The New Aggression, A New Evangelisation

Yesterday members of the pro-life groups of Ireland gathered in Dublin for their annual pro-life rally. Organizers estimate that about 30,000 attended, though Irish media have reported that there were only 10,000 - you can decide for yourself which figure is correct, bearing in mind the Irish media's rather fluid relationship with the truth when it comes to such matters

As expected there was a counter-demonstration by pro-abortion advocates, but this year they were even more aggressive than usual. I have taken part in many pro-life demonstrations and usually the pro-abortion protesters will hold up signs, chant and there would be a few who would be aggressive. However this year there seems to have been a escalation in the aggression, a serious escalation. Civility has gone, and has been replaced by anger, intolerance and verbal violence. All of this found expression not just on the streets with swearing, insults, offensive signs and explicit gestures - all in front of children, but also on Twitter (no surprise there) and with the hacking of pro-life websites. Nor, it seems, is any of this spur of the moment reactions to pro-lifers, it has all the hallmarks of an organised campaign - one centred on the campaign to repeal Constitutional protection for unborn children.

I believe the gay marriage referendum was a watershed in Ireland in terms of protest and demonstration. The ugliness and sheer brutality of a certain quarter has left us with a legacy which we may well find very difficult to exorcise from Irish society. Empowered with their victory it seems social progressives feel that they can do and say anything to their opponents to order to quash them. This does not augur well for the future here, not for the stability of Irish society. It may well be that the Nietzschean "might is right" principle will become the dominant philosophy in our brave new society and that will not be good.

I have often noticed that when a Christian society abandons its faith and Christian culture, it turns bad very quickly. The void produced by the expulsion of faith is filled with a primitive brutality, it loses not only civility but also its very civilisation as its citizens crawl back into the caves puffed up with the delusion that they are making progress. If you need examples of this just look to revolutionary France, or to Russia, Mexico, Germany and Spain in the last century.

When this happens, there is an onus on us Christians to get cracking and do what we can to resist this process and work towards the re-Christianisation of society, to move from the primitive back to civility. For us in these times that will be the work of the New Evangelisation proclaimed by St John Paul II and prepared for by the Second Vatican Council in which the Church sought to renew to meet the challenges ahead. 

I believe a seminal document in this process is St John Paul's Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Inuente in which the saintly Pontiff urged us, the disciples of Jesus Christ, to push out into the deep to proclaim the Gospel. Beginning with our lives and families, we move out into the parishes (many of which need serious renewal), our dioceses, the universal Church and then the secular world. If I may use martial imagery, we are in the middle of a war and we must wake up and prepare for battle. The weapons we use are not those of the world, they are not violence and aggression, but virtue and holiness. However we must not be naive, as many tend to be. We need to be wise, strategic and resourceful - that is what Jesus meant when he told us to be as innocent as doves and as wise as serpents. Piety is good, fasting is necessary, but so is engagement in society.

In this process we aim to make our enemies our friends, either through bringing them to embrace the Gospel or failing that, at least bringing them to mutual respect and the vision of the sanctity of human life and a recognition of what is ultimately good for true human flourishing. We will have an uphill battle but we must remember first of all that God is in charge, it is his work and we must be attentive to him and his will: every effort we make must be immersed in prayer and openness to the Holy Spirit. That said we must also make ourselves useful instruments, we must be informed and trained to have the knowledge and skills so God can use us as his apostles and agents in the war. I believe this is what Vatican II was urging when it spoke of the laity and their role in the Church - it was not empowering them to make the Church a democracy, to decide the doctrine of the Church by means of a vote, but rather empowering them through the faith and history of the Church to make the Church more missionary by sending them out into the world to evangelise. 

A Martyr For The Dispossessed

As the votes were being counted in the same sex marriage referendum here, its outcome already certain at an early stage, Archbishop Oscar Romero was beatified in El Salvador. There are many delighted by this event and many appalled. This division is a political one and one, I believe, quite out of sync with who the Archbishop really was. I wrote some posts on him before trying to show that Blessed Oscar was not a communist, nor a Marxist, but a Catholic (see here and here). 

