New Evangelization

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Can someone please explain to me what exactly the “new evangelization” is keeping in mind that, although I live near a seminary, I do not have a degree from it. What makes it different from the “old evangelization”? Why did we need to come up with something new?
 
It is a concentrated plan devised by Blsd JP2 and carried on by Pope Benedict to respond to the pressures on the faith world wide resulting in fewer people coming into the faith but even more disturbing increasing number leaving the faith. It calls for all the faithful , including the laity, to lead in spreading the gospel to not only those who have never heard it, not especially to fallen Catholics to come back to the church. It is a tea waking of the original Pentacost.

Hope this helps.
 
Don_Jackson said:
It is a concentrated plan devised by Blsd JP2 and carried on by Pope Benedict to respond to the pressures on the faith world wide resulting in fewer people coming into the faith but even more disturbing increasing number leaving the faith. It calls for all the faithful , including the laity, to lead in spreading the gospel to not only those who have never heard it, not especially to fallen Catholics to come back to the church. It is a tea waking of the original Pentacost.

Hope this helps.
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Garysibio, you beat me to it. I was just about to start a thread asking the same thing when I read your post.

Don, would you say the focus is on the laity then? Because otherwise I don’t understand what was different or needed to be changed about the way the Church used to evangelize before.
 
Don_Jackson said:
It is a concentrated plan devised by Blsd JP2 and carried on by Pope Benedict to respond to the pressures on the faith world wide resulting in fewer people coming into the faith but even more disturbing increasing number leaving the faith. It calls for all the faithful , including the laity, to lead in spreading the gospel to not only those who have never heard it, not especially to fallen Catholics to come back to the church. It is a tea waking of the original Pentacost.

Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
So there’s nothing really new about the evangelism; more of a re-emphasis on evangelism.
 
It’s to take back what we lost (or who we lost).

It is different this time in that we are expected to really evangelize this time, because the Catholic laity never put any effort into their obligation in the past.

If we see it as no different, alas it will be no different.
 
This may also be of interest:
“Bishop Alexander Sample speaks at Men of the New Evangelization Conference 2012”
youtube.com/watch?v=NrxvmklIRqg

amsjj 🙂

+++
Jesus, God and man,
imprisoned by love in Thy most holy Sacrament,
have mercy upon us.
  • Blessed John Henry Newman, December 22, 1851
Tú y yo sabemos por la fe que oculto en las especies sacramentales está Cristo,
ese Cristo con su Cuerpo, con su Sangre, con su Alma, y con su Divinidad,
prisonero de amor.
  • San Josemaría Escrivá, 1 junio 1974
… Our Lord Himself frequently said; and it is recorded as an Apostolic tradition from Him
by St. Justin the Martyr. He says ‘Jesus often said, “They who are near Me are near a
fire”’.
  • Abp. W. B. Ullathorne, August 1st 1886
 
I hadn’t thought to go further than asking for a definition but the responses I got raised a few more questions:
  1. It was said that this time the laity are to be involved in the new evangelization. In the past, they have not been. Why do you think it has been this way? What is going to be done to mobilize the laity? It’s been 50 years since Vatican II which released a document on the role of the laity. (I have not read this but I understand the idea was to give the laity a bigger role in the church. If that attempt has failed - which is what you have to conclude if the purpose of the new evangelism is trying to get the laity involved - what makes anyone think this is going to be any more effective?
  2. What exactly is being done to get the laity involved? Are we just going to get more programs designed by bureaucrats and theologians with no real on the street experience?
  3. What’s included in the gospel? I used to be an Evangelical. In college we took our copies of the Four Spiritual Laws and went over them with anyone who would sit still long enough. What do we say to the people we evangelize? Got to church next Sunday? Start praying the rosary? Ii understand the gospel according to Catholicism but I don’t have a clue of how to share it with someone.
  4. If anyone here would like to chime in with what they are doing, I would appreciate it.
 
Where I live in the Bible Belt, Catholics have had to be able to explain their faith to non-Catholics since before Vatican 2. Many who couldn’t became Evangelicals or Fundamentalists. But then, many E’s and F’s also become Catholic. So lots of Catholics don’t really need to be exhorted by the hierarchy to be New Evangelists; to some extent that’s just a part of staying Catholic.

