"NEW Evangelizers!"

[MariaChristi]

ROME, OCT. 13, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Though there is a new pontifical council for promoting the new evangelization, and next year a synod will be held on the theme, the “new evangelization” itself is already under way. An event this weekend aims to present the Pope and the faithful with some of the leaders of this cause.

The Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization is hosting an event at the Vatican called “New Evangelizers for the New Evangelization: The Word of God Grows and Spreads.”

The goal of the meeting is to “visibly present the Church with the new evangelizers because in this way we make the Word of God known and we can increase the [number of the] disciples of the Lord,” said the council president, Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella…

On Saturday evening some of these “new evangelizers” will go out onto the streets of Rome to put into practice their methods of spreading the Gospel.

“Many of these ecclesial groups already have experience of this,” the archbishop said. “They will give the City of Rome a visible sign of a new evangelization. And we hope that their efforts will bear fruit.”

Benedict XVI is due to join and address the meeting participants that same evening. And during the day, there will be a series of presentations from various guest speakers, followed by a short concert by tenor Andrea Bocelli.

Archbishop Fisichella said the meeting will hopefully “quash” any illusions that “everything was alright in the past,” or that “everything will be fine in the future” thanks to the invention of a “new formula.”

He said that, though the mission of the Church has always been evangelization, and that it has been going on now for more than 2,000 years, the Church needs to find “a new language, a new lifestyle, one that is respectful but has a deeply rooted identity,” with evangelizers “who have a profound sense of belonging to the Church and the Christian community, but at the same time who are open to others.”…

“For 27 years Blessed John Paul II ‘provoked’ the Church in every possible way into recognizing the urgent need for new evangelization,” Archbishop Fisichella stated.

He added that the present Pontiff was prophetic in instituting the pontifical council: "[Benedict XVI] wanted the different realities – those that already exist and those that will arise in the future – to find a common point of reference, in short, a concrete expression of the service of the Pope for the Church in favor of the new evangelization… Full text of the article may be read HERE

While I’m happy to read news of the coming synod on Evangelization and the efforts being made, I am praying that more Catholics will deepen their lives of prayer and commitment to God and His Church, and that words do not remain "merely words’, but that the world will see the Light of Christ shining through authentic lives of Catholic faith. May our light shine before men that our Father is glorified and His children return to Him, worshiping Him in spirit and in truth. Please let us pray for renewal! Thanks.

 

[BigFellaMick]

amen to that

 

[MariaChristi]

amen to that

Dear BigFellaMick,

Thanks for your reply! I don’t know if you saw my thread HERE, but it is encouraging news. There may be indeed a “Giant Awakening!” – at least the article is encouraging and shows numbers of people actually doing rather than merely talking about it. I posted also within a response on the thread about our parish’s beginning a sort of “re-evangelizing” effort in offering a six week series for “Returning Catholics”. Please pray for us. Thanks.