Speaking to members during the Passionists' 48th General Chapter, Francis stressed the need to engage "the streets, squares and alleyways of the world", calling it a "test of one's own joyful and fruitful faith".

He urged the Passionists to avoid becoming "inflexible and musty" and to seek "new paths and opportunities to facilitate encounters between people and with the Lord".

Tradition and modernity

Without renouncing established pastoral methods, Francis encouraged a more innovative, accessible approach to evangelisation.

"To go out in this way" he noted, "can only be effective if it springs from the fullness of the love of God and of humanity", emphasising the need for authentic compassion in mission work.

The Pope's remarks resonate with a broader call within the Catholic Church to balance tradition with contemporary engagement, aligned with his vision of an open, outward-looking Church.

Mission rooted in prayer

Francis highlighted the importance of prayer and the Word of God as the foundation for effective evangelism. He praised the Passionists' long tradition of daily devotions and retreats, seeing them as essential to inspiring "events of evangelisation".

"To create events of evangelisation" he said, "requires a constant rootedness in prayer and in the Word of God."

Universal mission

Emphasising inclusivity, the Pope described the Passionists' mission as one with "no exclusions". He encouraged efforts to reach as many people as possible, calling it a "desirable, indeed necessary" task, as "everyone...is in dire need of the light of the Gospel".

Francis' comments reinforce his commitment to a Church that is both grounded in its traditions and actively engaged with the modern world.

Source

• Vatican

He said proclaiming the Gospel should "always be done with great respect and fraternal affection for all".

Fraternal living means "accepting one another and recognising each other as equals in our differences" Francis said.

It is important "in a world in which the tendency to divide, assert and provoke seems to be increasing".

Christian charity is necessary as it requires we get closer to one another, he said.

Evangelise with patience, Francis recommended.

Missionary work means accepting people's "dreams and desires for liberation and justice".

It means caring for people, supporting them and working with them, Francis explained. Including others in this work is necessary to "widen the net and the boundaries in a great, expanding dynamic of love".

"We need to let go of everything that stops us from getting in touch with those who are down and so lift them up and give them new hope" he said.

Indonesia

The Pope praised the Church in Indonesia for its fraternal tradition.

He said he could see the "openness with which it deals with the different realities that make it up and surround it, on a cultural, ethnic, social and religious level".

Papua New Guinea

In Papua New Guinea Francis heard of testimonies about the joy and difficulties catechists and clergy experience when evangelising people.

"Don't be discouraged by difficulties or misunderstandings, even when they arise in places where we especially do not want to encounter them" Francis said.

Among those who spoke was a woman who went to the Synod on Synodality last year.

Praising her, Francis said it is possible to show how beautiful it is to follow Jesus together and proclaim His gospel among people.

Sources

• UCA News
• english.katholisch.de

Conference president Bishop Georg Bätzing says under half of Germany's citizens still belong to Christian denominations.

Evangelisation in Germany has been a central theme since the time of Pope St John Paul II he says.

"But the other half [who aren't Christian] are not simply faithless or don't ask any questions and, in this respect, I believe we need to do much more" Bätzing says.

"We should get in touch with these people, talk to them without being intrusive. The times of a mission with a negative tone are over, but speaking and answering questions about the hope that fills us, as the letter to the Hebrews says, is part of Christianity."

Losses by the number

Bätzing's own Diocese of Limburg exemplifies the reduction in the Catholic faithful of Germany.

In 2016, over 630,000 Catholics resided in Limburg. By 2022, there were fewer than 540,000.

The overall Catholic population in Germany has likewise significantly decreased.

In 2020, there were approximately 22.19 million Catholics among the country's 83 million population. By 2022, this number had fallen to 20.94 million.

Projecting the future

In 2019, scientists at the University of Freiburg predicted the number of Christians paying church tax (a requirement for practising Christians) in Germany would halve by 2060.

The Bishops' Conference says that within three years over 500,000 baptised Catholics had left the Church.

At that time, Bätzing wrote on his diocese's website that the "alarming" figures showed the necessity of continued "cultural change" and for the German Synodal Way resolutions to be implemented.

