Does the World Need a “New Evangelization”?
Does the World Need a “New Evangelization”?
THE winds of political change that have been blowing through Eastern Europe have swept along with them a religious reawakening. In order to profit from this spiritual opportunity, the Special Assembly for Europe of the Synod of Bishops convened at the Vatican from November 28 to December 14, 1991. All 137 “Synod Fathers,” who are frontline exponents of the European Catholic hierarchy, met under the banner of “new evangelization.”
From the time that the synod was announced on April 22, 1990, at Velehrad, Czechoslovakia, it was heralded as a historical event. However, it is difficult to think of the synod as a rousing success, since RAI, the Italian national television network, announced on December 14, 1991: “The synod of disappointments has come to its end.”
Why was the synod a disappointment? And does Europe, or the world for that matter, need a “new evangelization”?
“New” in What Sense?
The Catholic hierarchy thinks that a new evangelization is necessary because the religious context is new. Opening the assembly, cardinal Camillo Ruini summarized the way he sees the European arena. He said that in the East “many millions have not even been baptized and ignore the most elementary truths of the Christian faith.” For this reason “the collapse of the Communist regimes opens a great opportunity of evangelization for the Church.” On the other hand, the scene in Western Europe is marked by what he calls a “practical atheism.” No longer is the word of the Catholic Church embraced as truth from God.
The religious reawakening in itself presents another challenge for the bishops. In what way? Both the European and the Latin-American bishops are worried about the proliferation of other religious movements. Why? Evidently because the church has lost many privileged positions she once had, and now she sees herself “threatened by dangerous rivals.” The Jesuit periodical La Civiltà Cattolica pointed to Jehovah’s Witnesses as one such rival because of “the notable number of Catholics and Protestants that they succeed in attracting.”
The words of the synod’s concluding “Declaration” state that the new evangelization is a stimulus to “rediscover one’s own Christian roots.” Why do the Europeans need to rediscover their “Christian roots”? The bishops stated that Christian values are no longer considered valid. “As far as many baptized Europeans are concerned,” said La Civiltà Cattolica, religion “is infantile, a nice fairy tale for the children that adults certainly cannot take seriously, as though it were something that may exercise an influence on their lives. . . . Other Europeans see the Christian religion as simple folklore, destined therefore to disappear as civilization progresses . . . Still other Europeans consider the Christian religion harmful.”
For these reasons the bishops see a need for a “new evangelization.”
Why a Disappointment
In order to succeed in the “new evangelization” of the Old World, a huge work force would be necessary. Yet, one of the greatest problems that has been affecting the church in Europe is the shortage of priests. One of the bishops stated that in the last 13 years, according to recent estimates for Europe, the clergy have decreased in number by 9 percent.
Many considered the synod a disappointment because there were few practical points about how to put the “re-Christianization” of Europe into practice. French bishop Joseph Duval exhorted the synodal assembly: “We should avoid abstract discourses on evangelization . . . All of us talk too much like doctors of the law. May our message rediscover an evangelical simplicity and tone.”
Only a few bishops mentioned the apostolic methods for the evangelizing of people. For instance, Bishop František Tondra of Spiš, Czech and Slovak Federal Republic, said: “For the new evangelization of Europe, we must return to the original form of evangelization. . . . The first Christians, as soon as they were baptized, felt it their duty to spread the Gospel.”
THE winds of political change that have been blowing through Eastern Europe have swept along with them a religious reawakening. In order to profit from this spiritual opportunity, the Special Assembly for Europe of the Synod of Bishops convened at the Vatican from November 28 to December 14, 1991. All 137 “Synod Fathers,” who are frontline exponents of the European Catholic hierarchy, met under the banner of “new evangelization.”
From the time that the synod was announced on April 22, 1990, at Velehrad, Czechoslovakia, it was heralded as a historical event. However, it is difficult to think of the synod as a rousing success, since RAI, the Italian national television network, announced on December 14, 1991: “The synod of disappointments has come to its end.”
Why was the synod a disappointment? And does Europe, or the world for that matter, need a “new evangelization”?
“New” in What Sense?
The Catholic hierarchy thinks that a new evangelization is necessary because the religious context is new. Opening the assembly, cardinal Camillo Ruini summarized the way he sees the European arena. He said that in the East “many millions have not even been baptized and ignore the most elementary truths of the Christian faith.” For this reason “the collapse of the Communist regimes opens a great opportunity of evangelization for the Church.” On the other hand, the scene in Western Europe is marked by what he calls a “practical atheism.” No longer is the word of the Catholic Church embraced as truth from God.
The religious reawakening in itself presents another challenge for the bishops. In what way? Both the European and the Latin-American bishops are worried about the proliferation of other religious movements. Why? Evidently because the church has lost many privileged positions she once had, and now she sees herself “threatened by dangerous rivals.” The Jesuit periodical La Civiltà Cattolica pointed to Jehovah’s Witnesses as one such rival because of “the notable number of Catholics and Protestants that they succeed in attracting.”
The words of the synod’s concluding “Declaration” state that the new evangelization is a stimulus to “rediscover one’s own Christian roots.” Why do the Europeans need to rediscover their “Christian roots”? The bishops stated that Christian values are no longer considered valid. “As far as many baptized Europeans are concerned,” said La Civiltà Cattolica, religion “is infantile, a nice fairy tale for the children that adults certainly cannot take seriously, as though it were something that may exercise an influence on their lives. . . . Other Europeans see the Christian religion as simple folklore, destined therefore to disappear as civilization progresses . . . Still other Europeans consider the Christian religion harmful.”
For these reasons the bishops see a need for a “new evangelization.”
Why a Disappointment
In order to succeed in the “new evangelization” of the Old World, a huge work force would be necessary. Yet, one of the greatest problems that has been affecting the church in Europe is the shortage of priests. One of the bishops stated that in the last 13 years, according to recent estimates for Europe, the clergy have decreased in number by 9 percent.
Many considered the synod a disappointment because there were few practical points about how to put the “re-Christianization” of Europe into practice. French bishop Joseph Duval exhorted the synodal assembly: “We should avoid abstract discourses on evangelization . . . All of us talk too much like doctors of the law. May our message rediscover an evangelical simplicity and tone.”
Only a few bishops mentioned the apostolic methods for the evangelizing of people. For instance, Bishop František Tondra of Spiš, Czech and Slovak Federal Republic, said: “For the new evangelization of Europe, we must return to the original form of evangelization. . . . The first Christians, as soon as they were baptized, felt it their duty to spread the Gospel.”
About Ghonokuasha Baskey
Ghonokuasha Baskey is a Santal of Bangladesh. Santal is the oldest Indigeneous People of Indian Subcontinent. Santal means who are belonging 12 surnames of the Santal Community
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