I don’t know how to directly jumpstart Catholics who aren’t fired up about their faith. Every New Evangelist I know is/was self-motivated to grow in faith and be ready to explain/defend it to others as the occasion arises. Just looking at the growth of vigorous Catholic faith here over the past 20 years, it’s mostly the result of an organic, informal groundswell of motivated Catholics interacting with each other and other parishioners.

I posted briefly about this recently here:

platytera.blogspot.com/2012/10/greenville-ephrathah-9-organic-gravity.html
 
kkollwitz said:
Where I live in the Bible Belt, Catholics have had to be able to explain their faith to non-Catholics since before Vatican 2. Many who couldn’t became Evangelicals or Fundamentalists. But then, many E’s and F’s also become Catholic. So lots of Catholics don’t really need to be exhorted by the hierarchy to be New Evangelists; to some extent that’s just a part of staying Catholic.

I don’t know how to directly jumpstart Catholics who aren’t fired up about their faith. Every New Evangelist I know is/was self-motivated to grow in faith and be ready to explain/defend it to others as the occasion arises. Just looking at the growth of vigorous Catholic faith here over the past 20 years, it’s mostly the result of an organic, informal groundswell of motivated Catholics interacting with each other and other parishioners.

I posted briefly about this recently here:

platytera.blogspot.com/2012/10/greenville-ephrathah-9-organic-gravity.html
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Good point. It’s going to vary from one place to another. I live in Chicago which is predominantly, even if nominally, Catholic. What works here is not going to work somewhere where 75% of the churches have the phrase “King James Bible” in the name. 🙂
 
“What exactly is being done to get the laity involved? Are we just going to get more programs designed by bureaucrats and theologians with no real on the street experience?”

I think this is the point: nothing is going to be done by the bureaucrats to get the laity involved. This time the Church expects adult Catholics to act like, you know, responsible adults, and use their own individual gifts of the Holy Spirit to renew the Church and the culture.
 
kkollwitz said:
“What exactly is being done to get the laity involved? Are we just going to get more programs designed by bureaucrats and theologians with no real on the street experience?”

I think this is the point: nothing is going to be done by the bureaucrats to get the laity involved. This time the Church expects adult Catholics to act like, you know, responsible adults, and use their own individual gifts of the Holy Spirit to renew the Church and the culture.
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I won’t argue with what you say because it is a valid point but you have a church full of adults who have gifts but have never been told they have them much less received any guidance in how to use them. You can’t just say, “OK guys, it’s your turn.”

I made the comment about the bureaucracy because bureaucracies, once they exist, tend to be self-perpetuating. They are not going to give up any power or authority because, to do so, endangers their existence.
 
“OK guys, it’s your turn.”

That’s what I hear. But at least where I live, plenty of Catholics already don’t wait around for the institutional Church to take the initiative on all kinds of stuff, especially evangelism and pro-life. For example, about 10 years ago there was a group of local Fundie churches which put together 8 days or so of programs called To Open Their Eyes, aimed at training their congregations in converting Catholics. It was in the local paper, there were flyers, etc. Catholics interested in the ‘Bible truth’ about their faith were welcome. Recordings of the the talks were posted at church websites, etc. You may not know him, but Bart Brewer was a featured speaker. They planned to do this every year.

But the area network of motivated Catholics simply attended these events and evangelized. And that was the first and last year of To Open Their Eyes. But part of having that happen is maintaining an informal relationship among Catholics across parishes. Some of that happens through our very local Catholic radio station, but also parties, shared church events, life chain, KofC dinners, internet, etc. Here’s a good example of that in action:

platytera.blogspot.com/2012/08/greenville-ephrathah-8-new.html

And here’s an interesting book I just read on the subject:

amazon.com/Forming-Intentional-Disciples-Knowing-Following/dp/1612785905/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1350687222&sr=1-1&keywords=forming+intentional+disciples
 
The emphasis on what is “new”, is the Church calling on all Catholics to use this Year of Faith as an opportunity to renew his or her faith so THEN we can share it with the world.

Many of the programs designed in many parishes in my area, including my own parish, are designed for the person in the pew. The idea behind this is that as we develop and grow in our ongoing call to conversion, we will be stronger in sharing our faith with others.

