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The Call to Proclaim the Gospel The Call to Proclaim the Gospel
Charles Whitehead the Chairman of the English National Service Committee for the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, draws out the main message of the recent powerful papal document ‘Ecclesial In Europa’
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Jesus - the Hope for Europe This may explain at least in part why Pope John Paul’s Apostolic Exhortation “Ecclesia in Europa” has become one of the best kept secrets of the 25th year of his Pontificate. We seem to feel he is not really writing about us, but about all those other countries across the Channel. Is this why there has been very little comment in the Catholic newspapers and almost total silence from our pulpits? In marked contrast, his Encyclical Letter “Ecclesia de Eucharistia” has received considerable media and pulpit coverage, and whilst I fully understand that this is because the Eucharist is the source and summit of our Catholic life, it seems to me that unless the issues raised in “Ecclesia in Europa” are heard and acted upon, there will be fewer and fewer European Catholics present in Church to receive the Eucharist. The Exhortation about the Church in Europe shows an accurate and perceptive analysis of the situation facing our islands, and reminds us that Jesus Christ, alive in his Church, is the source of hope for the whole of Europe. The failure to communicate this important message to the lay faithful must be addressed. Proclaim the Message of Hope! “Ecclesia in Europa” is a summary of the work of the Second Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, which took place in October 1999. Its purpose was to analyse the situation of the Church in Europe and to offer guidance in promoting a new proclamation of the Gospel. The first Special Assembly had taken place in 1991 following the collapse of the Berlin wall, and had dealt with the theme “That we may be witnesses of Christ who has set us free”, emphasising the need for a “new evangelisation.” The 1999 Assembly reinforces this message. Beginning with “Jesus Christ is our hope”, it sets forth the same challenges but this time from the standpoint of proclamation and hope. The Synod Fathers present once more the figure of Jesus, alive in his Church, the incarnation of a God who loves us. This is the message of hope which is so essential in a Europe which is losing its Christian memory and heritage in favour of a sort of practical agnosticism and religious indifference, giving the impression of trying to live without spiritual roots - “somewhat like heirs who have squandered a patrimony entrusted to them by history” (section 7). Loss of hope is accompanied by a fear of the future, viewing it more with dread than with desire, and resulting in the diminishing number of births, the decline in vocations to the priesthood and religious life, and the difficulty in making life-long commitments, particularly in marriage. At the root of this loss of hope is “an attempt to promote a vision of man apart from God and apart from Christ” (9). What is so disturbing about this is that without hope life becomes meaningless and unbearable. Signs of Hope So what hope can the Church offer? The Synod Fathers found many signs of hope and of the influence of Christ’s Gospel. These signs include the recovery of freedom of the Church in Eastern Europe, and the new concentration of the whole Church on her spiritual mission and her primary commitment to evangelisation. Then there is the growing awareness among the laity of the variety of their gifts and of the tasks to which they are called, reconciliation between countries which have been hostile to each other, new forms of co-operation, a new European consciousness, and a growing unity. All these are certainly good and hopeful signs, but there also emerged “the clear and passionate certainty that the Church had to offer Europe the most precious of all gifts, a gift which no-one else can give: faith in Jesus Christ, the source of hope that does not disappoint; a gift which is at the origin of the spiritual and cultural unity of the European peoples and which both today and tomorrow can make an essential contribution to their development and integration” (18). A Call to Conversion For believers, Jesus Christ is our hope because he grants eternal life - he is the Word of life (1 John 1:1). By returning to Christ, the peoples of Europe will be able to rediscover the hope which alone can give full meaning to life. The Lord is calling us to conversion, and we are all invited to proclaim, celebrate, and serve the Gospel of hope. It is both challenging and encouraging as Pope John Paul reminds us of the call to be a community of prayer, of the dangers of “a vague and at times deviant religiosity”, and of the need to renew our liturgical celebrations so that they can be more eloquent signs of the presence of Christ. We must put Jesus at the centre, calling our people to return to the Sacraments and to recover the deepest meaning of the Day of the Lord. We are to bring new hope to the poor, to confront unemployment, to make proper use of the goods of the earth, to teach the truth about marriage and the family, to build a new culture of life, and to present the Church’s social teaching as a challenge to the moral quality of our civilisation. But for me one thing in particular stands out - “Rediscover the enthusiasm of proclamation! Let the proclamation of Jesus …be your boast and your whole life” (45). A Renewed Proclamation We need both a first proclamation of the Gospel and a renewed proclamation. The number of unbaptised is growing, and this requires a first evangelisation. But even more importantly “everywhere a renewed proclamation is needed even for those already baptised” (sections 46-48). “Many Europeans today think they know what Christianity is, yet they do not really know it at all. Often they are lacking in knowledge of the most basic elements and notions of the faith. Many of the baptised live as if Christ did not exist.” This is the heart of Europe’s problems, and the Pope’s language is uncompromising - “when the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (Lk 18:8). “Will he find faith in our countries, in this Europe of ancient Christian tradition? This is an open question which clearly reveals the depth and drama of one of the most serious challenges our Churches are called to face. It can be said, as the Synod emphasised, that this challenge frequently consists not so much in baptising new converts as in enabling those already baptised to be converted to Christ and his Gospel” (47). Proclaiming the Gospel of Hope As we face this challenge, the Holy Spirit is clearly at work in both the institutional and the charismatic parts of the Church, and the Ecclesial Movements and Communities are already finding new and practical ways to proclaim the Gospel. It is interesting to note that long before we heard the message of “Ecclesia in Europa”, the National Service Committee of the Charismatic Renewal in England had started to prepare a completely new video version of the very powerful and evangelistic Life in the Spirit seminars entitled “This Promise is for You!” These teachings present the challenge to live the Gospel of hope in the power of the Holy Spirit, and proclaim Christ in his fullness “not merely as an ethical model, but above all as the Son of God, the one, necessary Saviour of all, who lives and is at work in his Church” (48). Proclaiming the Gospel of hope calls for a steadfast fidelity to the Gospel itself. “An integral, clear and renewed preaching of the Risen Christ, the resurrection and eternal life, must be a priority for pastoral activity in coming years” (48). So let’s make good use of “This Promise is for You!” and other such tools, and offer them to our parishes as a way of responding to the Pope’s challenge. Be Confident! “Ecclesia in Europa” deals with many issues I cannot even touch upon here, but above all it communicates a message of hope. All is not lost, but time is short and we need to act now. We are called to proclaim again, in every way possible, the Gospel of Jesus Christ - the hope for Europe. “The Lord God is in your midst, a mighty Saviour!” (Zeph.
3:17). © Charles Whitehead
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I
often hear people speak about going to Europe for their holidays,
or travelling on business to Europe. Of course I know what they mean
, but the way they express it shows that they do not really feel part
of this great Continent. This is much less true of Ireland than it
is of the rest of the Isles. In fact the younger generation of Irish
seem to be more European in their thinking and outlook than the people
of most other countries in our Continent. The reasons why the English,
Scottish and Welsh people have not embraced Europe to the same extent
have much to do with our history and our deep-rooted suspicion of
the European Union. Our politicians are divided in their attitudes
to the Common Market, and this single issue remains one of the most
controversial features of our political landscape. 