His concern for poor was not motivated by those atheistic materialist movements, but rather by Christ's own love for the poor and dispossessed. Blessed Oscar did seek a revolution, but not one in which arms are taken up, rather a revolution of love. He called on right wing leaders who maintained they were Catholic to do what was expected of Catholic leaders - to be just towards their people and assist those most in need. That's not communism or Marxism, that's Catholicism. As some have been saying in the last few days, some of those who were suspicious of Blessed Oscar were perhaps too rooted in the establishment, they did not want to rock the boat, they may have preferred to use old diplomatic, quiet ways of effecting change. There are times when that is useful and times when it useless, a barrier. Given the situation in El Salvador the Church was too close to the ruling class, Blessed Oscar gradually realised that and pulled himself away to be free to preach the Gospel. In a sense his position was like St John Paul II's with regard to realpolitik.

Some have problems with Blessed Oscar's relationship with Liberation Theology. I think at this stage it is obvious he was not a supporter of Liberation Theology in its Marxist dimensions. I believe a Liberation Theologian came out a few days ago to say the Archbishop was not a member of the movement, but rather the movement was influenced by him. Again, that is not to say he was a Marxist. Liberation Theology is a multifaceted movement, to dismiss all of it would not be wise. There are dangerous elements in it, and these were addressed by the then Cardinal Ratzinger in his Instruction on Certain Aspects of the "Theology of Liberation" - I draw your attention to two important words in that title: "Certain Aspects". Now I am not an apologist for those aspects which are contrary to the faith (how often I have been accused by certain people of being a leftie, as I have often been accused of being right wing!), but we need to look beyond politics and be open to the fact that the Gospel of Christ is more radical that we envision it: it is not a right wing manifesto, no more than it is a left wing charter.

Blessed Oscar's stance and martyrdom comes into clearer focus as we believers in Ireland come to terms with what has happened here today. The Church will have a lot to reflect on, and I hope our Bishops and faithful will finally wake up and see the social revolution which has been occurring around us for years, a revolution that has been underestimated. The Church has played a part in that revolution in her failure to communicate the Gospel as it is in favour of  a lightweight pastoral strategy which has all but excised sound teaching in the name of being open, kind and compassionate. My issue with the Church, for the whole of my lifetime, is that it has been part of the Establishment here in Ireland, and it still thinks it is. This has come at a price, a high price, and that has been a dilution of the Gospel and the failure to form disciples. A dismal catechetical programme stands as a potent symbol of this. 

One of the good things which will come out of this referendum and its results is the undeniable fact now that the Church is not part of the Establishment, she is very much a minority - even if a majority of Irish men and women still identity as "Catholic", that identification does not translate into discipleship (and that is not a value judgement, it is a simple and undeniable observation). The wisdom of Blessed Oscar should now become clear to us all, we must begin to think in a new way, and part of that new thinking must be evangelical. We must now look to the failures of the Church in Ireland - not just the horrendous abuse, but her failure to inculcate in her members an understanding of the faith. People in Ireland use Christian words and concepts like charity, compassion, being Christian etc, but they do not understand what they really mean, the meaning has changed and they are now being used to construct a new society which as far from the actual teaching of Christ as you can get.

Blessed Oscar, a martyr for the dispossessed may well have many lessons to teach us now; we may need to heed him, and take courage from his heroic stance in the face of opposition. I would also suggest we begin to listen to those voices within Ireland who have been saying for years that there is something wrong in the Church. I am not talking about the liberals, many of whom, priests and sisters among them, who came out in favour of the referendum: they are false prophets, members of the new Establishment in Ireland. I would recommend a reading of Fr Vincent Twomey's work, a priest who is very much outside the Establishment here in Ireland (Church Establishment as much as state). His book The End of Irish Catholicism? contains an objective diagnosis of what was wrong with the Church in Ireland - one major issue being the failure to think the faith. As I know personally, there is a certain anti-intellectualism in the Church in Ireland, it is indicative of a uncomfortable attitude towards thinking and discussion. If the faith is to be passed on people must think, think their way through what Christ teaches, they need to talk about it and explore it in order to understand it and live it.

