Servants of the New Evangelization

Last month I heard a wonderful keynote address by Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Houston on “The Deacon as Servant of the New Evangelization.” While his comments were directed to a room full of deacons, the principles of evangelization that he identified are applicable to all Catholics:

(1) Conviction The first Christians were immersed in the Word of God. They spoke with “bold assurance”—not of their own creation, but through the power of the Holy Spirit. As we see from modern-day examples such as Mother Teresa, such conviction is not “arrogance,” but the fruit of lives turned over to Christ.

(2) Engagement It’s instructive that Luke’s sequel is called the “Acts of the Apostles” and not the “Good Intentions of the Apostles” or the “Pastoral Plan of the Apostles.” Pope Francis is calling the Church to stop focusing on internal issues and instead actively engage in the mission of Jesus for the life of the world.

(3) Bridge-building We must be bridges and not obstacles for meeting Christ. As channels of Christ’s peace, we must adapt to the needs of those around us. A good New Testament role model is Barnabas, the “son of encouragement” (Acts 4:36) who made it possible for St. Paul to become the great Apostle to the Gentiles. Do I make it possible for others to shine, or is it about “me” or “my ministry”?

(4) Remember the poor Cardinal DiNardo recounted the story from the conclave that as it appeared that Cardinal Bergoglio would be elected, Cardinal Hummes turned to the future pope and whispered, “Always remember the poor.” We hear talk of “transforming the culture” and sometimes it seems very abstract. What it means in large part is making works of mercy and charity a greater part of who we are as Church. It’s not rocket science: helping people who need material or spiritual help is the basic building block of renewal.

(5) Use words A “tsunami of secularism” is battering our society. We’re deceiving ourselves if we believe that our society is even neutral when it comes to the Christian faith. Sadly, our culture has largely cut itself off from God. Even within the Church, there are many who go through the motions without a close personal relationship with the Lord.

Do we need to pray and set a good Christian example? Of course. But it can’t end there. Pope Francis understands that we have to talk to people about Jesus. After all, the Church exists to evangelize, to call everyone to salvation in Christ through the forgiveness of sins.

That’s our story, and today all priests, deacons, religious, and laity must take up the Holy Father’s challenge to invite others to a life-changing relationship with Christ in His Church.

The Gift of Faith

As I seem to be in dialogue so frequently with friends and relatives these days who have lost the faith (or never had it to begin with), I recently had the occasion to review my response to this question that I received via email a couple years ago: “Does everyone receive the gift of faith? Why or why not?”

During this “Year of Faith,” I think it’s especially important for to consider these most fundamental questions.

What follows is my response to the questioner. I welcome others’ comments and insights on this subject.

“If we mean by ‘faith’ an explicit belief in the person and teachings of Our Lord Jesus Christ, then clearly not everyone has received the gift of faith. That’s why the Church’s perennial mission is evangelization–to offer the gift of faith to all men and women. All of us play a role in that effort.

“And while we cannot judge the state of individual souls, it would also seem that there are those who have been invited, but have rejected the invitation (cf. Lk. 14:15-24).

“While I cannot pretend to know ‘God’s thoughts’ on this, as my thoughts are not His thoughts and my ways are not His ways (Is. 55:8-9), I would like to offer a couple observations that shed light on this crucial issue.

“First, faith is very much a personal gift. We all are called to answer for ourselves Our Lord’s question, ‘Who do you say that I am?’ (Mt. 16:15). If someone were to offer us a $100 bill, no strings attached, we might wonder why others weren’t given a similar offer, but at the end of the day we still have to accept or reject the offer that was personally made to us.

“Second, God wills that all be saved and come to the knowledge of truth (1 Tim. 2:4). The ordinary way that this occurs is through the gift of faith received at Baptism. However, God does not place limits on Himself. He is all good and willed the existence of every man and woman who has ever lived. So, the Church holds out the possibility of salvation to all those who have not knowingly and willingly rejected Him. In that regard, perhaps the parable of the talents is useful. As Catholics we have been given 10 talents, so more is expected of us. However, those who were given only 5 or 2 or even just 1 talent will be judged worthy to enter our heavenly Father’s kingdom if he or she fruitfully uses whatever talents they were given.

