The Catholic Church's "new evangelisation" effort is not an attempt
to present the Gospel again to people who did not understand it the
first time, but to present the Gospel in a way that makes sense and
gives hope to modern men and women, said the general secretary of the
Synod of Bishops.
At a Vatican news conference March 4, Archbishop Nikola Eterovic, the
synod official, presented the "lineamenta" or outline for the 2012
general Synod of Bishops.
The 65-page outline is a reflection on various aspects of the theme
"new evangelisation" and includes dozens of questions about current
needs and practices, bishops' conferences are supposed to answer the
questions by November 1 so their responses can be used as a basis for
the synod's working document.
The synod is scheduled to meet at the Vatican October 7-28, 2012;
Pope Benedict XVI chose the theme, which was announced just a few
months after he established the Pontifical Council for Promoting New
Evangelisation.
The synod outline defines "new evangelisation" as "the courage to
forge new paths in responding to the changing circumstances and
conditions facing the church in her call to proclaim and live the Gospel
today."
Archbishop Eterovic said the most immediate aim of new evangelisation
was to help people who already are baptized, but do not practice the
faith, rediscover the joy of believing and actively living their faith.
It also includes reminding them and all Christians of the obligation of
witnessing the Gospel and proclaiming it to others.
"Christian witness must be both private and public, embracing one's
thoughts and actions, the way of life inside Christian communities and
their missionary outreach, their educational action, charitable
activities and their presence in contemporary society in order to
communicate the gift of Christian hope," the archbishop said.
The document said bringing people back to Christ will be impossible
unless there are efforts to evangelize increasingly secular cultures, to
evangelise increasingly diverse societies and to evangelise the media,
the economy, politics, science and the church itself.
Although it did not specifically mention the sex abuse crisis, the
document said one fruit of evangelisation "is the courage to speak out
against infidelity and scandal which arise in Christian communities as a
sign and consequence of moments of fatigue and weariness in the work of
proclamation."
A true and lively faith gives individuals and entire church
communities the ability to recognize their faults and sins, seek
repentance and begin all over again, witnessing to the fact that
conversion and salvation are possible in Christ, it said.
By calling for a "new evangelisation," the church is not criticizing
the way the faith was initially transmitted, the document said, but
rather it is recognizing that it needs to find new ways of proclaiming
the Gospel that respond to the needs of people who are living in modern
societies where anything involving God or faith is considered naive or
too private for polite conversation.