For example, we are having a four week course on the documents of Vatican II and we gave our parishoners a “homework” assignment today at Mass. They were to reflect on the following question: What will enhance your faith experience at __________? (parish name). They will come back and there will be sheets where they can write their answers next week. These will be collected and tallied by our evangelization committee
 
We are living in the time of the New Evanglization. This is a movement that has been inspired by God and put into action by the great Blessed Pope John Paul.

You can see it in action on the streets all over the US - see streetevangelization.com

People are taking to the streets with signs and rosaries evangelizing in order to prepare for the second coming of the Lord. Also they are knocking on doors like they did 60 years ago in order to bring people back to the true faith, which of course is the Catholic Faith.

I myself am involved in this movement. We started this year going on the streets with a sign and rosaries talking to people about the faith and advising lapsed Catholics to return to the fold and telling non Catholics that their faith was founded by men where as ours is founded by God.

It is a formula which is inspired by the Lord and is clearly His will. It is very hard work but also very fulflling work.

We stand outside football stadiums when there are big games on to bear witness to Christ to thousands of people all on the same day. It is truly an amazing thing to experience.

Join us!!
 
garysibio said:
So there’s nothing really new about the evangelism; more of a re-emphasis on evangelism.
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The target audience of the new evangelization is also different. The new evangelization is geared towards newly evangelizing those Catholics who have fallen away, especially those countries that were formerly Catholic but are now drifitng into secularism. Indeed, it really starts with ourselves.

See Paragraph 5 of the Lineamenta of the current Synod. It gives a pretty extensive definition. Of course, the more official definition will likely come in the forthcoming Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortaion on the New Evangelization. That will be a year or two down the road, though.
 
Don_Jackson said:
It is a concentrated plan devised by Blsd JP2 and carried on by Pope Benedict to respond to the pressures on the faith world wide resulting in fewer people coming into the faith but even more disturbing increasing number leaving the faith. It calls for all the faithful , including the laity, to lead in spreading the gospel to not only those who have never heard it, not especially to fallen Catholics to come back to the church. It is a tea waking of the original Pentacost.

Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Hey Don: We have the same first and last names. Are you me or am I you? What is the gospel of salvation that we should spread?
Thanks,
QC also Don J.
 
I believe we can evangelize by defending our Catholic faith when among other Christians and the opportunity arises. Just the other day, a Protestant friend said “The Catholic Church is all about providing healthcare and food for the needy.” My response was that we were born to know, love and serve God. And in serving God, we do care for those in need. And in response to those who say, “Are you saved?”, my gentle response is that I’m still working on it. I’m currently reading “The Essential Catholic Survival Guide” by the Staff of Catholic Answers, about answers to tough questions about the faith. We need to know how to clear up all those misunderstandings of the truths of the Catholic Church, because so many have only heard statements or read anti-Catholic literature containing erroneous attacks on our Catholic faith.

And a great way to evangelize is to conduct ourselves as model Catholics. Although it is important, converts to the Church were not primarily drawn by strength of argument, scriptural proof, or one’s ability to articulate the faith, but converts were drawn by Catholics whose lives gave irrestible witness to the faith they professed.
 
. And in serving God, we do care for those in need. And in response to those who say, “Are you saved?”, my gentle response is that I’m still working on it.

Dear Friend: You are “working on it” to be saved? How much work must you do? When do you know if you have done enough work? Notice what Paul writes:
“Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not but BELIEVETH ON HIM THAT JUSTIFGIED THE UNGODLY, HIS FAITH IS COUNTED FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS.” Romans 4:4,5. Did Paul and Silas tell the jailer to work for his salvation? No, they told him to" BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST AND THOU SHALT BE SAVED…" The gospel by which one is saved is found in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4. Notice that Paul calls it just that. Also, please check out Ephesians 1:13. True evangelization is a clear cut presentation of the gospel by which one is saved to a lost and dying world…
2 Corinthians 5:16:21.
Grace and Peace,
QC
 
“The Catholic Church is all about providing healthcare and food for the needy.”

Then the King will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35* for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee, or thirsty and give thee drink? 38 And when did we see thee a stranger and welcome thee, or naked and clothe thee? 39 And when did we see thee sick or in prison and visit thee?’ 40* And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.’
 
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