Catholic Family, Become What You Are – Evangelization In The History Of Christianity

EVANGELIZATION IN THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY

The Apostolic Exhortation of Paul VI on Evangelization in the Modern World (Evangelii Nuntiandi) states that the word ‘Evangelization’ can mean many things for different persons and cultures. It is imperative then that a definition and parameters for its use be attempted here before we explore explicitly the term ‘New Evangelization’ and the part that family life plays in this process.

The word ‘evangelize’ means to announce the Good News as proclaimed by Jesus Christ and mandated by him to his disciples in Mk 16:15. At the heart of this ‘Good News’ is conversion to Christ himself. This means essentially a conversion of heart and will in the individual that results in a personal relationship with God and a conviction of the truth the consequence of which is transformation of the individual, the society and the world.

In the Roman Catholic Church, evangelizing means bringing the Good News into all the strata of humanity and through its influence transforming humanity from within and making it new: “Now I am making the whole of creation new” (Rev. 21:15) E.N. #18. This Evangelization “will always contain – as the foundation, center and summit of it its dynamism – a clear proclamation that, in Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man,…salvation is offered to all humanity, as a gift of God’s grace and mercy (Eph. 2:8)”. “Whilst this salvation begins in temporal existence it finds its fulfillment in eternity in our communion with the one and only divine Absolute”. E.N. #27.

Evangelization is for life as a whole and must take into account humankind’s concrete life, both personal and social. It must therefore speak to “the rights and duties of every human being, about family life without which personal growth and development is hardly possible, about life in society and about international issues, like peace, justice and development”. E.N. #29. Whenever evangelization speaks to the whole of life however, it must do so centred on the Kingdom of God and Salvation in Christ. No matter how human the structures are in which we operate in society, if those who live in them or rule them do not undergo a conversion of heart and outlook these very structures will become inhuman.

Whilst in the Church’s history various methods of evangelizing have been utilized such as preaching, liturgy of the word, Catechetics, technology and mass media, the sacraments of the Church, and popular piety, there remains one of fundamental importance and that is the personal “witness of an authentically Christian life, given over to God in a communion that nothing should destroy…and given to one’s neighbour with limitless zeal”. E.N. #41. Persons listen more willingly to witnesses and it is therefore by her conduct and by her life that the Church evangelizes the world. This requires all Catholics to be a living witness of fidelity to the Lord Jesus Christ. The twelve Apostles and the first generation of Christians understood that it was the responsibility of every baptized person, even under persecution, to spread the Word and proclaim the Kingdom of God everywhere, even if it cost them their lives. “Those who have received the Good News and who have been gathered by it into the community of Salvation can and must communicate and spread it”. E.N. #13. The Second Vatican Council states “…the whole Church is missionary, and the work of evangelization is a basic duty of the People of God”. E.N. #59.

As previously stated, this evangelization is addressed to everyone, “Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News to all creation” Mk. 16:15. But whilst the first proclamation is addressed especially to those who have never heard the Good News of Jesus and to children in catechesis, it is now imperative in a world that has become increasingly dechristianized and secular to proclaim the Good News again to those who have already been baptized but live outside or on the margin of their Christian faith. Many also have not built on their original faith experience and therefore not matured spiritually or in their knowledge of the faith. These persons too need to be evangelized again. E.N. #52. Paul VI also states in Evangelii Nuntiandi that “Among the many baptized, and often persons who remain in contact with the Gospels, the faith is exposed to increasing secularism and even militant atheism. Our Christian faith is increasingly besieged by threats, trials and being actively opposed. It therefore runs the risk of perishing from suffocation or starvation if it is not fed and sustained each day”. E.N. 54.

Today there is a very large number of baptized persons who for the most part have not formally renounced their Baptism but who are entirely indifferent to it and not living in accordance with it. More disturbing is that non-practicing Christians of today seek to explain and justify their position in the name of an interior religion, of personal independence or authenticity. E.N. #56. Some of the consequences of the prevailing non-religious culture or secularism of our time, as stated by Charles Taylor (A Secular Age), are that public places have become empty of God, there has been a drastic falling off in belief and practice of the faith, people have retreated into privacy, and that belief is just one option among many. Charles Taylor also says that: “It represents a form of self-sufficient humanism where the values formerly associated with an external transcendence are now located internally and within the human.” The result of this is a disillusioned and disenchanted world. (Reported in the Catholic news on 7/3/10 re.Presentation by Fr. Henry Charles)