“How God works with those who do not have explicit faith is a mystery that’s beyond us in this life, but surely we know that a person is better off with faith and with all the graces that derive from being a faithful disciple of Christ. Indeed, we were made for life with God as Christ’s brothers and sisters, so using our ‘10 talents’ well involves our inviting those around us to the wonderful life of grace that God has in store for us in this life and in the next.”

The Church and Media of Social Communication

The Second Vatican Council (1962-65) promulgated two documents at the conclusion of its 1963 session. By far, the more influential (and controversial) of these documents was the Constitution on Sacred Liturgy, which we examined last week. The other document was the Decree on the Media of Social Communication (Inter Mirifica), the subject of today’s post.

Clearly in the 50 years since Inter Mirifica, there has been an explosion of new information technologies that create new opportunities—and challenges—for the Church. In the years since Vatican II, the Church has continued to develop her approach to this changing landscape, from the annual World Communications Day to her reaching out to those engaged in new media technologies at both the national and international level.

Despite the many changes in this sphere of human activity, Inter Mirifica does articulate some timeless principles that are just as applicable today as they were in the pre-Internet 1960s. The Council was clearly concerned about the responsible use of media to promote what is good, true, and beautiful. And clearly the Church has always seen advances in the field of mass communications as creating new, appropriate means of evangelization—from Vatican Radio in the 1930s to EWTN and now to the proliferation of Catholic blogs, podcasts, and apps.

FOCUS on New Evangelization

Curtis Martin with Cardinal Dolan at Synod on the New Evangelization

My long-time friend Curtis Martin, the founder and president of the Denver-based Fellowship of Catholic University Students (“FOCUS”) was a participant at the recent Synod on the New Evangelization in Rome. Here is the short, but powerful, message (or “intervention”) that he gave at the Synod:

“I find it helpful to understand the New Evangelization as a means to fulfilling the central theme of Vatican II, the universal call to holiness.

The Catholic laity must accept their co-responsibility to evangelize. In my work with university students we have used a simple three-step process to form disciples: Win, Build, Send.

Win: We who have encountered Jesus must go out and love people, because Christ first loved us. In the midst of our friendships with them, we introduce them to our greatest friend, Jesus.

Build: Once they have encountered Jesus, we build them up in the knowledge and practice of the faith. There is a crisis of faith and many Catholics have not embraced the teachings of the Church; they do not know that Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist, or about the inerrancy of Sacred Scripture. They have not accepted the difficult teachings, such as Humanae Vitae. Without the fullness of Catholic faith, authentic renewal is impossible. We must be transformed.

Send: As these young disciples grow in their practice of the faith, they are sent out, with our continued care, to begin the process anew. Holiness will take a lifetime, but the work of evangelization can begin shortly after an authentic encounter with Jesus; think of the Samaritan woman at the well.

Here are some of the benefits of discipleship:

(1) Everyone can do this, it is universal.
(2) This is based upon friendship; therefore everyone involved is known, loved, and cared for.
(3) Evangelized people discern their vocations.
(4) The exponential power of this biblical model is unmatched in its ability to reach the world.
Jesus told us: “It is to the glory of my Father that you should bear much fruit and be my disciples” (John 15:8).

The Parish Family

“Listen graciously to the prayers of this family, whom you have summoned before you.”

—Eucharistic Prayer III

What do we think of when our parish priest reads these words at Mass? Are we alert enough to hear and embrace this petition? Do we consider this reference to our being a “family” a merely poetic expression or pious exaggeration? Or do we embrace in faith the reality that all of us gathered for Sunday Mass are, in fact, members of the Family of God?

Catholic theology since Vatican II has emphasized the reality that the Church is truly the “Family of God.” Why? Because, through our Baptism, each one of us has been “born again” as a child of God. We participate–even now–in God’s own life. And this life is familial, not solitary. As Blessed John Paul II wrote in 1979, “God in His deepest mystery is not a solitude, but a family, since He has in Himself fatherhood, sonship, and the essence of the family, which is love.”

Further, according to Pope Benedict XVI in his 2005 encyclical letter Deus Caritas Est, our heavenly Father’s desire is to unite all people into one family in Christ:

“The Spirit is also the energy which transforms the heart of the ecclesial community, so that it becomes a witness before the world to the love of the Father, who wishes to make humanity a single family in his Son” (no. 19).