However the German Synodal Way, which has advocated for significant changes, has not changed the haemorrhaging Church numbers.

In 2021 CNA Deutsch reported that a third of Catholics in Germany were considering leaving the Church.

Older people cited the Church's handling of the abuse crisis. An earlier study had said that younger people didn't want to pay church tax.

Excommunication and evangelisation

The German Bishops' Conference says leaving the Church results in automatic excommunication.

Many theologians and canon lawyers disagree with this view.

Pope Francis prefers to focus on evangelisation.

He wrote to German Catholics in 2019, urging them to focus on evangelisation amid a "growing erosion and deterioration of faith".

Relying solely on internal strengths doesn't work, he wrote.

"Every time an ecclesial community has tried to get out of its problems alone, relying solely on its own strengths, methods and intelligence, it has ended up multiplying and nurturing the evils it wanted to overcome."

In September 2021, a motion to emphasise evangelisation was narrowly passed.

Exactly a year later, Bätzing said the shortest definition of religion was "interruption".

Some forms of continuity which people seek from religion are "frankly suspect" he said.

Source

• Catholic News Agency

Every Tuesday night, 800 to 900 students converge on a chapel at Lille Catholic University for the Mass.

Burning attraction

For the six students who initiated the Masses, the unexpectedly successful candlelit formula is one they want others to adopt.

Numbers have grown each month since the initiative was launched in 2016.

They say that, within three years, attendance has surpassed the capacity of the 300-person chapel they were using.

They moved to a bigger place in 2019.

Within a year, the building's 600-seat capacity was overfull.

During Lent this year, security turned away hundreds of the faithful since regulations forbid more than 900 people in the building.

Simplicity of beauty

A student at the university says she thinks the candlelit Mass's simplicity of beauty is the big draw-card for young people.

The Masses demonstrate an attachment to the beauty of the liturgy and are known for the quality of the preachers.

"Over and above the various movements developing within the Church today, I think that what is most likely to attract young people is the simplicity of beauty" she says.

She says a friend who usually attends only the traditional Latin Mass, because of his quest for beauty finds himself completely in this celebration.

"I think he's far from alone."

Another student says he thinks the "World Youth Day Lisbon" effect has also added to the weekly gathering's fervour.

"People attract people ... immersion in the dark also attracts many young people estranged from the Church, who are thus no longer afraid of being judged by their neighbours" he says.

"The time — 10pm — also represents an ideal moment to give something to God and receive something in return" says university chaplain Father Charles-Marie Rigail.

Setting the scene

The candles are placed mainly in the choir and central aisle, so only Christ on the crucifix is illuminated.

"Everything is focused on the Word of God, of his Church" Rigail says. It offers "a solid anchor for all those who are thinking about their future".

He says nothing social media offers can quench young people's thirst to belong to something beyond fashions and ephemeral electronic devices.

"This is how to touch people's hearts, break down current prejudices about the Church and raise awareness of its usefulness and relevance, trying to offer something that is good and as right as possible."

Alongside the community dimension of being part of a crowd, darkness penetrated by candlelight makes for a very personal experience, a necessary condition for the interiority that the Masses aim to foster, Rigail says.

Evangelisation

New catechumens have doubled every year since 2020.

"I make it a point to stay and chat with people after Mass ... some of who ... end up wanting to know more, while some non-practising believers decide to go further in their faith" Rigail says.

The evangelising mission is reinforced throughout the week in chaplaincy office and volunteer efforts.

Ultimately, the initiative is about building Catholics capable of being actors of their own faith and exporting this model, Rigali says.

Source

• National Catholic Register

It could be said his experience seeing his church reduced to rubble during the 2011 Christchurch earthquakes uniquely qualifies Adams for the task. He has a broader sense of parish renewal perhaps.

"I was standing next to our triple unreinforced brick church which suffered the biggest of the earthquakes. I watched it fall into the adjoining creek" he recalls.

A blasted landscape

On 22 February 2011, Bishop - then parish priest - Adams had been at St Joseph's in Papanui for only three weeks.

Then the earthquake struck.

