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.
|