Conversations on John Paul II - the 'new evangelization' - Irish Dominicans

 

Irish Dominican student brothers along with the Regent of Studies of the Irish province Fr John Harris OP are recording conversations in memory of Blessed John Paul II. The first conversation focuses on the "New Evangelisation" - a term first coined by the late Pope.

Four of our student brothers took part - Bro Matthew Farrell, Bro Philip Mulryne, Br Michael O Dubhghaill and Bro Matthew Martinez.
This first episode is part of a three episode series on some of the
themes in the pontifical of Blessed John Paul II. The second episode will be on the 'Culture of Life' and the third on the 'World Youth Days'.

Pope Benedict XVI says why he believes that the Faith will continue in Europe - Rome Reports

Synod of Bishops - Irish perspectives UPDATED

"We have a product which is extraordinary and we have to get our act together to bring it to as many people as possible. The way we [communicate] things at times is a total disaster and we have to be humble and say, ‘we need to do better.’ We need to start using language that people understand.... We need to tell people we are not here to impose, but that we are here to propose.”

–Charles J. Scicluna

Auxiliary Bishop-elect of Malta

 

Interview with The Sunday Times

14 October 2

 

 

As readers/listeners may be aware, the Synod of Bishops is currently ongoing in Rome at the moment
 
The Synod is an advisory body for the Pope. It is "a group of bishops who have been chosen from different regions of the world and meet together at fixed times to foster closer unity between the Roman Pontiff and bishops, to assist the Roman Pontiff with their counsel in the preservation and growth of faith and morals and in the observance and strengthening of ecclesiastical discipline, and to consider questions pertaining to the activity of the Church in the world".
 
The current Synod is discussing The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith
 
For those that would like an Irish perspective on the Synod Prof Eamonn Conway (of Mary I) who is attending the Synod as a theological advisor at the request of the Holy Father has given an interview to Vatican Radio which can be read and listened to HERE.
 
Bishop Kieran O'Reilly from the diocese of Killaloe along with Archbishop Diarmuid Martin are the representatives of the Irish episcopal conference at the Synod and Bishop Kieran has been blogging at the Diocese of Killaloe website and you can catch up with him HERE.
 
From a non- Irish perspective, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York blogs HERE and Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington is blogging HERE. John Allen of t he National Catholic Reporter is covering the Synod HERE and HERE and always check in with Rocco over at Whispers in the Loggia as well to see what he has got covered.
 
For the official Vatican documents and daily reports of the contributions of the Synod Fathers check out:

• Lineamenta and Instrumentum Laboris - these are the working documents of the Synod and consist of a series of questions circulated to the various episcopal conferences and the summation of the responses received and issues to be discussed. 
• Bulletins from the Synod in English

 News.va and Vatican Radio are also covering the Synod and have interesting articles and reflections which are easy to digest!


UPDATE

Coverage of Archbishop Diarmuid Martins intervention (address) at the Synod covered by:

• Zenit
• Catholic Ireland

And the full text from the Archdiocese of Dublin website.
 

CNS - Reflecting on the New Evangelisation and the Upcoming Synod of Bishops

Reflections from various US bishops about the New Evangelisation and the upcoming Synod of Bishops.



Article from CNS




Article from CNS

God in the streets of New York

A reflection on evangelisation in modern Ireland - Fr John Coughlan

"...........as people of faith we are called to be converted and converted and converted, over and over again. That is to say that we are to be immersed in Christ, which is to be evangelised or gospelified over and over again. Our sacramental baptism and our sacramental confirmation are not ends in themselves but rather are beginnings. And, like an inspirational song, we have to tune in all the time to that one true Spirit that Jesus promises us. It is his Spirit. And it is to be found in Scripture, in the Sacraments, in the Church understood as the gathered people of God, in other people, in people that we minister to, and in people that minister to us. The Spirit of Christ is real, perhaps it is the most real experience we ever have in life – the most true experience that we ever have in life. And Christ's Spirit is with us always, we simply have to open our eyes and ears, reach out and touch other people, pray, sing, be gospelified, evangelised, converted, whatever you want to call it. And Christ's Spirit always draws us together – gathers us into the "ekklesia", the great gathering unto Christ that the Church actually is."

Continue reading Fr John Coughlan's very thoughtful reflection here which was presented at the Elation Ministry Group called "Ruah" meeting which was held on 25th May 2012 at the PDDM Convent in Athlone. 

Ron Rolheiser - The New Evangelisation

"Recently a new expression has made its way into our theological and ecclesial vocabulary. There's a lot of talk today about the New Evangelization. Indeed the Pope has called for a Synod to meet this year for a month in Rome to try to articulate a vision and strategy for such an endeavor.

What is meant by New Evangelization? In simple terms: Millions of people, particularly in the Western world, are Christian in name, come from Christian backgrounds, are familiar with Christianity, believe that they know and understand Christianity, but no longer practice that faith in a meaningful way. They've heard of Christ and the Gospel, even though they may be overrating themselves in their belief that they know and understand what these mean. No matter. Whatever their shortcomings in understanding a faith they no longer practice, they believe that they've already been evangelized and that their non-practice is an examined decision. Their attitude toward Christianity, in essence, is: I know what it is. I've tried it. And it's not for me!

And so it no longer makes sense to speak of trying to evangelize such persons in the same way as we intend that term when we are speaking of taking the Gospel to someone for the first time. It's more accurate precisely to speak of a new evangelization, of an attempt to take the Gospel to individuals and to a culture that have already largely been shaped by it, are in a sense over-familiar with it, but haven't really in fact examined it. The new evangelization tries to take the Gospel to persons who are already Christian but are no longer practicing as Christians.

How to do that? How do we make the Gospel fresh for those for whom it has become stale? How do we, as G. K. Chesterton put it, help people to look at the familiar until it looks unfamiliar again? How do we try to Christianize someone who is already Christian?
There are no simple answers. It's not as if we haven't already been trying to do that for more than a generation. Anxious parents have been trying to do this with their children. Anxious pastors have been trying to do that with their parishioners. Anxious bishops have been trying to do that with their dioceses. Anxious spiritual writers, including this one, have been trying to do that with their readership. And an anxious church as a whole has been trying to do that with the world. What more might we be doing?"

Continue reading here.