It claimed 185 lives and changed the cityscape forever. St Joseph's was one of many landmark buildings to fall victim to nature's forces that day.

"We never got back inside it. I crept in and saved some statues. No one knows about it, because you weren't supposed to go anywhere near those buildings" the bishop says.

"You literally risked your life because the aftershocks were quite big, for quite a long time."

The worst wasn't over though.

The death toll in his parish mounted.

"I buried a person a day for the next five days. I had just funeral after funeral after funeral" he says.

Keeping the parish going

Having to deal with an event so shocking, so huge and so sudden isn't something anyone expects. Yet survivors did pick themselves up and cope.

"When something happens, you surprise yourself. The adrenaline gets going and you really start just working faster and harder. And I was proud of my parishioners from that point of view" Adams says.

"We delivered food parcels, people brought in their barbecues, we'd put them on the backs of trailers and we'd go into the poor parts of Christchurch and have a big cookout for the people trying to live in the streets.

"It was a tremendous surge of goodness from the Catholic community."

Mass continued in a makeshift hall. Twelve hundred people shared a space built for 200.

For seven years, Adams rolled up his sleeves and got on with the job of leading his parish.

But while he rebuilt the exterior of his church, he felt something was amiss with his parishioners' interior lives.

"Our parish was treading water. People were happy. But there was no sense of urgency, there was no conversion" Adams says. He blamed himself.

He wanted to make disciples and nurture a parish where evangelisation thrived.

Evangelising the people

In 2019 when Adams was reassigned to a semi-rural parish in Rangiora, he saw a chance to revive the parish community.

"It was an ageing parish in decline — declining number of baptisms, declining number of confirmations, declining first Holy Communions."

Then began the task of establishing a vision and mission for the parish, starting with creating an atmosphere of welcoming.

It was a "painfully slow process" he says.

Slow processes weren't good enough he decided. He needed to be tough. "I had to be bold" he says.

"We started doing things like on the night confirmation class started, the parents would drop their kids off for confirmation and we wouldn't let [the parents] go home. They would go and do Alpha.

"So, we not only sacramentalised the kids, but we evangelised the families.

"Out of a parish of 500, we had 380 doing Alpha! Those doing Alpha were leading the next course. The parish started to catch on fire and the fruits started to come."

Leading parish renewal

Adams plans to share the strategies he used in his four-year term in Rangiora at the Parish Renewal Conference that starts on 3 August.

"I want my brother priests to know this is possible and it works. It's about engagement and about creating ‘on ramps', getting people on the ‘on ramps' on that journey. I'm excited!" he says.

Sr Anastasia Reeves OP from the Parish Renewal Team is excited about what the bishop will bring to the conference.

"This time a year ago Bishop John was a regular parish priest, leading transformation effectively but very humbly.

"I think it will be a great gift to our local church for Bishop John's experience and wisdom to be shared more widely."

• To register for the conference, click on: Parish Renewal Conference

Source

• Catholic Weekly

Forgive me if I set off from a few personal remarks.

'Three years have passed since I was consecrated bishop. When I arrived here, I had spent thirty years abroad.

Norway had became to me a foreign country. I knew the Norwegian Catholic Church by hearsay.

I had no personal experience of parish life. Not only had I never been a parish priest; I'd never even been part of an ordinary parish.

I had been formed in university chaplaincies and in religious life. I was minded to proceed cautiously.

I first wanted to get to know people and places in the prelature, above all you, dear priests, my closest collaborators.

I had heard of abbots going on visitation with the visitation card already written before departure, sure of their analysis based on first principles. I did not want to follow such a method.

Trondheim had been without its own bishop for eleven years. That a brand new one should charge ahead on the basis of instinct seemed to me unproductive.

In addition we were right in the middle of Covid lockdowns. It wasn't a time to propose radical initiatives.

The three years that have passed have been good ones for me. After a few months I noticed I no longer broke out in a spontaneous cold sweat when I entered the bishop's office. It was a sign I was slowly settling in.

I have been surrounded by great good will. I am often moved by people's generous fidelity, by the will to build the Church up together, to do ‘something beautiful for God' as Mother Teresa said.

