A New Era in the Church

A New Era in the Church Renewing the Vision through the lens of the New Evangelization September 7, 2012 - Diocese Of Wilmington - Middletown, DE 1

What has Renewing the Vision brought to the Church? A vision for a comprehensive approach Three distinct goals for us as youth ministers Eight components to a comprehensive approach A growing adaptation by other English speaking countries 2

Comprehensive in what ways? It is comprehensive by addressing the entirety of the teen as a person It is comprehensive because it acknowledges the context in which a teen lives: family, parish, school It is comprehensive because it articulates a vision for the young Church to be integrated into the full life of the Church It is comprehensive because it places the responsibility of youth ministry upon the entire Church and all members of the parish 3

The Goals of RTV To empower young people to live as disciples of Jesus Christ in our world today To draw young people to responsible participation in the life, mission, and work of the Catholic faith community To foster the total personal and spiritual growth of each young person 4

The Eight Components of RTV The Ministry of Advocacy The Ministry of Catechesis The Ministry of Community Life The Ministry of Evangelization The Ministry of Justice and Service The Ministry of Leadership Development The Ministry of Pastoral Care The Ministry of Prayer and Worship 5

The Origins of the New Evangelization 6

Pope Paul VI In 1974, Pope Paul VI convened a Synod of Bishops on Evangelization In 1975, the landmark document Evangelization in the Modern World was promulgated This introduced the language: rooted in...pentecost a new period of evangelization. 7

Evangelizing 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 Christ s sacrifice in the Mass, which is the memorial of His death and glorious resurrection. 8

Above all the Gospel must be proclaimed by witness... All Christians are called to this witness, and in this way they can be real evangelizers. 9

Nevertheless this always remains insufficient, because even the finest witness will prove ineffective in the long run if it is not explained... 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 life, the promises, the kingdom and the mystery of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God are not proclaimed. 10

John Paul II In 1983, he called for a new evangelization in the Americas In 1990, the encyclical Redemptoris Missio was promulgated and it called for a more comprehensive understanding of the new evangelization beyond the Americas This would set the course for his remaining pontificate 11

Pope Benedict XVI World Youth Day 2008: a) when the Holy Spirit comes b) you will receive power c) and you will be my witnesses In October 2010, the founding of a dicastry on the New Evangelization is announced October 2012 will see a synod on the New Evangelization and will begin a Year of Faith 12

Prayer and Worship Evangelization Justice and Service Catechesis Leadership Development Community Life Pastoral Care Advocacy 13

What is the current situation? 25% of those born after 1980 are unaffiliated 18% of that generation have moved from being affiliated to being unaffiliated Conversely, 4% have moved from being unaffiliated to being affiliated 14

What is the current situation? (cont.) 34% of Catholics born after 1980 attend weekly services compared with 43% of Catholics born prior to 1980 Catholics born after 1980 are the least likely group of religious believers to pray daily At 64%, Millennial Catholics are the least likely among those affiliated with a religion to hold an absolutely certain belief in God 45% of Catholic Millennials identify religion as very important compared to 58% of older Catholics 15

The Mirror of Erised 16

The new evangelization is not a matter of merely passing on doctrine but rather of a personal and profound meeting with the Savior. - Pope John Paul II 17

Evangelii Nuntiandi identifies the following: People to whom Christ has never been proclaimed Baptized people who do not practice People who live as nominal Christians but according to principles that are in no way Christian People who are seeking something or someone whom they sense but cannot name 18

The Old Evangelization This is the announcement of the Good News that the Church has traditionally done, classic evangelization as described by Pope Benedict XVI It is bringing the Good News to people and to cultures who have not heard the gospel of Jesus Christ It often took the dominate religious myths of a culture and baptized them or brought them to their fulfillment in the story of God-with-us in Jesus Christ 19

Audience for the New Evangelization Individuals who are baptized, yet non-practicing believers Individuals who are nominal believers, the functionally un-churched Individual believers who are in need of the gospel to more deeply penetrate their lives in order to become evangelists themselves Entire cultures and nations that have a Christian heritage, but has had Christian faith weakened through secularization 20

The Three Marks of the New Evangelization 21

Mark #1 of the New Evangelization New in Ardor 22

Penn Jillette Famous atheist from the comedy team, Penn and Teller 23

You can t get em saved, until you get em lost. - Jewell Sidney Golmon You can t feed people until they realize they are hungry. - Some Catholic Guy 24

Evangelizing 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 Christ s sacrifice in the Mass, which is the memorial of His death and glorious resurrection. 25

Reconciliation Re - Once again Con - With Tion - Act of... Cilia - Eyelid or eyelash Reconciliation is act of, once again, being eyelash-to-eyelash with the Father, just as the Son is eyelash-to-eyelash with the Father 26

Richard Dawkins Evolutionary biologist Author of The God Delusion Lecture from 2010 Global Atheist Convention - Melbourne, Australia 27

Supernatural Existential By the very fact that we are alive, we have contact with God s presence which has super charged the world. By the very fact that we are alive, we have had experiences of our yearning for God. 28

You have made us for yourself, oh Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you. - St. Augustine of Hippo 29

Mark #2 of the New Evangelization New in Methods 30

Mark #3 of the New Evangelization New in Expressions 31

Quadrant 1 Year 1 Quadrant 2 Year 2 Quadrant 3 Year 3 Quadrant 4 Year 4 St. Pius X Catholic Church Santa Fe Springs, CA 32

The Work of Vatican II Ressourcement - The recovery of authentic Christian belief Aggiornomento - After the work of recovery, the faith must be expressed in a way that impacts the lives of individuals and cultures 33