Dear Friends,
One of the tasks of every Catholic and every Catholic parish is to reach out to those who do not know Jesus and invite them into a relationship with the God who loves them. This work has always been called evangelization, which simply means, “telling the good news”. Starting in 1983, Pope John Paul called for a “new evangelization” which was to reach out to people who already knew the good news, but for some reason had wandered away from God and from God’s people. John Paul II described a situation “where entire groups of the baptized have lost a living sense of the faith, or even no longer consider themselves members of the Church, and live a life far removed from Christ and his Gospel. In this case what is needed is a ‘new evangelization’ or a ‘re-evangelization.’”
In his letter to the Americas, John Paul went on to say, “To this end, it is more necessary than ever for all the faithful to move from a faith of habit, sustained perhaps by social context alone, to a faith which is conscious and personally lived. The renewal of faith will always be the best way to lead others to the Truth that is Christ.” And, “Look to the future with commitment to a New Evangelization, one that is new in its ardor, new in its methods, and new in its expression… The new evangelization in which the whole continent is engaged means that faith cannot be taken for granted, but must be explicitly proposed in all its breadth and richness.”
Pope Benedict in his time as Pope said, “Our own time, then, must be increasingly marked by new hearing of God’s word and a new evangelization. Recovering the centrality of the divine word in the Christian life leads us to appreciate anew the deepest meaning of the forceful appeal of Pope John Paul II: to pursue the mission ad gentes and vigorously to embark upon the new evangelization, especially in those nations where the Gospel has been forgotten or meets with indifference as a result of widespread secularism.”
Pope Francis has continued that message and has called each of us to reach to those who do not know Jesus and to bring the good news to them. In his efforts to reform the offices at the Vatican, one of the changes that Pope Francis is making is to create a new important office that places evangelization before all the other offices. “Pope Francis always underlines that the Church is missionary”, Cardinal Maradiaga said, “For this reason, it’s logical that we put in the first place the dicastery for Evangelization and not the one for the Doctrine of the Faith. This way, the pope sends a significant signal of the reform to the entire People of God.”
With all the changes in our world, we must work creatively to reach out, especially to our young people, and invite them into a relationship with Jesus and his people. I think that means that as a church we must embrace a spirit of adventure, where there are new and unexpected discoveries and ultimately new perceptions. If we are simply holding on to our old ways, then we as a church will die. ”We are not a museum,” Pope Francis likes to say. “Faith” is not a noun it is a verb.
We must be willing to try and fail. We must be willing to experiment with new ways of approaching others. We must take a risk so that others can have the encounter. Like the early church, we must be willing to press on to uncharted territories. This is new for us. In the past, our faith life was something solid and predictable – like a rock. Now, with the encouragement of the last three Popes, we must try and do things differently to bring in those who do not know Jesus. We must renew our own faith so that we will attract them to join us on the journey.
To this end, we at Cabrini, are looking at adding an evening Mass on Sundays with the goal of attracting young adults to our community by reaching out to them with a different approach to music and offering them an opportunity to serve. As we roll this out, we will let you know more about what will be happening over the next month or two. In the meantime, do not be surprised if we test out the new music groups on you at other Masses. Be open and give us feedback. We must be willing to try new things or others will never come to know Jesus. Their salvation may depend upon our willingness to risk.
Peace,
Fr. Damian