"The Christian and
the church are missionary in their very being”, but to be as much
today, means finding a way to proclaim the Gospel to a world marked by
secularization, the blending of cultures - a consequence of increasing
migration and the spread of the Internet - from the economic crisis -
which is widening the gap between rich and poor - from the almost
deification of science and technology, from the political crisis
produced by the collapse of ideologies.
This the big question that the Church faces
today and that will be the theme of the XIII General Assembly of the
Synod of Bishops, to be held in the Vatican 7 to 28 October 2012 on the
theme "Nova evangelizatio to christianam fidem tradendam - New
evangelization for the transmission of the Christian faith", the
guidelines or Lineamenta of which was presented Friday.
It is the first
step of the Synod, the Linamenta are in fact the first working
document, which contains analysis and above poses questions to the
bishops of the world on the situation and how to answer them. The
reflections from the bishops' conferences will serve as a basis for the Instrumentum laboris, the working document for the Assembly.
The urgency of a new evangelization, already
established by the Vatican with the famous "The pilgrim Church is
missionary by nature", was picked up by Paul VI, revived by John Paul II
and most recently reaffirmed by Benedict XVI, closing work of the
Special Synod of Bishops for the Middle East, when he clearly placed the
theme of the new evangelization at the top of the Churches’ agenda.
But the Church which "recognizes it is the
result of this evangelization, as well as an agent" finds itself "at a
historical moment full of change and tensions, of increasing imbalance
and a loss of points of reference. This era encourages us to live
increasingly focused on the present and temporary, making our ability to
listen, to transmit human memory and shared values on which to build
the future of new generations increasingly difficult.
In this context,
the presence of Christians, the work of their institutions, is perceived
as less natural and more suspect. In recent decades the critical
questions facing the Church and Christians, in the face of God that we
proclaim, have also increased. The task of evangelization is thus faced
with new challenges. "
The first is "the cultural landscape of the
background. We are in an era of profound secularization, which has lost
the ability to listen and understand the words of the Gospel as a
message alive and invigorating. Rooted in particular in the Western
world, the result of episodes and thought and social movements that have
profoundly marked the history and identity, secularization is today in
our culture through the positive image of liberation, the ability to
imagine life of the world and of humanity without reference to
transcendence. "
The second scenario arises from the growing
phenomenon of migration, from which "a meeting and mixing of cultures
has come to pass that our society has not encountered for centuries”,
which is linked to the phenomenon of globalization.
"This" mixture of cultures "is the backdrop to
the challenge of social communications. "There is no place in the world
today that can not be reached and therefore not subject to the influence
of media and digital culture that is structured more like the 'place'
of public life and social experience. The spread of this culture brings
with it certain benefits, but also risks such as "the culture of the
ephemeral, the immediate, appearance, or a society incapable of memory
and the future."
Another scenario is the growing economic
imbalances between North and South, exacerbated by the current economic
crisis. There is an attitude that borders on the religious towards the
results of science and technology which "risk becoming the new idols of
the present."
The document finally points out the political
landscape, created by the end of the division of the Western world and
the emergence "of new economic, political and religious players on the
world stage, such as the Islamic world, the Asian world," which "has
created a totally new and unknown situation, full of potential, but also
full of risks and new temptations to domination and power”.
In the face of all this, "it is natural that the
first reaction is bewilderment and fear, compared to transformations
that question our identity and our very faith at its foundations."
But
instead the Lineamenta recalls that "critical attitude of discernment
repeatedly called for by Pope Benedict XVI, when he invites us to
develop the ability to read the present from the perspective of hope
that Christianity gifts."
There are, in fact, positive signs, such as a
"promising a revival of religion", although "many positive aspects of
the rediscovery of God and the sacred in many religions are obscured by
the phenomena of fundamentalism which very often manipulates religion to
justify violence and even terrorism. " In support there is hope above
all trust in the Lord of history and there are many, even lay people who
devote themselves to spreading the Gospel.
A task which concerns all believers today,
individually and collectively. The "audacity" of the first Christians is
needed, as is "the need to find new expressions of evangelization for
the Church within the current ever changing social and cultural
context". And "even in situations of minority or
discrimination, the Church can not lose its ability to stay close to
people's daily lives, the place to announce the life-giving message of
the Gospel."
In this work "the Eastern Catholic Churches can
be of great help and all Christian communities that in their recent past
have lived or are still living the experience of hiding, persecution,
exclusion, intolerance of being victims of ethnic, ideological or
religious intolerance. Their testimony of faith, their tenacity, their
stamina, the strength of their hope, the intuition of some of their
pastoral practices are a gift to share with those Christian communities
which, while having glorious past, are experiencing a present of fatigue
and dispersion. For Churches little accustomed to living their faith in
a minority it is certainly a gift to hear their experiences that
instill the confidence necessary for momentum required by the new
evangelization. "
Because, as Paul VI said: "Modern man listens more
willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to
teachers it is because they are witnesses."
"It is therefore primarily
by her conduct and life that the Church will evangelize the world,
namely through the living witness of fidelity to the Lord Jesus, poverty
and detachment, free from the powers of this world. In a word,
holiness".
"Any project of a new evangelization, any plans to announce
and transmit the faith can not ignore this need: to have men and women
who by their way of life give strength to the evangelising commitment
that they live. Their exemplary nature is the added value
that confirms the truth of their dedication, from the content of what
they teach and what they ask to live".