Catholic Evangelization

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Catholic Evangelization

• An Introduction

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What Is Evangelization?
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Evangelii Nuntiandi 1975

• Evangelizing means bringing the Good News into
  all the strata of humanity, and through its
  influence transforming humanity from within and
  making it new. ... But there is no new humanity
  if there are not first of all new persons renewed
  by Baptism and by lives lived according to the
  Gospel. The purpose of evangelization is
  therefore precisely this interior change .

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Evangelii Nuntiandi 1975

• The Church evangelizes when she seeks to
  convert, solely through the divine power of the
  message she proclaims, both the personal and
  collective consciences of people, the activities
  in which they engage, and the lives and concrete
  milieu which are theirs. EN 18.

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Evangelii Nuntiandi 1975

• Evangelization is in fact the grace and vocation
  proper to the Church, her deepest identity. She
  exists in order to evangelize, that is to say, in
  order to preach and teach, to be the channel of
  the gift of grace, to reconcile sinners with God,
  and to perpetuate Christs sacrifice in the Mass,
  which is the memorial of His death and glorious
  resurrection. EN 14.

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How to Evangelize Evangelii Nuntiandi 1975

• Sharing stories of faith
• Preaching
• Catechesis
• Sacraments
• Mass media
• Person to person
• Personal devotion
• Small communities

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Go and Make Disciples 1992

• You have received the Spirit of Christ Jesus,
  which brings salvation and hope your lives are a
  witness of faith.
• Whether you were baptized as a child or joined
  the Church as an adult, you have a story of
  faith.
• Whether you sincerely live your faith in quiet
  or have a great public ministry, you have a story
  of faith.
• Whether you have a grade-school knowledge of the
  catechism or have a theological degree, you have
  a story of faith. NCCB.

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St. Francis ...

• Preach the gospel
• if necessary, use words

Not quite!
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Regula non bullata 1221

• Those who are going among the Saracens and other
  nonbelievers can live spiritually among them in
  two ways.
• One way is not to engage in arguments or
  disputes, but to be subject to every human
  creature for Gods sake and to acknowledge that
  they are Christians.
• Another way is to proclaim the word of God when
  they see that it pleases the Lord .St. Francis
  of Assisi.

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Necessary, but Not Sufficient

• The Good News proclaimed by the witness of life
  sooner or later has to be proclaimed by the word
  of life. There is no true evangelization if the
  name, the teaching, the promises, the Kingdom and
  the mystery of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God,
  are not proclaimed. EN 22.

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Evangelii Nuntiandi 1975

• This message is indeed necessary. It is unique.
  It cannot be replaced. It does not permit
  either indifference, syncretism or accommodation.
  It is a question of peoples salvation. It is
  able to stir up by itself faithfaith that rests
  on the power of God. It is truth. It merits
  having the apostle consecrate to it all his time
  and all his energies, to sacrifice for it, if
  necessary, his own life. EN 5.

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Evangelii Nuntiandi 1975

• Those who sincerely accept the Good News,
  through the power of this acceptance and of
  shared faith therefore gather together in Jesus'
  name in order to seek together the kingdom, build
  it up and live it. They make up a community which
  is in its turn evangelizing. EN 13.

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Redemptoris Missio 1991

• I sense that the moment has come to commit all
  of the Churchs energies to a new evangelization
  and to the mission ad gentes. No believer in
  Christ, no institution of the Church can avoid
  this supreme duty to proclaim Christ to all
  peoples.Pope John Paul II.

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Go and Make Disciples 1992

• GOAL 1 To bring about in all Catholics such an
  enthusiasm for their faith that, in living their
  faith in Jesus, they freely share it with others.

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Go and Make Disciples 1992

• GOAL 2 To invite all people in the United
  States, whatever their social or cultural
  background, to hear the message of salvation in
  Jesus Christ so they may come to join us in the
  fullness of the Catholic faith.

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Go and Make Disciples 1992

• GOAL 3 To foster gospel values in our society,
  promoting the dignity of the human person, the
  importance of the family, and the common good of
  our society, so that our nation may continue to
  be transformed by the saving power of Jesus
  Christ.

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Why Young Adults Go to Church
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Responding to Human Longing...

• At worship, they dont feel they have contact
  with God.
• They will do whatever to takes for them to have
  a sense of contact with God.
• If liturgy could present people with an
  experience of Christ, with contact with Jesus, it
  would come closer to what people are actually
  seeking today. Frank DeSiano, Sowing New Seed,
  p. 79ff.

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Evangelization and Catechesis

• Luke 2413-35

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Our Hearts Were Burning within Us

• We will share with them the living word of God,
  which can touch their hearts and minds and unfold
  the deep meaning of their experience in the light
  of all Jesus said and did.
• We will trust the capacity of prayer and
  sacrament to open their eyes to the presence and
  love of Christ.
• We will invite them to live and share this Good
  News in the world. NCCB.

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The Source of Vocations

• A vocation comes from an experience with the God
  who calls us to holiness.
• The journey toward holiness is the path toward
  finding and satisfying our hunger for meaning.
• We are to help young adults understand vocation
  as primarily a call to holiness and Christian
  maturity lived through single or married life,
  the priesthood, the diaconate, or religious
  life. NCCB, Sons and Daughters of the Light
  (1996).

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The Lay Apostolate

• Apostolicam Actuositatem (1965)
• 2. Since the laity, in accordance with their
  state of life, live in the midst of the world and
  its concerns, they are called by God to exercise
  their apostolate in the world like leaven, with
  the ardor of the spirit of Christ.

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The Lay Apostolate

• The laity must take up the renewal of the
  temporal order as their own special obligation.
  Led by the light of the Gospel and the mind of
  the Church and motivated by Christian charity,
  they must act directly and in a definite way in
  the temporal sphere. AA 7

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The Lay Apostolate

• However, an apostolate of this kind does not
  consist only in the witness of one's way of life
  a true apostle looks for opportunities to
  announce Christ by words addressed either to
  non-believers with a view to leading them to
  faith, or to the faithful with a view to
  instructing, strengthening, and encouraging them
  to a more fervent life. AA 6.

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The Apostolate of the Young

• Young persons exert very important influence in
  modern society. ... They should become the first
  to carry on the apostolate directly to other
  young persons, concentrating their apostolic
  efforts within their own circle, according to the
  needs of the social environment in which they
  live. AA 12.

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Unity in All Things

• Whether the lay apostolate is exercised by the
  faithful as individuals or as members of
  organizations, it should be incorporated into the
  apostolate of the whole Church according to a
  right system of relationships. Indeed, union with
  those whom the Holy Spirit has assigned to rule
  His Church (cf. Acts 2028) is an essential
  element of the Christian apostolate. No less
  necessary is cooperation among various projects
  of the apostolate which must be suitably directed
  by the hierarchy. AA 23

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The Importance of Formation

• The apostolate can attain its maximum
  effectiveness only through a diversified and
  thorough formation. AA 28.
• Spiritual
• Doctrinal
• Human values of friendship and cooperation
• Learn how to view, judge and do all things in the
  light of faith develop and improve themselves
  through doing ...