gospel visible in word and gesture.

Is the liturgy one of the main means of evangelisation? Section 2. A new evangelization states that:  

Benedict XVI recalled that it is an evangelization that is directed “principally at those who, though baptized, have drifted away from the Church and live without reference to the Christian life... to help these people encounter the Lord, who alone fills our existence with deep meaning and peace; and to favor the rediscovery of the faith, that source of grace which brings joy and hope to personal, family and social life” (Benedict XVI, Homily for the Eucharistic celebration for the solemn inauguration of the XIII Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, Rome, 7 October 2012).

So we are in a situation where the New Evangelisation is directed at “
those who, though baptized, have drifted away from the Church” and yet we are expected to believe that liturgy will bring these lapsed Catholics back to the Church, even though many will have experienced the liturgy before they left the Church and in some cases liturgy was a reason for leaving. How can they experience the liturgy if they are not physically in the Church?  

Of course liturgy is important, but hardly for the New Evangelisation where lapsed Catholics are the target. Apparently many of these join other Christian denominations, especially the Pentecostals who have a much livelier liturgy than traditional Catholics. Charismatic Catholic communities may help to stem this particular drain, but they appear to be too small and too fundamental to have made a huge difference to date. However, they are still growing and they are at least an alternative to Pentecostals.  

The example of the Samaritan woman (cf. John 4:5-42), quoted in Section 1 Like the Samaritan woman at the well, reveals to us that it is personal witness that evangelises: He told me everything I have done”, the woman confesses to her fellow citizens”, then her whole village came to believe in Jesus.  

The first sentence quoted is correct and “We must form welcoming communities” and lapsed Catholics and others must feel it necessary to say “See how they love one another!” But the liturgy is not going to evangelise lapsed Catholics. Yes, once they are converted back it would help if the liturgy was attractive and “the Church reveals herself as God's work and renders the meaning of the Gospel visible in word and gesture.” How to get the lapsed Catholic to partake again in the liturgy is the big question for the New Evangelisation and unless that is acknowledged the New Evangelisation will fail.  

Usefully the Synod did point out, in Section 5. Evangelizing ourselves and opening ourselves to conversion, that:  

In these days voices among the Bishops were raised to recall that the Church must first of all heed the Word before she could evangelize the world. The invitation to evangelize becomes a call to conversion.  

There is little validity in attempting to convert anyone when we ourselves are not on friendly terms with Jesus and not seeking to deepen our relationship with Him. In addition, Section 6. Seizing new opportunities for evangelization in the world notes that “It is not we who are to conduct the work of evangelization, but God.”  

In Section 8. The ecclesial community and the many agents of evangelization we are informed that:

We exhort our parishes to join the new forms of mission required by the new evangelization to the traditional pastoral care of God's people. These must also permeate the various important expressions of popular piety.  

In the same Section it is encouraging to read:  

Witnessing to the Gospel is not the privilege of one or of a few. We recognize with joy the presence of many men and women who with their lives become a sign of the Gospel in the midst of the world. We recognize them even in many of our Christian brothers and sisters with whom unity unfortunately is not yet full, but are nevertheless marked by the Lord's Baptism and proclaim it.  

Another proclamation of the importance of Baptism for Christian unity as envisioned by the Vatican II document, Lumen Gentium.  

Section 12. Contemplating the mystery and being at the side of the poor, reflecting the input of Cardinal-designate Chito Tagle from Manila, states:  

We must recognize the privileged place of the poor in our communities, a place that does not exclude anyone, but wants to reflect how Jesus bound himself to them. The presence of the poor in our communities is mysteriously powerful: it changes persons more than a discourse does, it teaches fidelity, it makes us understand the fragility of life, it asks for prayer: in short, it brings us to Christ.

Importantly, the place of the poor in our communities and Church is highlighted and if we all recognised the poor as Christians should, does anyone doubt the evangelical witness this would present to the world. This must happen in every parish and community, not just catholic hospitals and institutions.  

The closing message is well worth reading although there appears to be very little new in it. The New Evangelisation reads very much like Evangelisation
and if we and our parishes were, shall we say, more Christian perhaps there would be fewer lapsed Catholics in need of the New Evangelisation.  

Concentration on liturgy is going to evangelise few lapsed Catholics. Concentration on our daily lives, ecumenism and the poor appears to be the way forward and constantly deepening our relationship with Jesus is the engine of growth.

The closing message of the Synod of Bishops for the New Evangelization can  be found here

Here is the final list of the propositions of the Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelisation for the Transmission of the Christian Faith released by the Holy See Press Office and received after the above article was written  

Here is an excellent article from NCR re the Synod

 

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