Franciscan at Home

The stated focus of The Catechetical Review is: Communicating Christ for a New Evangelization. For its inaugural issue, I thought it fitting to give a clear answer to a question often asked by many, even in cathechetical circles, “What exactly is the new evangelization?”
Some Background

The Council Fathers of Vatican II placed significant emphasis on evangelization, as is evident in the published documents that followed. In fact, when the post-conciliar popes describe the fundamental purpose of Vatican II, they often describe it as renewal for the sake of evangelization. At its heart, this renewal is actualized through understanding and living the universal call to holiness. As Gaudium et Spes puts it:

Although by the power of the Holy Spirit the Church will remain the faithful spouse of her Lord and will never cease to be the sign of salvation on earth, still she is very well aware that among her members, both clerical and lay, some have been unfaithful to the Spirit of God during the course of many centuries…led by the Holy Spirit, Mother Church unceasingly exhorts her sons to purify and renew themselves so that the sign of Christ can shine more brightly on the face of the Church (43).

Following a period of radical decline in the traditional missionary work of the Church, Pope Paul VI tried to refocus our attention on the centrality of evangelization in his 1975 apostolic exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi. In 1990, John Paul II published his encyclical, Redemptoris Missio, to reinvigorate the Church’s work of evangelization both in its traditional missionary settings and in something he referred to as “new evangelization” or “re-evangelization” (33).

Pope Benedict XVI institutionalized the Church’s focus on the new evangelization by establishing a new curial office, the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization. This office has also been charged with the promulgation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, showing the strong link between evangelization and catechesis. He also dedicated the 2012 Synod of Bishops to the theme of New Evangelization. Pope Francis continues this theme in Evangelii Gaudium, passionately calling the whole Church to move out and share the Good News. He asks, “What are we waiting for?” (120)

Welcome to Franciscan University’s new catechetical journal! As we commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the founding of our academic Catechetics program, we offer this quarterly journal to the wider catechetical community. It is this generous community and those they serve who are particularly integral to the Church’s hope for carrying out Christ’s missionary mandate:

Many years ago, after a particularly challenging day of ministry, I blurted out (in jest), “Ministry would be easy if it wasn’t for people.” Since then, I occasionally utter this phrase when the complicated nature of people’s lives messes with my nice, ordered ministry schedule—which is most of the time. The point is that the Church, and our ministry as an extension of the Church, exists to make disciples. Disciples are people. People are messy. If your ministry is not messy, you might not be making disciples but simply moving people through a program.

When it comes to messy, nothing compares to couples, marriage and the RCIA.

One year I had members of a blended family desiring to come into full communion with the Catholic Church. The husband and his son were Catholic; the wife and her two children were becoming Catholic. Both had been married before and the couple really wanted God in their life. Even though the husband was Catholic, I invited him to RCIA as well, and he accepted. As the year went on, the kids and husband were doing great, but the wife was having difficulty overcoming her Protestant understanding of certain teachings. Finally, the wife emailed me saying that she was dropping RCIA because the pressure to become Catholic was too much. She felt like she was only doing this for her husband.

Knowing that conversion is a process and that I never know when people will respond to the Holy Spirit, I recommended that she continue with RCIA so that she will at least be aware of what her children and husband are learning. I told her not to worry about Easter and that I’ll assume she is not becoming Catholic. She agreed. The pressure of Easter was off and she enjoyed the classes and kept coming with her husband and children.

Two weeks later I gave a talk on sin, grace and sacraments and how grace breaks the chains of sin. When we transitioned to small group discussions, she told her group leader, “That’s what I need! I need to be free from sin! I’ve tried for years and I can’t do it on my own. I want to become Catholic!” She and her children were received into the Church at the Easter Vigil and the entire family was blessed.

I want to briefly talk about two important areas that must be considered, when ministering to couples in RCIA: sponsors and evangelizing both spouses. I will mainly refer to spouses, but the following principles apply to dating or engaged couples as well.

With his recent Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel), Pope Francis has extended to the universal Church a formal invitation to joy. At the heart of this invitation to joy stands a Person, the crucified and risen Lord Jesus. Evident throughout the exhortation is Pope Francis’ consistent understanding that Christian joy is indelibly characterized by the active marriage of the two greatest commandments: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind…” and “you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mt. 22:37, 39).[1] For Pope Francis, the fulfillment of these commandments—and therefore, the source of Christian joy—begins with a personal encounter with Jesus Christ and the discovery that He has loved us first (cf.1 Jn. 4:19). Through an initial response of faith, gradual conversion, and the reception of divine mercy in and through the sacraments, the joy of salvation comes to life and fruition in the heart and life of the disciple; and it is this divine joy that creates missionaries.