Other books I would recommend at this time to help us understand where we are and where we need to go: Fr Benedict Groeschel, The Reform of Renewal, a manifesto, I suppose, for a revitalization of faith and discipleship. Fr Goeschel was much admired in the US, though he was also divisive figure for many. I remember when in seminary speaking about him with a member of the theology staff, the lecturer dimissed Fr Groeschel "He's a most dangerous man!". Indeed he was, as was Christ whose teachings Fr Groeschel sought to live. Finally, a book to help us understand where we are now: Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue, a work of moral theology which suggests we are on the edge of another collapse of western civilisation. He sees the Church as having a role in the preservation of culture, learning etc, as she did at the last collapse. MacIntyre also reiterates the fact that being Christian is not about following rules, but rather living virtue in the context of the Gospel. Our social revolutionaries have been so successful here because for most people in Ireland Christianity is about rules, not virtue and certainly not holiness - that is potently revealed in the poor state of Postulation in this country.

A few thoughts, my readers will have read them before on this blog. But now I need to restate them not to condemn anyone, but in the hope that we may see where we really are and begin in earnest what St John Paul instituted in his ministry: a New Evangelisation. That is the future and it is a radical one. We Christians in Ireland, who continue to believe and will not accept the new definition of marriage now to be Constitutionally enforced here, will now have to be witnesses, to go against the tide and that will be difficult. Only true disciples will be able to do that, and it is for that reason we have to move beyond forming social Catholics and keeping numbers up (nurturing the delusion) to nurturing and forming authentic followers of Christ: men and women who will not be afraid to lose everything rather than renounce Christ or his Gospel (as he taught it!). 

The relics of Blessed Oscar are carried to the altar: the bloodstained shirt worn on the day of the martyrdom

The Philosopher

Of all the great philosophers who attained sanctity, in her wisdom, the Church invokes the virgin martyr, Catherine of Alexandria as patron saint of philosophers.  I tend to think it is because, according to tradition, she defended the Christian faith through philosophy and revealed that faith and reason are not opposed to each other, but rather partners in the human quest for knowledge, discovering the meaning of life and discerning the existence of God.  That she was a humble lay woman also speaks volumes: no professor here, but a women who consecrated herself to Christ and sought to live the Gospel in her day to day life.

 

Thank God Blessed John Paul II rehabilitated her and put her back on the General Calendar: like St Christopher, St Philomena and St Simon Stock, Catherine's existence had been rejected by certain scholars who put too much weight on the legends and, unfortunately the Church, following their line, consigned her to the realm of the legendary.  Blessed John Paul could discern between the Saint who existed and about whom we may know very little and the legends which grew up around their memory, so he restored to the Church her patron of philosophers.  Quite appropriate given that he was a philosopher himself.

 

St Catherine is an important patron for all us and the laity in particular.  Okay, we are not all called to be philosophers, not in a professional capacity anyway, but we are called to understand our faith and be able to explain it.  No Catholic is exempted from this - the Year of Faith which ended yesterday was to remind us to our responsibility to continue learning about our faith - we are all called to catechise.  As a laywoman, Catherine, I hope, will inspire laypeople to see their role as teachers and evangelisers. 

 

I suppose that is why I failed to understand why Catherine was debunked by the Church in a period when she should have been becoming more important in the life of the Church: after all, she is a great example of what Vatican II wanted the laity to become: men and women living and defending the faith in the world.  Anyway, no use raking over what was done in the past - mistakes were made but we need to move on and get down to work: we have lost a lot of ground.  I pray St Catherine and all the Saints will inspire and motivate us as we all play our part in the New Evangelisation.

Our New Doctors!

Today Pope Benedict declared St John of Avila and St Hildegard of Bingen Doctors of the Church.  The proclamation took place during the Mass for the Opening of the Synod of Bishops: the synod will look at the New Evangelisation.   It was quiet approprate that these Saints should be declared Doctors today since their lives, ministry and teachings are evangelical in nature, calling all men and women to come and recognise who Jesus Christ is, what he did for us and what he has in store for us.  

