CNA News reports that Pope Benedict is expected to announce the creation of a new dicastery in the Curia. The Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization will be dedicated to the re-evangelization of Western countries that have lost their Christian identity.
Andrea Tornielli, the Vatican correspondent for the daily Il Giornale who is usually well-informed on new appointments at the Vatican, wrote today that “Benedict does not cease to surprise: in the upcoming week the creation of a new dicastery of the Roman Curia dedicated to the evangelization of the West will be announced, and be presided over by Archbishop Rino Fisichella.”
The new dicastery is aimed at evangelizing “countries where the Gospel has been announced centuries ago, but where its presence in their peoples’ daily life seems to be lost. Europe, the United States and Latin America would be the areas of influence of the new structure,” Il Giornale says.
There is no doubt that a New Evangelization is needed. It will interesting to see what concrete initiatives the Council takes.
April 27th, 2010 | 5:05 pm
Most Holy Father,
I write here because I know that people with an interest in the Church and her mission read here.
In the United States, and, I suspect, in the other Western nations, you have a number of us who served long years in the vineyard as Protestant clergy, and, under the calling of the Holy Spirit, came home to the Catholic Church.
While not seeking ordination to the presbyterate, we still retain the knowledge and wisdom of our years in the parish. To use the current vernacular, your Holiness, we have mad ninja skills for the Re-Evangelisation. If the various Dioceses were to take on staff one or more of us, we could be set loose to train priests and parishes in some of the basics of outreach that, to be frank, the Catholic Church has not been the best at, at least in this country during the past half century.
Talk to your brother bishops. Help them to see that this is an epochal moment. Help them to see that God is placing in their hands a resource that Church has never had in her history- men and women, in numbers larger than ever before, formed in their respective Protestant faith traditions, who value the spiritual cradle in which they were raised, but who have come into a fuller understanding of the Truth. We can speak the language; we can share what has worked. We bring you the treasures not of Egypt, but of Wittenberg, Geneva, Canterbury and elsewhere.
Here we are, Holy Father. Send us.
April 27th, 2010 | 7:04 pm
I hope someone hears your call. If there’s one thing the Catholic Church needs help with, it’s outreach. I mean for the faith, not various social works. I wish I could sit at your feet.
April 27th, 2010 | 9:00 pm
I’d like to think that the Holy Father has a bit of the devil in him. Is this a bit of “in your face ” to the decadent West?
April 28th, 2010 | 8:08 am
Mr. Hummel,
I do hope someone close to the Holy Father shows him your letter, for it is so sweet and imploring. Papa surely must know of the treasure trove of swimmers of the Tiber who are ripe for evangelizing secular pagans and Catholics filled with ennui. Here in the Beehive state, our best, most holy and positively sparkling deacons are former Mormons filled with the zeal of having found the true pearl of great price.
I can’t help but feel the influence of Benedict XVI will echo down the century as the man who essentially saved Western Civilization. I pray for longevity and continued productivity of our most holy, most intellegent, most beguiling Holy Father.
April 28th, 2010 | 10:59 am
But in order to evangelize, people in the pews need to know their faith. Sadly, in North America and Europe there are a large number of Cultural Catholics who have little idea about what Catholicism is other than “an ethnicity that has certain rituals which slowly adapt as the world becomes ‘wiser’ little different than other ethnicities”. If you speak about the Trinity, they stare at you wondering what you’re talking about, and the few that do know couldn’t tell you why it’s anything other than an ivory tower concept with little relevance in our daily lives or in the design of nature or our ultimate destinies. Few know about the rich history of the Church (other than the cartoonized version popular with the opponents of every religion), especially of the early martyrs or Church Fathers or that the church today has any relation to the church back then.
The work is difficult. The workers are few. But we are called to do it.
Thank you for remembering the call of Christ.
April 28th, 2010 | 4:22 pm
Anil et al:
For three years in the 90s, I was director of adult education for a large urban parish. This is not the place to describe my experience, other than to say that the converts had a lot more enthusiasm and knowledge than the “cradles.” I basically loved the job and wished I could do a similar one again. Holy Father, here’s my résumé!
The problem is that there really aren’t that many such jobs to go around. Despite the call of the US bishops, made here decade ago, to make adult catechesis the core of all parish catechesis, only a small minority of parishes have regular adult education outside of the RCIA. So, most of this work on the ground will have to be done by fired-up volunteers—if the priests will let them, and if the parishioners will stop yawning long enough to respond to them.
Most cradle Catholics think that their formation as Catholics ceased with their confirmation. Let’s hope that the new dicastery helps change that attitude.
April 28th, 2010 | 9:37 pm
What an exciting vineyard! What an exciting time! It’s in our own backyard. There’s the new media. Here we are in the fullness of time. The place is here! The time is now! We are the people who have been called. Onward with the New Evangelization!!
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