How refreshing it is to understand the Church as a family, rather than as merely an impersonal institution or even a congregation of isolated individuals who all happen to believe in Jesus. This understanding is especially challenging today, since we’ve largely lost our sense of “family” and many of us have been wounded by brokenness and division within our own families.

A family is where our home is. It is where we should always be welcome. This is especially true when it comes to God’s family, from which all other families derive their existence, as we hear in today’s reading at Mass(cf. Eph. 3:14-15). My favorite image in this regard is the parable of the prodigal son, which reveals how welcoming and merciful Our Heavenly Father truly is.

While God’s family in the Old Testament was built on the twelve sons of Israel, God’s New Testament family is built on the firm foundation of the twelve apostles (cf. Eph. 2:19-20). Bishops, who are the successors of the apostles, have been called by Christ to be our spiritual fathers. They are the visible source and foundation of family unity within their own diocese (cf. Catechism, no. 886). That is why St. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch and a disciple of St. John the Apostle, would write in 110 A.D.: “Those, indeed, who belong to God and to Jesus Christ–they are with the bishop.”

From the earliest times, there have been presbyters (“priests”) who have been given the mission of assisting the bishop in spiritually fathering God’s family in local communities that have come to be known as parishes. These communities–my parish and your parish–are local manifestations of God’s family, a family that brings together people of every race and nation, that encompasses not only the pilgrim Church on earth, but all those who have died in God’s friendship. What a magnificent family we have–what great love the Father has bestowed on us in making us His children (1 Jn. 3:1)!

Yet we all know that our own experience of Church–in our own parishes and throughout our country–sometimes makes it difficult to view the Church as family. All too often we encounter polarization and dissent instead of family unity. Therefore, I’d like to propose some practical things we can do as lay people to build up the Family of God in our own backyard.

Maryvale Team at the Synod

We just received this update on the Synod on the New Evangelization in Rome regarding the work assigned to the contingent from the Maryvale Institute:

“First thing this morning members of Maryvale’s catechetical team attended Mass in the grottos of St Peter’s amidst the tombs of the Popes on the feast of Blessed John Henry Newman.  This was taken as a great blessing on the work of Maryvale at the Synod and into the future. The big news we have from the Synod is that the experts were allocated their areas of responsibility, in particular which paragraphs of the Synod’s documents for which they are responsible.

“Dr. Caroline Farey is responsible for para. 111, Catechesis on the Family, the transmission of the faith in the family.  Dr. Petroc Willey is responsible for the paragraph dealing with the Catechism of the Catholic Church and its use.

“In practice, this means that Drs. Petroc and Farey have to listen to the 45 or so interventions made by the Bishops each day and note any reference, comment, or suggestion that relates to their paragraphs.  At the end of each day, they have to write a one page summary of the most important points made about catechizing the family and on the Catechism of the Catholic Church.”

For more information on Maryvale courses available here in the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, click here.

Vatican II turns 50

Popes Benedict XVI and John Paul II have called the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) the interpretive key to understanding their respective pontificates and a “sure compass” for the Church in the new millennium.

For many of us, particularly my generation, Vatican II  is also the key for understanding our own pilgrimage of faith. Pope John XXIII called the 21st ecumenical council only months before I was born, and the council ended the year I entered first grade at St. Elizabeth’s school.

As we mark today the 50th anniversary of the opening of Vatican II, Pope Benedict has asked us to look at the council with fresh eyes, to consider where we’ve been and where we’re heading as a Church and as individual Catholics striving to be faithful to Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ during this “Year of Faith.”

My first encounter with Vatican II was an unforgettable lesson in first grade, when the teacher insisted over and over again that Vatican II (whatever that was) taught that the “Church” is not the building next door, but the “people.” While there’s an important and valid theological point there, at the time I still thought the building next door looked more like a “church” than my classmates did.

In third grade, as religious garb changed “because of Vatican II,” I was mesmerized by the fact that I could now see Sr. Ellen’s legs. Later that year, my mom explained to me that “because of Vatican II” many priests and religious were leaving their communities, including my beloved piano teacher.

