Synod on New Evangelization planned
The 13th ordinary assembly of the Synod of Bishops, meeting in Rome in October 2012, will focus on the “new evangelization”.
At a press conference in March at the Vatican, Archbishop Nikola Eterovic presented the lineamenta, a term used to describe a preparatory document that will form the basis for the Synod discussions. In press release, Archbishop Nikola Eterovic, the secretary general of the Synod of Bishops, said that the new evangelization “ought to rekindle the original fire in Christians – a new missionary consciousness that involves all the members of God’s people.”
Archbishop Eterovic explains: "a distinction is drawn between evangelization as a regular activity of the Church; the first approach "ad gentes", to those who do not yet know Jesus Christ, and the new evangelization which is directed towards those who have moved away from the Church, those who have been baptized but not sufficiently evangelized".
The lineamenta, a 3-chapter document, outlines the general themes for the Synod’s considerations. This document will be sent to all the world’s episcopal conferences, and to the synods of the Eastern Catholic churches, to solicit comments and suggestions. On the basis of those suggestions a new document will be prepared: the instrumentum laboris, which will be the working document on which the Synod’s deliberations are based.
The first chapter, entitled "Time for a "New Evangelization", is described as "the birth of the concept of new evangelization and its diffusion throughout the Pontificates of Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI".
This section lists the "six sectors" which the Church has to confront in order to be "equal to the challenges posed to the Christian faith by today's social and cultural context". These six sectors are: secularization, immigration, communication, the economic sector, scientific and technological research and the political sector.
"Proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ" is the title of the second chapter, which asserts that "the aim of evangelization and more specifically of the new evangelization is the proclamation of the Gospel and the transmission of faith. The Gospel is to be understood not as a book or a doctrine, but rather as a person: Jesus Christ, the definitive Word of God, who made himself a man".
The third chapter, "Initiation into the Christian experience", "reinvites", says the Secretary General of the Synod, "reflection on the tools of the Church for introducing the faith and, in particular, Christian initiation: Baptism, Confirmation and Communion".
Finally, the Conclusion reaffirms that "the new evangelization should aim to revive in the original enthusiasm in Christians, a new mission that should involve all members of God's Community".
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