Every Catholic should become a “new evangeliser”, the president of the Pontifical Council for New Evangelisation has told a conference in Sydney.
Being an evangeliser, said Archbishop Rino Fisichella, is a vocation “born on the very day of our baptism and it is a vocation to every believer in Christ to make of himself or herself a credible bearer of the good news encapsulated in his teaching”.
“The proclamation of the Gospel cannot be delegated to others; rather, it requires the awareness specific to the believer that he or she is to be a bearer of Christ wherever they go,” he said.
Archbishop Fisichella was addressing a three-day conference on the new evangelisation organized by Catholic Mission Australia and the Catholic Enquiry Centre.
He said the new evangelisation called for by Pope John Paul II requires a new dedication by all Catholics, not just a reform of structures. “To think that the new evangelization can be brought about through a mere renewal of past forms is an illusion not to be cultivated.”
He said the Church had not embarked on a new evangelisation because of pressure from secularism. Rather, it was “because she wishes to be obedient and faithful to the word of the Lord Jesus, who commanded her to go into the whole world and to bring his Gospel to every creature”.
Point to a close link between evangelisation and liturgy, Archbishop Fisichella said baptisms, funerals and weddings bring many people into Catholic churches.
These occasions, he said, provide a pastoral opportunity for communicating the message of the Good News to people who might be “indifferent” to religion but are searching for a genuine spirituality.
Archbishop Fisichella also emphasised the need for Catholics to have a strong sense of identity.
Without this, he said, it is not possible to understand what belonging to the Christian community requires, or to be aware of the mission to which a Catholic is called.
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