Our communities may be vulnerable, small, but they are marked by evangelical authenticity, by service and prayer and, when needed, by sacrifice.

That is in no small measure thanks to you, dear priests. You do precious, fruitful work. People really appreciate you. I really appreciate you! Thank you for the service you perform, for the testimony you give.

When I got here, major projects were looming. The nuns on Tautra were extending. The monks at Munkeby were preparing to build their monastery.

The basement beneath the cathedral lay formless and void, like the chaos on the first day of creation. Much in the curia needed to be refounded.

We have come a long way, thank God.

Further, the church in Molde is equipped with a new roof. Even the Yellow House in Ålesund is ready.

For a prelature like ours, with few resources, there is a limit to how much can be done at once. But we now have a certain freedom of movement for creative work. That is what I wish to speak of.

Let me begin by say something self-evident: the Catholic Church in Norway has changed a great deal in the past thirty years. This fact invites us to new self-understanding. It calls us to new forms of enterprise.

From the mid-19th century until recently, the Catholic Church in Norway saw itself chiefly as a chaplaincy for migrants and a few converts.

It rather appeared, if I may be irreverent, as a fridge designed for the preservation of exotic fruit. This model has done well, but is no longer sufficient.

There are, as I see it, two reasons for this.

First, Norway has since the late 1980s become multi-cultural. The number of Catholics has increased, making our Catholic population a vocal, considerable part of society. We are no longer as marginal as we were.

Secondly, the cultural climate has changed. A Christian reference used to be natural in public discourse. That is so no more.

An increasing part of the population considers the Church, the churches, as an irrelevance.

We cannot allow ourselves, in these conditions, to put our light under a bushel.

We cannot presume that the memory of Christian hope, Christian values, a Christian understanding of man will be upheld by others.

We must get on with it.

In the light of these twin, indissociable factors, it seems essential that the Catholic Church in Norway should assume an evangelising, missionary character.

It is not a matter of being blusteringly triumphalist — that is counterproductive.

It is a matter of ensuring that Jesus Christ remains credibly represented in our country, that his name is heard. The harvest is plentiful, the labourers few. That is how it was in the beginning, too (Mt 9.37).

We must find a balance between excessive ambition and discouragement.

Above all we must remember that the Church is the Lord's, that he has a plan for it both at the large, global level and at the small, local level.

We must let ourselves be used as tools in his hands so that we, by word and example, may invite others into sustaining fellowship.

I want to point toward three especially important areas: Continue reading

• Erik Varden is a monk and bishop, born in Norway in 1974. In 2002, after ten years at the University of Cambridge, he joined Mount Saint Bernard Abbey in Charnwood Forest. Pope Francis named him bishop of Trondheim in 2019.

Speaking for a second time to the Assembly, Brisbane's Archbishop Mark Coleridge reflected on the experience in Australia and asked what the Church is learning.

"This is the time for a new surge in gospel energy," he said.

Imagination is part of evangelisation

Societal change is affecting the Church and there's nothing new in that, Coleridge commented.

However, it is a matter of how we approach this change, how we use this change and work with it that matters, he said.

"We have to have the courage to say farewell to that which has served us so well."

Coleridge said change will come from below from those most involved in the new situation, which isn't surprising.

"Lay people may lead this new surge, not the priests, not the monks, surprise surprise.

"We have to move from maintenance to mission."

Right now, we have too many churches, too many Masses and too many parishes.

The current model of Church in Australia and New Zealand is built on foundations that worked in the past. That model isn't sustainable, Coleridge told the Assembly.

"The Church and parishes were built on the assumption that most Catholics would come to Mass. But now they don't," Coleridge pointed out," he explained.

"We still have structures based on those other times."

Take a risk

Considering the facts in front of us today, Coleridge's suggestion for the diocesan priests to think laterally took shape.

He suggested showing a bit of apostolic integrity and taking some risks.

He realises many people hate change - but it has to happen, he said.

When it happens, the Church must include explanations that show everyone the reasons for decisions.

"In towns and cities, we are talking about 'communities of communities' where each community is respected but drawn into a larger community."