St John travelled the dusty roads of Spain preaching to a people who had fallen away from the faith, trying to inject vitality and love for Christ, while encouraging the clergy to live lives worthy of their vocation.  He would be most welcome to Ireland in these times when people are either confused having been led astray by unfaithful clergy, struggling to remain true to the Church in a hostile climate, or they have given up and embraced a godless existence.  This is the situation the Bishops and the whole Church has to face and find ways in which to proclaim the Gospel anew.  One of the challenges we have to face is the presumption of these jaded, fallen away Catholics - they think they know the faith and have rejected it or compromised it with the demands of the secular world, when in reality they know little of the riches of our faith, our heritage and the way of Christ. 

St Hildegard understood what the riches of the faith are, having lived the faith to a heroic and having seen those riches in the many visions she received.  Sharing her insights, like the Prophets Daniel and Ezekiel, and St John the Beloved Disciple, whom she resembles in the nature of her prophetic mysticism, God utters prophetic words through her - the words of the Gospel, drawing all men and women to the Word himself.  Though radical feminists and neo-pagans try to reinvent her, St Hildegard is very much in the heart of the Church trying to call others in after her.  She shares her visions so we can be inspired to abandon ourselves to Christ so we may come to share in those visions ourselves.

Both of these Doctors remind us of the Second Vatican Council's central teaching: the universal call to holiness - a teaching much ignored and perhaps even denied as the 'spirit of Vatican II' crowd push an agenda which seems more like the universal call to mediocrity and rupture.  Listening again to Fr Hans Kung's moan we can see that these rebels are drifting further and further away not only from the true spirit of the Council, but also from the teachings of Jesus Christ himself.  The fidelity of St John and St Hildegard to the Church and to the person of the Holy Father, to whom both were obedient, contrasts sharply with the post-conciliar rebellion, and offers us a nourishing example of love, peace and hope.

See here for the text of the Holy Father's homily during the opening Mass.

Our Brave New Ireland

Last year Britain faced one of its most serious challenges to public order in a generation (or two) when riots broke out all over England.  Supposedly the response to an alleged racist incident, it was quickly seen to be an anarchic melee where people took the opportunity to commit acts of vandalism, break into shops and steal whatever they could lay their hands on.  People died as human beings turned to brutes and savaged anyone who got in their way.

Last Saturday at a concert in the Phoenix Park in Dublin, young people ran amok high on drugs and alcohol, having sex in public and attacking each other.  Three people are dead, nine were stabbed, a number had bottles broken over their heads and numerous others had to be treated for a variety of injuries, including one young man who was so badly beaten he cannot now recall whether he was punched or kicked by a crowd of rowdies. A young woman is also missing.

In Britain, the political elite stood on their perches and scratched their heads, our lot here will do the same.  "What happened?" we'll hear concerned parties ask, the same people who helped create the very anarchy that broke out on the streets and in the park.  What happened?  Their permissive political, sexual and societal agenda with its emphasis on untrammeled individual freedom and attempts to distort the natural law and morality - the very "social revolution" that has been so dear to the hearts of the 60's generation and their ideological offspring - that's what happened.  A generation of naive, anti-Christian ideologues who ignored the reality of God and the existence of original sin, now have had the door swung back in their faces and they are clueless as to why it has happened.

Compare all this with an interview that took place on Pat Kenny's radio show this morning (Donum Vitae has a post with a link to the discussion).  The topic was gay marriage and Kenny had our friend David Quinn of the Iona Institute debating with Senator Ivana Bacik.  Bacik is perhaps one of our most liberal and anti-Christian public representatives.    Bacik, taking the cue from her party leader, Eamonn Gilmore who said that the issue of gay marriage was the civil rights issue of our time, was calling for gay marriage to become a reality in Ireland.  David Quinn was pointing out the damage such a measure would cause, not merely to society, but to the children of our country.  As always David quoted statistics as evidence to support his argument and, as always, Bacik ignored them and made her demands.

