A NEW PENTECOST FOR A NEW EVANGELIZATION

Bishop Paul S. Coakley

On Pentecost Sunday parishes around the Diocese of Salina are celebrating this great feast with a special focus.  This Pentecost celebrates the completion of the Disciples in Mission process that our parishes have been engaged with for the past three years.    The fruits of Disciples in Mission will take time to mature.  One of the fruits certainly has been a renewed awareness that the Church is about evangelization. 

PENTECOST MARKS the beginning of the Church and the mission to evangelize, that is, to “Go and make disciples” (Mt. 28:19).  Just as the mystery of Pentecost and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit as “the first Gift to those who believe” (Eucharistic Prayer IV) is an ongoing reality in the life of the Church, so the work of evangelization is the ongoing mission which directs and animates all of the Church’s energies and ministries.

Since Pope Paul VI first used the term “new evangelization” in his apostolic exhortation Evangelization in the Modern World, this concept has deepened into a new appreciation for the depth and richness of the meaning of evangelization.  Pope John Paul II used the expression new evangelization frequently.  What is new about it?   The late Holy Father called for “a new evangelization that would be new in ardor, new in methods and new in expression.”

POPE JOHN PAUL II distinguished the new evangelization from classical evangelization, which is characterized by preaching the Gospel to those who are not Christian and who have not had the fullness of the Gospel proclaimed to them.  It is concerned with making converts.  There will always be need for evangelization in this traditional sense!

But the new evangelization differs in this important sense.  It is not concerned primarily with making converts to the Catholic Church, but with conversion to the person of Jesus Christ.  The new evangelization enriches classical forms of evangelization (including catechesis) by placing the priority on encountering the person of Christ, rather than merely knowing the doctrine of the Church.  Pope John Paul II said, “The new evangelization is not a matter of merely passing on doctrine but rather of a personal and profound meeting with the Savior.”  Christ himself is the focus, because it is in him that we find salvation.  Conversion to Christ is prior to conversion to the Church.

The new evangelization recognizes that we are all in need of this deeper conversion to Christ and to the fullness of his truth.  There are areas of our lives which have not been illuminated by the light of Christ.  There are behaviors, values and attitudes which are not in sync with the teaching of Christ and his Church.  We believers must ourselves be more fully evangelized in order that we can evangelize others.  We must become disciples in the fullest sense, before we can “Go, and make disciples.”

The challenge of the new evangelization, therefore, is directed first of all toward ourselves, toward Christians.   From this deeper personal conversion to Christ flows a deeper and more complete adherence to His Church. 

THE NEW EVANGELIZATION strives to re-evangelize those who may be only nominal or non-practicing Catholics. It recognizes the need to re-evangelize historically Christian cultures such as our own, which have been weakened by hostile influences such as secularism, materialism and relativism.   It will readily make use the latest methods and means for communicating the Gospel, but it recognizes that personal witness will always be the most effective tool in handing on the gift of faith.

The new evangelization is the fruit of a new Pentecost.  It is the Holy Spirit who leads us to a deeper conversion to Christ and who gives life and vitality to the Church.  Join me in praying for this new Pentecost, that the Holy Spirit might renew the Church in our diocese and make us disciples who are on fire with love for the Lord and courageous witnesses to his truth.