The evangelical joy Pope Francis desires to see radiating from the Bride of Christ requires more, however, than just personal conversion. The very fabric of Church structures, institutions, and processes must also be permeated and constantly renewed with the active presence of the Holy Spirit and the missionary impulse that will make them truly evangelical. To this end, Pope Francis has called the entire Church to an “ecclesial conversion” and to a “pastoral and missionary conversion,”[2] which means “openness to a constant self-renewal born of fidelity to Jesus Christ.”[3]

In this twentieth anniversary year of the English edition of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Janet Benestad responds to concerns that the Catechism is not sufficiently related to human experience. Drawing on the insights of the late Avery Cardinal Dulles, she explains why this most important of catechetical texts is essential to parish evangelization.

The Archdiocese of Boston has undertaken a major pastoral planning effort. Called Disciples in Mission, it involves the realignment of parishes for administrative and financial success, and the training of diocesan and parish leaders. The goal is to create parishes that are vibrant centers of evangelization. The training of parish leaders includes best practices in the new evangelization.

At one meeting regarding adult formation, a long-serving parish pastoral associate questioned using the Catechism to evangelize adults. “Why use the Catechism,” she asked. “It’s 30 years old,” as if a re-writing were expected any day. At another meeting, a parish director of liturgy reacted to instruction on using parish websites and bulletins as tools for catechizing adults: “I prefer to let people rely on their own experiences,” he said.

Such comments by Church leaders beg the question: After 20 years of the Catechism, why the continued resistance to it among many professional Catholic Church leaders? Why the preference for experience, rather than doctrine, as a surer norm for spreading the faith? These questions sent me back to an article written by Avery Cardinal Dulles in 1994 entitled, “The Challenge of the Catechism.” In it, Dulles describes the confusion that results when experience becomes the preferred norm for faith formation.

“All statements about revelation,” says Dulles, “. . . are said to be so culturally conditioned that they cannot be transferred from one age or one cultural region to another. Every theological affirmation that comes to us from the past must be examined with suspicion because it was formulated in a situation differing markedly from our own. Each constituency must experience the revelation of God anew and find language and other symbolic forms appropriate to itself.”[i]

Dulles is describing the heresy of modern practical relativism—the position that each age or culture only knows what is true on the basis of its own experiences. This position denies the existence of any ultimate source of truth. When relativism informs the thinking of theologians and, as a result, catechetical leaders, it undermines faith in God, who is the source of all Truth. Unfortunately, relativism informs the thinking of a good many catechetical leaders, to wit, the examples above. For that reason, it is worth taking a look at what Dulles has to say about the ways in which the Catechism provides an “antidote” to tension between faith and experience.

A former military advisor illustrates how a small, highly motivated, highly trained group of evangelist "advisors" can affect a disproportionate change in the promotion of the goals of the New Evangelization.

What do you think of when you hear “Special Forces”? Most people think about an elite military team conducting an operation deep in unfriendly territory, appearing from and melting into the dark, still water of some jungle river. Or perhaps they think of a team conducting a hostage rescue in a desert environment with a HALO infiltration, utilizing night vision technology. These images represent only one aspect of Special Operations capabilities, which is direct action. However, another role of Special Forces, and one you might not think of, is that of highly trained advisors that facilitate the work of others, resulting in force-multiplication. Special Operations and the “quiet” professionals who carry them out are particularly suited to this role and its “work yourself out of job” methodology. Earlier in my life, I had the honor of working with men who demonstrated this methodology with profound professionalism, discipline and humility—true quiet professionals.

But what does the advisor role of Special Forces have to do with the New Evangelization? Special Forces advisors are a small, highly trained, highly motivated, well-equipped cadre of teachers who act as force-multipliers by forming the next formators. This role is utilized whether training personnel in small unit tactics, land navigation or combat casualty care. It is extremely effective because in addition to training the first generation of students, the team also establishes the infrastructure for this first generation to form the next ones.

This role is suited to the work of the New Evangelization for three reasons: (1) the limited resources that many dioceses and parishes have at their disposal, (2) our natural reluctance to change, and (3) the dynamic nature of the New Evangelization. Regarding limited resources, it is often easier to support a small group of incarnate-advisors who can multiply their effectiveness, especially in the “ad intra” phase of the New Evangelization. When it comes to the natural reluctance to change, advisors first act as incarnate examples of the change that they are encouraging, allowing a “bottom-up” example that can complement the “top-down” encouragement of the bishop or pastor. And finally, the dynamic nature of the New Evangelization (which parallels the dynamic nature of personal conversion) requires quicker assessment of needs and opportunities. Paired with diocesan structures that are already in place, advisors can be an efficient and effective leaven for them, responding quickly and allowing the mission of the New Evangelization to grow in present structures.

To explicate this approach, I will offer specific examples from my work, as well as best practices from other ecclesial situations. These examples fall into three general categories, which I call the “three P’s”: partnerships, parishes-schools and projects. These parallel the three dimensions of the Special Forces advisor: the subject matter expert, the force-multiplier and the incarnate example.