Coleridge said the prime goal is to generate new possibilities for mission - and Pope Francis is showing us the way forward.

The Papal court protocols imprisoned Pope Benedict, but Francis is breaking free from them. He, in turn, is showing us how to break free, he told the Assembly.

Moving towards a community of communities type model will require another leadership model because the current model is not sustainable. Coleridge said.

Changing times

The former abundance of clergy doesn't exist today, Coleridge noted.

As a Church with sacraments, we must have priests and bishops.The priesthood could be re-situated, however, taking its place in a leadership team, he suggested.

That would suggest moving from a hierarchical to a charismatic leadership model, although not all priests have that charism, he noted.

Lleaders may need to come from elsewhere, he suggested.

By way of an example, he said the community of communities' model leadership team might include lay people, a deacon, or a consecrated religious.

The new approach will need training and proper preparation, but it is vital to consider these times and think laterally as we do.

Source

• New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference

"I think it is important that we say that Pope Francis made a distinction. Evangelisation is really to help people to understand the love of God — and the love of God without the agenda of turning them into Catholics. Because that shouldn't be the focus, as that focus would be very restrictive," Chow said.

During an interview in Rome on September 28, Chow (pictured) referenced Pope Francis' distinction between "evangelisation" and "proselytism".

"Evangelisation is essentially witness," Francis told the Jesuits in Mozambique in 2019. "Proselytising is convincing, but it is all about membership and takes your freedom away."

Cardinal Chow echoed this sentiment. He emphasised that the focus of evangelisation should be on helping people understand God's love as a source of goodwill and a better life.

"And it does not begin by trying to convince others, but by witnessing every day to the beauty of the love that has looked upon us and lifted us up," he said.

Religious restrictions in China

Considering increased religious restrictions in China, Cardinal Chow's message of evangelisation there has added significance.

Catholic priests can minister only in recognised places of worship. People under the age of 18 are prohibited from entering.

Recent government measures further limit religious activities to government-approved venues. The display of religious symbols outdoors is banned and requires preaching to align with "core socialist values".

Despite these challenges, two mainland Chinese bishops have been permitted to travel to Rome to participate in the Synod on Synodality assembly in October. There, Cardinal Chow will serve as a synod delegate, personally nominated by Pope Francis.

Cardinal Chow said he is "excited that the laypeople - men and women - and religious are represented as full voting members."

Sources

Catholic News Agency

CathNews New Zealand

According to the country's Immigration Services Agency, more than three million aliens were living in Japan at the end of 2022.

In fact, the agency's count of 3,075,213 is lower than the actual number because there are undocumented aliens in the country in addition to those who have been processed and recorded officially.

It has been projected that in half a century, nearly 11 percent of the population will be non-Japanese while the overall population will drop from 126 million to 87 million.

The largest groups of foreign residents are from China, Vietnam and South Korea.

Others from the Philippines, Brazil and other countries of Latin America are reshaping the Catholic Church as they have become the majority of Japan's Catholics.

For decades, Japan has resisted welcoming immigrants.

Almost all the three million are in the country as students, trainees or specialists of one kind or other. However, many of them are in fact immigrants in all but name and legal status. They will remain legally or illegally in Japan, and increasingly are starting families there, sometimes with Japanese partners.

Japan's population is declining and the country desperately needs more people to maintain its economy and, as the population ages, the national health insurance system.

Speaking at a press conference, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said, "Time is running out to procreate."

"Japanese society is not yet ready to welcome newcomers as potentially a part of a new Japanese people".

In fact, the number of births in 2022 dropped below 800,000 for the first time, eight years earlier than had been projected. Each year, about 50 schools are closed because of a shortage of children.

The number of residents aged 65 and over is expected to increase from 28.6 percent to 38.7 percent of the population by 2070.

Even with an unlikely increase in procreation Japan still needs millions of other people, immigrants. An "imported" three million is nowhere near the number the country needs.

However, even though it needs them Japanese society is not yet ready to welcome newcomers as potentially a part of a new Japanese people, one with a variety of ancestries and races.

The shortage of people is affecting all parts of Japanese society.