When asked by David and then Kenny, was it not the ideal that a child should grow up with their father and mother, Bacik's response just dismissed it - as long as children had "access" to adults of both sexes they would be fine.    Here is the very attitude which is leading to the collapse of our society - an ideological position which creates unstable relationships which benefit only adults in search of fulfilment and pleasure and says: "The kids will be OK". 

Well, the kids are not OK, the kids are miserable, unsocialised, looking for love and finding only confusion.  The kids see adults making gods of their individual freedom and desires and so they aim to do the same.  Accepting no responsibility, they do what they want to do and will not allow anyone stand in their way, after all isn't that what the adults to whom they have "access" teach them by their own behaviour?  Permissive secular individualism is a failure and it is creating a dangerous society.  What started with the coupling of free love of the sixties and the ideological ranting of the left, will end in the birth of a monster.

As serious students of history will tell you, history repeats itself, and those who do not learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past.  Civilisations rose and they fell.  Rome, once a great empire, politically and culturally, fell to the barbarian which overran it.  Decadent Rome was, by then, no match for the hordes when they came bashing their tree trucks at the city gates.  It is a lesson for every civilization.  In conversations with history buffs over the years I have asked, when this civilisation falls, who will be the conquering barbarian?  Some suggested it would be the Muslims: a new Islamic empire would rise where the West once had been.  I'm not so sure.  I think the barbarian is within - we saw them in the UK last August and in the park on Saturday.  Our decadent civilisation need not fear the hordes outside the West, they are being created from within by a dangerous social experiment.

And one might ask, where is the Church in all of this?  Well, as we see from history the Church converted the barbarian and this gave rise to a new flowering of civilisation symbolised most potently by Charlemagne.  Can the Church convert the new barbarian?  Well, we might have a chance.  After all these barbarians have had little or no exposure to Christianity - the last two generations have been badly catechised, and the ideology of these times tells them they don't need God or religion, but yet deep in their hearts they are starving for something - for meaning, for the spiritual.  That hunger will grow when drugs, alcohol and sex lose their effects, when they start asking questions and the adults they have access to will not be able to answer them.   If this civilisation ends in ruins, can the Church like Our Lord walk through the broken tombs and tame the demoniacs?

I think that is what Blessed John XXIII may have seen in his calling the Second Vatican Council, what Blessed John Paul II saw as he promulgated the New Evangelisation - what Pope Benedict XVI sees as he teaches from the Chair of Peter.  The Church must be ready and full of evangelical zeal, not to waste time on fighting with the ideologues, but to present the vision of Jesus Christ and the salvation he offers humanity - to present the vision of a restored humanity at one with God in the communion of the Church - the family of faith, to the generations that are coming.  

I'm not saying we don't challenge the establishment or resign our position in the public square: we do not, we should continue to be a thorn in the side of those who try to silence us.  But we need also to stand back, take stock, and begin to plan our campaign.  We have not heard it in a long time, but, pushing all the nonsense language to one side, the Church is in the business of saving souls, and that's what she should be planning to do.  This is not heaven down here, but we need to start rebuilding a civilisation of faith and love here and now - a place, a community to capture the attention and hearts of the barbarians.

Monday Musings

The Holy Father announced yesterday that he will declare St John of Avila and St Hildegard of Bingen Doctors of the Church on Sunday the 7th October.  He is doing so at the beginning of the Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelisation and for a particular reason - these two figures, he says, are of considerable importance and relevance.  Well, that should offer all of us an opportunity to get reading the lives and writings of these two new Doctors.  In fact, given that the Holy Father is placing the emphasis on two Saints in the context of the New Evangelisation, we can see that the Saints in general are important as the Church "puts out into the deep" in this new missionary endeavour. 

We must spare a thought for the Holy Father in these days as two crises envelop the Vatican.  The president of the Institute for the Works of Religion (Vatican "bank") is in trouble, and after an investigation, a suspect in the so-called "Vati-leaks"  has been arrested - it is the Pope's own butler.   This will be hard on the Holy Father who relies on and trusts those people who are members of the "Papal family".  To have a trusted assistant betray a confidence is one of the worst kinds of betrayal.   He may not have been the only one though, the Vatican gendarme are continuing their investigations.

