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Something to Celebrate?
As we celebrate the 30th anniversary of Evangelii Nuntiandi this year, Mgr Keith Barltrop, the director of the Catholic Agency to Support Evangelisation, considers whether, as a Church we are taking evangelisation seriously or not.
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The basic points can be summarised in a few simple sentences, which are all equally important: 1. Evangelisation is essential to the Church, not an
optional extra. "Mission or maintenance?" So thirty years on, has this encyclical made any difference to the way we do things in England and Wales? Has Mission really become our priority in the last thirty years, or is it maintenance as usual? There certainly aren't too many sermons about it. I suspect that priests, and others often fear to bring up the subject because they are worried at being thought politically incorrect or confuse evangelisation, with high pressure salesmanship or proselytism and thus shy away from it. Another temptation can be to think that the Church's magnificent record of social involvement and activism for justice is sufficient evangelisation on its own. But as Evangelii Nuntiandi tells us it's not a choice between direct proclamation or social justice but of finding initiatives which can transform us into truly evangelising communities, which combine proclamation with social concern. I have been particularly impressed by the Cenacolo communities in this regard. These communities take in those suffering from drug abuse and other forms of addiction. Interestingly Cenacolo is about to open its first house in England, in the diocese of Lancaster. What makes Cenacolo for me such an exciting model for Catholic evangelisation is that they are confident of their Catholic identity, yet very respectful of the background of those they work with. So there is no hiding the fact that Mass, Eucharistic Adoration and the Rosary are an integral part of the healing process, along with work, community life and counselling, but these are introduced so respectfully that members sometimes ask of their own accord for the time allotted to them to be extended. It is true that not everyone will be called to work with drug addicts but as we have gone round the country we have been heartened by the many initiatives taking place. Some are well known like the gospel dramas at Wintershall in Surrey, which attract thousands, others less so. Indeed an important part of CASE's work is to spread the good news of these activities around so that others might feel encouraged to adapt them in their own circumstances. Catholic Evangelisation Services, for example, have produced some excellent evangelistic and catechetical resource material with their CaFE videos to help those wanting to evangelise in parishes, and these have proved very popular. "People think their own contribution is too insignificant to matter" We have found that often people do not get involved in evangelisation because they simply don't know what to do, or think their own contribution is too insignificant to matter. Yet one of the keys to evangelisation is often people's own faith story. Last summer for example a group of lay people under the guidance of one of the brothers, put on a "Day for Seekers" at the Franciscan shrine of Pantasaph in North Wales. A central part of this day was a short time of testimony, where several of them got up and shared something of their conversion story. (This is something which CASE attempts to make more widely available through our web site www.caseresources.org.uk , where you will find a different faith sharing story every month on the What Can I do? Page - if you would like to contribute yours, please contact us.) This all sounds very simple and obvious, but their little initiative is already producing spin-offs, which the community can have had little idea of when they began. For example CASE is now working with Pantasaph and the diocese of Wrexham to pioneer a "Seekers Centre" in North Wales, which will be a place for people not yet ready for the RCIA. We are using this model to suggest to priests and lay people that they might set up a small evangelisation teams in parishes to plan different forms of outreach at local level. The point cannot be made too strongly (and since it was first made by Cardinal Ratzinger during the Jubilee Year, I feel on strong ground in making it), that God is not waiting for us to come up with earth-shattering schemes to evangelise the whole planet overnight. The central parable of evangelisation is the mustard seed, the apparently insignificant contribution you make in faith, out of which God can bring whatever harvest he likes. It was the five loaves and two fishes that Jesus used to feed 5000, not a big plan to send people away to local restaurants. "Gifts of the spirit for service not devotion" For, as in the time of Jesus, and perhaps in every time, the harvest in our time in England and Wales is great, but the labourers are few. I fear we have hardly begun. Although the burden is on all the Church, those with the greatest responsibility are those who have already received the empowering of the Holy Spirit. Although those in the Charismatic Renewal are often in the forefront of evangelisation initiatives, there can always be the temptation to sit back and to treat the gifts of the Spirit as a kind of spiritual box of chocolates, as Mgr Terry Philpot has said, to be passed round and enjoyed until the next treat comes along. Instead we should be stepping out and risking, using these gifts, however imperfectly, for the evangelisation of the world around us. As we are reminded in both Church teaching and scripture, the charisms are for service not personal devotion and fulfilment. The city set on the hilltop cannot be hidden!!! Those who have come into genuine contact with Christ cannot keep him for themselves!!! How long will it be before we turn papal teaching into something we not only read about but actually do? For details of the work of CASE (Catholic Agency to Support Evangelisation) visit www.caseresources.org.uk For Sion Community for Evangelisation visit www.sioncommunity.org.uk
EVANGELISATION IN THE PIAZZA! |
This
year we celebrate the 30th anniversary of "Evangelii Nuntiandi
"(On Evangelisation in the Modern World), Pope Paul VI's seminal
document, which broke new ground in the Catholic understanding of evangelisation.
The importance of Evangelii Nuntiandi can hardly be overstated. Although
there is no extended treatment of evangelisation in the documents of
the Vatican II Council, in a sense its whole purpose was to recast Catholic
teaching, life and worship in such a way as to make evangelisation possible
in the modern world. Evangelii Nuntiandi simply translates that understanding
into explicit teaching on the activity of evangelisation itself. If
you haven't looked at this document recently, do so. It is inspiring
and challenging. 