Besides recording a record number of foreign residents, 2022 saw a record decline in the number of yakuza, organised crime gang members.

According to the Japan Times, "The number of members and associate members investigated by police in 2022 fell below 10,000 for the first time since Japan enacted the anti-organized crime law in 1991."

Overall, the number of gangsters was 22,400 — a drop of 1,700 from the previous year.

Like the yakuza, Japanese members of the Catholic Church in their country are more and more becoming fewer and fewer.

In fact, the majority of Japan's Catholics are not Japanese.

And given the decline in the Japanese population, the ageing of congregations and disaffiliation from the Church by the shrinking pool of Japanese young people, the Catholic Church in Japan will remain a community of immigrants at least until the country finds some way to accept outsiders as a real part of Japanese society and culture.

How are those responsible for the management of the Catholic Church responding to this inevitability?

They are not, at least not in any way that indicates a creative long-term response.

"The formation of Japanese clergy does not include training in the languages and cultures of immigrants"

In the past, foreign missionaries were sought after and welcomed as agents for the evangelization of Japanese society. Linguistic and cultural training were essential prerequisites for engaging in that.

Today, bishops recruit clergy and religious from overseas to provide pastoral service to immigrant groups.

They are not expected to acquire linguistic or other skills that would advance the integration of non-Japanese Catholics — either themselves or their congregations — as an evangelising presence in Japanese society.

On the other side, the formation of Japanese clergy does not include training in the languages and cultures of immigrants for the provision of pastoral care and an introduction to evangelising membership in Japanese society.

With some local exceptions, the result is the presence of parallel Catholic Churches in Japan.

One is a fading community of mostly aged Japanese and the other is a growing community of generally young immigrants who live their faith without reference to the evangelisation of Japan.

The pastoral agents in neither Church are able to bridge the linguistic and cultural differences because neither the imported agents nor the native clergy is expected or trained to do so.

This delays the integration of newcomers into the Japanese Church and the revivification of that Church.

As is the case in many Asian societies, the Catholic Church in Japan is frequently viewed as an alien presence and shall in fact become one.

Instead, the Church could be a model of the sort of transition that Japanese society as a whole must make. Japan can become a nation with global ancestry like Australia, Canada, the United States, and other post-ethnic nations.

The Church in Japan could show the benefits of mutual integration and a way to achieve it.

To do so, however, will require much more effort, creativity and openness than it presently musters.

• William Grimm is a missioner and presbyter in Tokyo and is the publisher of the UCANews.com.
• First published in UCANews.com. Republished with permission.

Last Sunday, the church's pews were filled with cats and dogs along with their human friends for the Blessing Of The Animals Service.

The annual service - accompanied by a children's choir - is a highlight for many says the Venerable Ben Randall.

"It's always a great day and a lot of fun."

Timaru's St Mary's Anglican Church Reverend Ben Randall blessing dogs.

Gathering people

It's not just blessing creatures at church that make the service fun.

It's about the owners too.

Randall says owners have a proud connection to their pets and look forward to the service.

"There are a lot of people who connect with us with this service. A big part of the service is connecting with the wider creation.

"And people believe God has created all things.

"And we live in a semi-rural community where animals play a big part... animals bring colour to our lives."

They are important companions for many people, he adds.

"There are a lot of people who would have been entirely alone through the Covid lockdowns" [if it weren't for their pets].

Cheryl Rose and her dog, Pirate.

People working to protect and care for animal welfare were also remembered during the service. The collection was offered for the local SPCA's benefit.

Although this year's animal congregants were limited to cats and dogs, Randall says alpacas, rabbits and guinea pigs had also been blessed in the past.

"You never know what to expect - so far, I haven't been asked to bless a pet rock."

Animal behaviour is never a problem during the service, Randall says. Some sing along to the songs.

"Other moments it goes incredibly silent, which is unexpected.

"It's quite a moving experience."

Source

• Stuff

I found his comments a-historical and thought they suggested that only very smart, well-informed and well-read Catholics could qualify as good Catholics.

Now Barron has launched a criticism of British author and papal birapher Austen Ivereigh.

