Komunikat Nru 8 mis-Sinodu tal-Isqfijiet dwar l-Evanġelizzazzjoni Ġdida biex innisslu l-Fidi Nisranija

Mibgħut lilna mill-Eċċellenza Tiegħu Monsinjur Mario Grech, Isqof ta' Għawdex.

23 Ottubru 2012

(1) Rev. José RODRÍGUEZ CARBALLO, O.F.M., Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor

The new evangelizers must be, first of all, men and women animated by a fede recta. ...This faith must be nourished and made manifest in an intense life of prayer. The new evangelizer, ever since the first years of his formation, must consider himself a permanent disciple in the art of prayer. Only in this way may he avoid the progressive weakening of his faith and seduction by alternatives. It is prayer that enables the evangelizer to respond with evangelical wisdom to the great questions that arise in the human heart and to his most urgent needs, including the need for God.

Passion for the Lord must be accompanied by passion for humanity, particularly for the poorest, to the point of becoming, “less than the lesser of the earth”. Without the testimony of the practice of an active and solid love for the poorest, and without the testimony of a coherent life, always lived in accordance with the logic of the minority and of free service, our message will lack credibility and will run the risk of drowning in a sea of words.

This passion for humanity will lead the new evangelizer to face some of the challenges to which mankind today is particularly sensitive - ecological imbalance, the constant threat to peace, the erosion of the most fundamental human rights, such as the right to life - and to place himself adequately in the new areopagus of the mission: the world of education, culture, social communication.

(2)  H. E. Mons. Adolfo GONZÁLEZ MONTES, Bishop of Almería (SPAIN)

Faith is a work of God, but it also comes to those who do not know Christ through those who know and love Him. Cooperation in the transmission of the faith begins with witness and becomes explicit confession of Christ through its first announcement....

Faith may create a restlessness of heart felt when one is found before the truth and goodness one has long sought after, but it may also provoke opposition to the Gospel, when the truth proclaimed is perceived as an obstacle to one’s own freedom and idea of happiness. Jesus is the savior of man and at the same time “stone of scandal and contradiction”. Man may refuse the message of the Church because, with the good news of divine forgiveness, the Gospel asks for conversion and the renunciation of the building of a world “without God and without Christ”.

(3) H. E. Mons. Jorge HERBAS BALDERRAMA, Bishop Prelate of Aiquile (BOLIVIA)

Many pastoral agents trained in the Church who were close collaborators with the pastoral community entered into political life and, finding themselves in positions of power, turned their back on the Catholic Church. We therefore ask ourselves where have we gone wrong as a Church in their formation in the faith, or if they were Christians more for tradition and convenience than by conviction.

New Evangelization must begin by first of all evangelizing the evangelizers. The announcement of the Gospel of Christ is the responsibility of all the baptized and begins with a personal encounter with Christ, an experience of faith which allows one to rediscover the beauty of the Christian faith and makes a Christian a true missionary disciple.

We cannot expect pastoral conversion without having first obtained personal conversion. Then one may pass from a pastoral of preservation, with structures that do not facilitate the transmission of the faith to a pastoral which is decisively missionary and evangelizing, integrating with the Church, which is communion and participation, reflecting Trinitarian communion.

(4)  H. E. Mons. Gabriel Akwasi Ababio MANTE, Bishop of Jasikan (GHANA)

The presence and activities of sects with their gospel of prosperity and promises of instant success and wealth are extremely attractive to the youth. This attraction is causing hemorrhage in their membership of the Church. This phenomenon, however, strongly suggests that the youth need something more than wealth and success. Indeed, their attitude and behaviour suggest that they are hungering for the Word of God and thirsting for meaning in life based on solid Catholic formation and direction.....

The anti-Church stance of international financial organizations is negatively affecting the Church in Ghana, particularly the educational sector. For example, it took a strong stand by Catholic Bishops Conference for the teaching of religious and moral education to be restored in elementary schools. Even then, Christian religion and morals are taught alongside those of other faiths.

(5) H. E. Mons Robert ZOLLITSCH, Archbishop of Freiburg im Breisgau, President of the Episcopal Conference (GERMANY)

Because of  modernization and secularization, there came specific shifts and changes that also had to do in a particular way with the religious field. This was a profound process in which the fundamental experiences of life were changed and the individual is no longer limited himself to receiving traditions, but is challenged to decide in person. At the same time this challenge also becomes an opportunity for the new evangelization. Man has within himself an intimate desire for meaning, which has not died in the modern world, though it has been surpassed and covered, but nevertheless continues to reappear.

The New Evangelization therefore means helping people bring these trickles of faith into the light, accompanying them in their journey and helping them to discover the traces of God in daily life. We have to search together for the “veritas semper maior”. And in this shared search we need above all through our behavior to let people experience God’s unconditional love for every single person.