The Pope Apologized for What?!

Each year, Pope Benedict gathers his former students together with him for a summer retreat that analyzes a specific topic. This year the topic was the New Evangelization as the Pope prepares for the Bishop's Synod on the New Evangelization in 2012. And along with this topic, the Pope made an interesting apology.

But, before we discuss the apology, let's review. The New Evangelization is the re-introduction of the Gospel to persons and cultures who were once Christian, but who have fallen away from an active living of the faith. For more on the New Evangelization, see our previous article.

Referencing a passage from Jeremiah and the theme of the New Evangelization, Pope Benedict prayed, "In this time of God’s absence when the earth of souls is arid and people do not yet know where the living water comes from, let us ask the Lord to show himself to us. Let us ask him to show those who are seeking the living water elsewhere..."

Then, Pope Benedict, who was surely still reflecting on World Youth Day, added, "Let us ask him, especially for young people, that the thirst for him may come to life within in them and that they may know where to seek the response."

Finally, the apology, "And let us, who have been acquainted with him since the days of our youth, ask forgiveness because we bring so little of the light of his face to others, and emanate so feebly the certainty that 'he is, he is present and he is the great and complete reality that we are all awaiting'".

The apology is striking. It is easy to make evangelization a extra-curriculur activity in the Catholic Church and have the attitude that "some are involved in Knights of Columbus, some help out with the Church festival, and some evangelize." In the end, evangelization is not an option; it is a requirement of our Baptism and Confirmation.

Failing to do so should cause all of us to repent.

For the full speech, click here.

The Ultimate Relationship

The Ultimate Relationship is a tool you can use to share the Gospel clearly and simply. The presenter walks a person, or “listener,” through a step-by-step presentation. The listener is able to understand what the Gospel message is and thus take the opportunity to commit or re-commit his or her life to Jesus Christ.

The booklet has four main messages:

1. God created us for a relationship with Him

2. Our relationship is broken through sin

3. Jesus restores our relationship with the Father

4. We have the choice to accept or reject this offer

Why use the Ultimate Relationship?

Too often we assume that certain people have already given their life to Christ or that they have actually heard the Gospel before. We must never make this assumption. Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher to the papal household, says this,

“I can see from my own experience that even if I speak of many beautiful concepts, nothing seems to happen. We must proclaim Jesus as Lord and Savior, helping people to grasp what it means to have Jesus as their Savior — not in a theoretical way, but that every day they have a Savior, someone who will lift them from their fatigue of the day, of their sin, and their mistakes, and who renews them. He saves us. When you proclaim this living, crucified and risen Jesus, something always happens.”

Many of us desire to share the Gospel with others, but we return to a common excuse: I just don’t know how. The Ultimate Relationship takes this excuse out of the equation. The booklet gives you an opening to share the Gospel. It helps you to know what to say. It is easy to present. It helps you to stay on topic. It enables you to be brief, prepared, and confident. And finally, it can be given away to the listener at the end. If we fail to share the Gospel with others, we can’t use the excuse that we don’t know how to share it.

Who can I use the Ultimate Relationship with?

Strangers

Acquaintances

Friends and family members

Bible study members

Disciples

Yourself

To continue reading this article and to learn more about how to use the Ultimate Relationship, click here and then click on the article entitled, The Ultimate Relationship.

What is the New Evangelization? The answer might surprise you

The term “The New Evangelization” is thrown around in many Catholics circles today, but what exactly does it mean?

It is believed that Blessed John Paul II first used the term in 1983 in an address to Latin American Bishops. He would later bring this term to the attention of the entire Church. Perhaps, the most clear definition of the New Evangelization is in his encyclical, Redemptoris Missio. In section 33 of this encyclical, Blessed John Paul II describes three different situations for evangelization: mission ad gentes, Christian communities, and the new evangelization.

Mission ad gentes: Latin for “to the nations.” This is a situation where “Christ and his Gospel are not known.”

Christian communities: “In these communities the Church carries out her activity and pastoral care.” This is the ongoing evangelization of those “fervent in the faith.”

New Evangelization: So, what is the new evangelization? Blessed John Paul II describes a situation between the first two options “where entire groups of the baptized have lost a living sense of the faith, or even no longer consider themselves members of the Church, and live a life far removed from Christ and his Gospel. In this case what is needed is a ‘new evangelization’ or a ‘re-evangelization.’”

The new evangelization pertains to a very specific group of people: fallen-away Christians. For most Catholics in the western world, we see the need for this type of evangelization all around us. Everyone knows someone who was once baptized but who no longer practices the faith. Blessed John Paul II wanted the faithful to clearly recognize this problem and then try to solve it.

FOCUS (The Fellowship of Catholic University Students) aims to answer the John Paul II’s call for the new evangelization. On college campuses across the nation, college students are falling away from their faith. Statistics show that just 15% of Catholics aged 18-25 attend Church on a weekly basis. FOCUS lives out the new evangelization on the college campus because of this critical age demographic.

Pope Benedict has continued the mission of the new evangelization in his pontificate. In 2010, Pope Benedict established The Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization. In 2012, he declared a Bishops’ Synod to discuss the New Evangelization. We should be hearing much more about this topic in the years to come. Below are some key quotes on the New Evangelization by Blessed John Paul II and Pope Benedict. For more, check out the full documents of the resources quoted below.

"I sense that the moment has come to commit all of the Church's energies to a new evangelization and to the mission. No believer in Christ, no institution of the Church can avoid this supreme duty: to proclaim Christ to all peoples" (Bl. John Paul II, Redemptoris Missio, no. 3).

"To this end, it is more necessary than ever for all the faithful to move from a faith of habit, sustained perhaps by social context alone, to a faith which is conscious and personally lived. The renewal of faith will always be the best way to lead others to the Truth that is Christ" (Bl. John Paul II, Ecclesia in America, no. 73).

"Look to the future with commitment to a New Evangelization, one that is new in its ardor, new in its methods, and new in its expression" (Bl. John Paul II, Address to the Latin American Bishops).

"The new evangelization in which the whole continent is engaged means that faith cannot be taken for granted, but must be explicitly proposed in all its breadth and richness" (Bl. John Paul II, Ecclesia in America, no. 69).

"Our own time, then, must be increasingly marked by new hearing of God’s word and a new evangelization. Recovering the centrality of the divine word in the Christian life leads us to appreciate anew the deepest meaning of the forceful appeal of Pope John Paul II: to pursue the mission ad gentes and vigorously to embark upon the new evangelization, especially in those nations where the Gospel has been forgotten or meets with indifference as a result of widespread secularism" (Pope Benedict XVI, Dei Verbum, no. 122).