According to reports, the man will be tried by the Vatican legal system - that must be a first in a long time.  In this system, the defendant has a trial, and if found guilty, can have two appeals.  If found guilty after all that, he'll do his time in an Italian prison.  I heard that he could face up to thirty years in prison because these leaks constitute a national security breach.  It all sounds very strange, but then again we have to remember that the Vatican is an independent sovereign state and it operates as such.

Some will find that hard to take - after all, Jesus did not set up his own country - he was an itinerant preacher proclaiming the Word of God. True, but in practical terms if the Holy Father is to do the same without interference from secular governments, he needs to be free from the obligations of citizenship, and so the best way to do that is to have him living in an independent country where he is the ruler.   If we object to that, just look at the way some of the history's secular rulers treated the Church - Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, Joseph II of Austria, Napoleon, Hitler, Stalin; and today - Barack Obama and Enda Kenny: if the Pope were a citizen under any of them his ministry would be seriously curtailed.  Indeed Napoleon almost made the Popes his puppets as he dragged one Pope into captivity where he died, and made the life of another an absolute misery. 

But we must pray for him.  The Pope holds the Papal family very dear. One member, Manuela Camagni, died a couple of years ago: this is another blow. 

When I first read of the "Papal family" I was very much impressed.  These members of staff - his secretaries, the sisters that care for him and the household, form a little community in the Papal apartments.   It must be a real support to the Holy Father who can rely on them to make a home for him in the midst of the officialdom and ceremony which surrounds him.  

To be honest, it is a model which we priests and our bishops should look to. As diocesan priests many of us do not live in community - and even those priests that live together may not form a community.  When in seminary we were told that we were preparing for life on our own - our parishes would be our community, but in reality when we go to our homes after a day's work, there is no community there.  Some priests like that, other's don't.  Certainly, in my opinion, it is not an ideal situation, priests need support, and unfortunately when there is no domestic support, priests on their own can fall prey to too many temptations just out of sheer loneliness or isolation.

When I was in Drogheda three of us priests lived in the presbytery and we actually did have a community.  We usually had dinner together, sometimes went out for an evening together, took an interest in each other's lives and interests, and helped each other.  Our individual families were always welcome.  Our staff were also part of the community - the housekeepers, secretaries, the handyman.  But such situations are rare.

As I was thinking about all this the Lord's words from Genesis came to mind: "It is not good for man to be alone".  We understand that in terms of marriage and man as a social animal.  In terms of priesthood, I think we might also see it as being a good indication that we should not live isolated lives.   I am not advocating marriage for priests, by the way, but certainly we might look at how priests can live in the midst of a family in his domestic life.  How that can happen I do not know.  One thing I do know - it should not be completely formed of priests as the tendency to clericalism would be a serious temptation.

Holy Father On The New Evangelisation

Here is the text of the Holy Father's speech to the members of the new Pontifical Council for Promotion of the New Evangelisation, delivered on Monday last (that title needs to be tighted up, why not Pontifical Council for the New Evangelisation?).  Some good points we in the Fraternity should take careful note of, particularly the observation that modern man is distracted.  How true that is in the area of culture and the arts.

Lord Cardinals,
Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate and the Priesthood,
Dear Brothers and Sisters,

When last June 28, at First Vespers of the Solemnity of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, I announced that I wished to institute a dicastery for promoting the New Evangelization, I gave an operative beginning to a reflection that I had had for a long time on the need to offer a concrete answer to the moment of crisis in Christian life, which is being verified in so many countries, above all those of ancient Christian tradition. Today, with this meeting, I can see with pleasure that this new pontifical council has become a reality. I thank Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella for the words he addressed to me, introducing me to the work of your first plenary assembly. My warm greetings to all of you with my encouragement for the contribution you will make to the work of the new dicastery, above all in view of the 13th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops that, in October of 2012, will in fact address the topic "New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith."