Then in fifth grade, I gave up six months’ worth of recess–a real sacrifice; I lived for kickball–to be trained as an altar boy. Just as my confreres and I were considered prepared for this august service, we were told that the Mass was changing “because of Vatican II,” and so we needed to be retrained. Meanwhile, our church’s sanctuary was a construction zone the next several months, as the altar was moved forward and burnt orange carpeting was installed. I didn’t know what to think of this, though the carpet, irrespective of its aesthetic merit, was decidedly easier to kneel on.

In the eighth grade, I remember the teacher writing the word “ecumenism” on the blackboard. In fairness to her, I can’t recall whether she said anything that was contrary to the faith. However, I do know that the effect of the class on my classmates and me was that “because of Vatican II” it didn’t really matter whether one was Catholic. After all, “they will know we are Christians by our love.” I blithely continued to hone my collage skills and routinely brought home A’s in religion.

During my high school and college years, virtually all my peers left the Church, as did I. I remember well my ninth grade religion class in which we studied the Bible. We repeatedly were told about what we don’t believe anymore “because of Vatican II.” One got the impression that Vatican II painstakingly went through the Bible and identified for us all the myths, fables, and inaccuracies found in God’s inspired Word. In subsequent years, as I feebly groped for some spiritual guidance, I’d pick up a Catholic Bible or a Catholic biblical commentary and, rather than be nourished and buoyed in my faith, I was confronted with agnostic doublespeak.

The 80s Show

By the singular, undeserved grace of God, I accepted Jesus Christ back into my life as I completed law school in 1984. For me, this necessarily entailed walking back into the Church that so confused me “because of Vatican II.” Here’s what I found.

Art, Beauty, and Inspiration

On September 22nd, the Vatican announced the appointment of Dr. Caroline Farey of the Maryvale Institute as a participant at the forthcoming Synod on “The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith,” to be held later this month in Rome. She joins a select group of international experts that already includes Dr. Petroc Willey, also of Maryvale and a Consulter to the Pontifical Council on the New Evangelization. Our archdiocesan office of evangelization and Catholic formation asks for everyone’s prayers for a successful Synod, thank God for His generosity in calling two such wonderful members of Maryvale’s leadership staff to be represented at this historical event.

It’s no accident that the Holy See singled out Maryvale for its work in the transmission of the faith. That’s why the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas has partnered with Maryvale so as to make their dynamic adult education courses more widely available in the United States.

Pope’s Intentions for October

Following are the Intentions of our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI for the month of October, courtesy of the Apostleship of Prayer:

• New Evangelization.  That the New Evangelization may progress in the oldest Christian countries.
• World Mission Day.  That the celebration of World Mission Day may result in a renewed commitment to evangelization.

Since October is Respect Life Month and also the month especially devoted to the Rosary, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is offering these additional prayer resources this month, including a Rosary Novena for Life and a Prayer for the Protection of Religious Liberty that is prayed each day at our archdiocesan chancery office. We also recommend this novena that comes to us from Fr. Frederick Miller.

October also has more than its fair share of feast days of popular saints. Today, for example, we celebrate the feast of St. Therese of Lisieux, the Little Flower. For those wishing to go deeper into her beautiful yet simple spirituality, we highly recommend that you pick up a copy of I Believe in Love, which will whisk you away on retreat with this holy Carmelite nun.

A New “E-vangelization”

In my senior religion class at St. Francis High School, I read the book Future Shock by Alvin Toffler. What we were supposed to take out of the book is that the world is changing at an ever-accelerating rate. If we are not firmly rooted in the transcendent—namely, Jesus Christ, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb. 13:8)—we will be overcome by stress, disorientation, and information overload. In other words, we would be “future shocked.”

In the 35 years since that class, technology has changed virtually everything we do. Even little things, like how we get directions or book flights, are completely different now.

OurSpace

What is the “public square” today? St. Paul brought the Gospel to the Areopagus (see Acts 17), the “public square” in Athens where learned pagans gathered to discuss education, philosophy, and religion.

What is today’s Areopagus? Is it the town hall meeting? The school auditorium? The football stadium? While there are many physical “public squares,” we must say that the public square today is cyberspace. Two billion people use the Internet. Hundreds of millions of young people “hang out” at Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, or other social networking sites. What would St. Paul do today?