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Cardinal: Parish Is Priority for Evangelization
BUDAPEST, Hungary, SEPT. 16, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The first step for evangelizing Budapest is deepening the faith and missionary zeal of those who work in parishes, said the city’s archbishop.
Cardinal Peter Erdo, archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest and primate of Hungary, told ZENIT about the steps needed to spread the faith, as the International Congress for the New Evangelization begins in his city today.
Cardinal Camillo Ruini, vicar of the Diocese of Rome, will represent Benedict XVI at the conference.
Cardinal Erdo said: "In Budapest we saw that what was needed first of all was to deepen the faith, spirituality and missionary awareness of those who are already working in the parishes, that is, priests, religious, catechists and laypeople, those who are completely dedicated to parish service.
"Then in a second step we must get in contact with the whole parish community, also in a liturgical way.
“The third step is a gradual opening to the world. This opening up to the world is not just directed toward our immediate environment, our city, the quarter where we live and where many do not believe and do not know Christ’s message or have not been baptized; it is also a look at the whole world, the most distant continents, through the witness of those people – priests, religious, missionaries and laity – who have lived in those parts of the world.”
This year’s evangelization conference, which runs through Saturday, is the fifth in a series of like conferences hosted since 2003 in major European cities.
Father Miklos Blanckenstein, pastoral vicar of the Archdiocese of Esztergom-Budapest and rector of the archiepiscopal seminary of Esztergom, told ZENIT that during the preparation of the event “the communities and movements tasted the fruit and the joy of working together.”
“Many priests recognized the help they receive from the laity and many laity recognized that priests are needed, but that each must find his vocation within a well-developed community,” he added.
The first of these evangelization conferences was held in Vienna in 2003. In 2005, 2006 and 2007, they were held in Paris, Lisbon and Brussels.
The conferences were born from the celebrations of the Jubilee in the year 2000, a desire of Pope John Paul II.
BUDAPEST, Hungary, SEPT. 16, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The first step for evangelizing Budapest is deepening the faith and missionary zeal of those who work in parishes, said the city’s archbishop.
Cardinal Peter Erdo, archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest and primate of Hungary, told ZENIT about the steps needed to spread the faith, as the International Congress for the New Evangelization begins in his city today.
Cardinal Camillo Ruini, vicar of the Diocese of Rome, will represent Benedict XVI at the conference.
Cardinal Erdo said: "In Budapest we saw that what was needed first of all was to deepen the faith, spirituality and missionary awareness of those who are already working in the parishes, that is, priests, religious, catechists and laypeople, those who are completely dedicated to parish service.
"Then in a second step we must get in contact with the whole parish community, also in a liturgical way.
“The third step is a gradual opening to the world. This opening up to the world is not just directed toward our immediate environment, our city, the quarter where we live and where many do not believe and do not know Christ’s message or have not been baptized; it is also a look at the whole world, the most distant continents, through the witness of those people – priests, religious, missionaries and laity – who have lived in those parts of the world.”
This year’s evangelization conference, which runs through Saturday, is the fifth in a series of like conferences hosted since 2003 in major European cities.
Father Miklos Blanckenstein, pastoral vicar of the Archdiocese of Esztergom-Budapest and rector of the archiepiscopal seminary of Esztergom, told ZENIT that during the preparation of the event “the communities and movements tasted the fruit and the joy of working together.”
“Many priests recognized the help they receive from the laity and many laity recognized that priests are needed, but that each must find his vocation within a well-developed community,” he added.
The first of these evangelization conferences was held in Vienna in 2003. In 2005, 2006 and 2007, they were held in Paris, Lisbon and Brussels.
The conferences were born from the celebrations of the Jubilee in the year 2000, a desire of Pope John Paul II.