The term "New Evangelization" speaks of the need for a renewed method of proclamation, especially for those who live in a context, such as the present one, in which the developments of secularization have left heavy traces even in countries with a Christian tradition. The Gospel is the ever new proclamation of the salvation wrought by Christ to render humanity a participant in the mystery of God and in his life of love and to open it to a future of sure and strong hope. To underscore that at this moment in the history of the Church she is called to carry out a New Evangelization, means intensifying missionary action to correspond fully with the Lord's mandate. The Second Vatican Council reminded that "the groups among which the Church dwells are often radically changed, for one reason or other, so that an entirely new set of circumstances may arise" (Decree Ad Gentes, 6). With farsighted understanding, the Conciliar Fathers saw on the horizon the cultural change that today is easily verifiable. Precisely this changed situation, which has created an unexpected situation for believers, requires particular attention to the proclamation of the Gospel, to give the reason for one's faith in situations that are different from the past.

The crisis being experienced bears in itself traces of the exclusion of God from people's lives, of a generalized indifference toward the Christian faith itself, to the point of attempting to marginalize it from public life. In past decades it was still possible to discover a general Christian sense that unified the common feeling of whole generations, growing up in the shadow of the faith that had molded the culture.

Today, unfortunately, we are witnessing the drama of a fragmentation that no longer consents to a unified point of reference; moreover, we often see the phenomenon of persons who wish to belong to the Church, but are strongly molded by a vision of life that opposes the faith.

To proclaim Jesus Christ the only Savior of the world seems more complex today than in the past; but our task remains the same as at the dawn of our history. The mission has not changed, just as the enthusiasm and the courage that moved the Apostles and the first disciples must not change. The Holy Spirit who pushed them to open the doors of the Cenacle, making them into evangelizers (cf. Acts 2:1-4), is the same Spirit that moves the Church today in a renewed proclamation of hope to the men of our time. St. Augustine said that one must not think that the grace of evangelization was extended only to the Apostles and with them that source of grace was exhausted, but that "this source manifests itself when it flows, not when it ceases to be poured out. And it was in this way that, through the Apostles, grace also reached others, who were sent to proclaim the Gospel ... what is more, it has continued to call, up to these last days, the whole body of his only-begotten Son, namely, his Church spread throughout the earth" (Sermon 239, 1). The grace of the mission is always in need of new evangelizers capable of receiving it, so that the salvific proclamation of the Word of God will never diminish in the changing conditions of history.

A dynamic continuity exists between the proclamation of the first disciples and our own. In the course of the centuries the Church has never ceased to proclaim the salvific mystery of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, but that same proclamation today needs a renewed vigor to convince contemporary man, often distracted and insensitive. Because of this, the New Evangelization will have to be responsible for finding the methods to make the proclamation of salvation more effective, without which personal existence remains in its state of contradiction, deprived of the essential.

Even in one who remains linked to his Christian roots, but lives the difficult relationship with modernity, it is important to make it understood that being Christian is not a sort of uniform to wear in private or on particular occasions, but is something alive and all-encompassing, able to take up all that is good in modernity.

I hope that in the work of these days you will be able to delineate a plan able to help the whole Church and the various particular Churches, in a commitment to the New Evangelization; a plan where the urgency for a renewed proclamation will take care of formation, in particular for the new generations, and be combined with a proposal of concrete signs able to make evident the answer that the Church intends to offer in this peculiar moment. If, on one hand, the whole community is called to reinvigorate the missionary spirit to give the new proclamation that the men of our time await, it must not be forgotten that believers' style of life needs to be genuinely credible, convincing all the more when the life situations of those who see it is all the more dramatic. It is because of this that we wish to make our own the words of the Servant of God Pope Paul VI when, in regard to evangelization, he said: "It is therefore primarily by her conduct and by her life that the Church will evangelize the world, in other words, by her living witness of fidelity to the Lord Jesus -- the witness of poverty and detachment, of freedom in the face of the powers of this world, in short, the witness of sanctity" (Apostolic Exhortation "Evangelii Nuntiandi," 41).

Dear friends, invoking the intercession of Mary, Star of evangelization, so that she will accompany the bearers of the Gospel and open the hearts of those who listen, I assure you of my prayer for your ecclesial service and impart to all of you the apostolic blessing.