In reflecting on my life and those closest to me that I love and cherish dearly (my family and friends), I often wonder how and why I received the gift of faith and maybe not some of them. Why did God choose me to practice my Catholic faith that was handed on to me by my parents? Why did God have mercy on me and pull me out of sin and death and from the pits of Hell? Honestly, there have been points in my life where I was headed on a path that wasn’t toward Heaven. There have been moments in my life where I should have been dead from all the stupid things I’ve done. What makes me so special that the Lord came to me and offered me the grace of salvation? Of all my friends and family members, why am I the one that has received and responded to God’s grace and mercy?

Evangelisation requires us to be disciples. This means we embrace Christ’s teaching and example as outlined in the Gospels. Interestingly this takes on a new dimension when going around the parish knocking on doors to find out where Catholics live. Amazingly a Catholic will tell you if they are lapsed or not. Catechesis can become a knee-jerk experience when doing doorstep discipleship and evangelisation. One needs to rely heavily on the Holy Spirit to inspire the right answers to questions that are troubling either the lapsed Catholic or would-be inquirers into the faith. Going further in my own study of the faith through course work in catechesis at Maryvale Institute, I find the knowledge gained invaluable when doing this type of work.
Jesus speaks to the person who answers the door, as quoted in the Book of Revelation: “Look I am standing at the door knocking, if one of you hears me calling and opens the door, I will come in to share a meal at that person’s side. Let anyone who can hear, listen to what the Spirit is saying to the Churches” (3:20-22). Jesus welcomes everyone who has drifted away or even rejected him.

President for the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization Archbishop Fisichella gave the introduction to the International Conference on Catechesis, September 26–28, 2013. Here it is translated into English for our subscribers.

The subject matter at the heart of the two terms in question—new evangelization and catechesis—has been discussed on many occasions in prestigious venues and documents that have left their mark on the history of catechesis. Our sole aim here is to highlight the concerns that have been raised and the directions, which may be taken in the near future. I like to situate these reflections upon the stage of Pope Paul VI’s Evangelii nuntiandi, because in fact his Apostolic Exhortation focuses the issues in the immediate wake of the Council: “A means of evangelization that must not be neglected is that of catechetical instruction. The intelligence, especially that of children and young people, needs to learn through systematic religious instruction the fundamental teachings, the living content of the truth, which God has wished to convey to us and which the Church has sought to express in an ever richer fashion during the course of her long history. No one will deny that this instruction must be given to form patterns of Christian living and not to remain only notional. Truly the effort for evangelization will profit greatly- at the level of catechetical instruction” (Evangelii nuntiandi, 44). In order to more directly examine this programmatic text, it is worth recalling, first of all, the context in which this Apostolic Exhortation was developed. The Pope, in effect, identified certain privileged means necessary for carrying out evangelization. He centered the focus on “how to evangelize” (Evangelii nuntiandi, 40)[1], emphasizing that Christian witness is the foremost sign of all genuine work of evangelization[2].

It is in this context that we further read this paradigmatic expression: “Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses” (Evangelii nuntiandi, 41). He added, however, that the proclamation of the Gospel is the determining factor in effective evangelization, all the while underscoring the importance of the new culture steadily crowding onto the horizon, the effects of which can be readily ascertained today. The Pope spoke of the “civilization of the image”, which has risen to predominance over the word[3]. On this stage of evangelizing preaching, Paul VI gave primacy of the Word of God, particularly in the framework of the liturgy, highlighting the fundamental importance of paying all due attention to the homily, so as to reclaim the full pastoral effectiveness of this privileged means of evangelization[4].

Reconstruction of this context permits us to view catechesis as inserted in service, above all, to the Word of God, which is proclaimed, as one particular stage in the evangelization process. To forget this aspect is to distort what catechesis is, making it inconsistent with the pastoral plan of the Church, and thus, impoverishing the pledge to evangelize.

In the Apostolic Letter, Ubicumque et semper, wherein Pope Benedict XVI created the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization, he notes that, while recent technological advancements may have had a positive impact on the material quality of life, they have had a deleterious effect on the spiritual quality of life. He roots this latter deterioration in a “loss of the sense of the sacred,” which has corrupted, on a wide scale, the Christian belief in a person God. However, although Pope Benedict XVI identifies the loss of the sense of the sacred as a root cause of secularism’s advance, he leaves open the question as to what precisely constitutes this sense, as well as, consequently, the best means of restoring it in contemporary society.

This article will argue that a broader look at Benedict XVI’s writings reveals that his understanding of the sense of the sacred closely parallels that of the twentieth century French Jesuit, Henri Cardinal de Lubac. Tracing the mutual influence of de Lubac and Ratzinger in this question, moreover, can help explain some of Benedict XVI’s more recent comments about the unique role that the liturgy can and must play in restoring that sense in the modern world.