Specifically, Barron charged that Ivereigh had made conversion a "dirty word," shunned evangelisation properly understood and that the disagreement was essentially terminological.

"What Ivereigh is calling 'evangelisation' is, in point of fact, 'pre-evangelisation.'

One can indeed prepare the ground for Christ in a thousand different ways: through invitation, conversation, debate, argument, the establishment of friendship, etc.," Barron writes.

"One might legitimately say, at this stage of the process, that one is not pressing the matter of conversion, but one is most definitely paving the way for it. Unless it conduces toward real evangelisation, pre-evangelisation is an absurdity."

It is hard not to conclude that Barron's real target is not the biographer, Ivereigh, but the biographee, Pope Francis.

Ivereigh has, in turn, responded at the website Where Peter Is.

He writes:

"Francis is clear, then, what evangelisation is: witness through open-hearted hospitality, service of the poor, a life lived according to the Beatitudes.

"But he is also clear when this becomes proselytism, and here's the challenging part.

"The witness can be in tension with, even contradicted by, our attempt to evangelise by means of persuasion, strategies, theological explanations, and apologetics programmes.

"Why? Because in so far as these lead us to put our faith in our own powers, they suffocate the "meekness of the Spirit in the conversion."

That is, there is something semi-Pelagian in Barron's approach. In fact, the principal agent of evangelisation is the Holy Spirit, not the intelligent bishop.

But there is a related concern here to which Ivereigh alludes, a concern I voiced back in 2019.

There is something a little manipulative about Barron's approach.

Back then, I noticed it in the way he discussed the insights of Hans Urs von Balthasar about beauty as an attribute of God, insights that have played a prominent role in the thinking of Popes Francis, Benedict XVI and John Paul II.

For them, beauty is itself a kind of witness, but for Barron, beauty always seems like it is part of a marketing strategy.

He dazzles the putative convert with it. There is little sense of the person to be evangelised as a subject, a person of dignity and freedom. They are an object, someone to be instructed, and Barron is the instructor.

You see this in the quote above, when Barron writes that "one is not pressing the matter of conversion, but one is most definitely paving the way for it."

If you are calculating how and when to press, it is pretty certain what you are not doing is engaging the person as every bit as mysterious, noble and sinful as oneself, someone in whom God is already at work in ways hidden to either or both of you.

Where Balthasar was always suspicious of the Enlightenment, of the Cartesian cogito and all that followed, Bishop Robert Barron is a man of his age, an age of marketing and consumerism. Continue reading

• Michael Sean Winters is an American journalist and writer who covers politics and events in the Roman Catholic Church for the National Catholic Reporter

Hours after he touched down in Lisbon on Wednesday, one of three huge billboards erected by activists to raise awareness of sexual abuse by clergy was removed, says the campaign group This Is Our Memorial.

WYD follows hard on the heels of a report released in February by a Portuguese commission, which said at least 4,815 minors were sexually abused by Portuguese clergy - mostly priests - over seven decades.

The commission in charge said that was just the "tip of the iceberg".

The campaign group described the removal of the billboard as "censorship".

Another billboard located in the municipality of Oeiras has also been taken down.

Organisers of the awareness campaign called "This is our memorial" shared images of the removal on various social media platforms.

The Church had promised a memorial would be unveiled during the week-long event but a date has not been set, with the Church saying the project was still being studied.

Another issue Francis will be aware of is a decline in Catholic engagement with the Church.

A study published in June reveals 56 percent of Portuguese aged 14 to 30 consider themselves believers (50 percent consider themselves Catholics) and 34 percent identify as practising believers, compared to 60 percent in the overall population.

"Young people identify less with the Church" says parish priest Father Paulo Fernando Filipe.

"Although they grew up in Catholic families and were baptised, they abandon religious practice as they age. I no longer see young adults in the churches I serve.

"They feel trapped, stifled by a certain conservatism," he laments.

"We have a communication problem, struggling to encourage them to get involved."

However, the most recent national census found that Catholicism's decline affects Portuguese society as a whole. Fewer practise their faith, far fewer have church weddings, and ordinations are down.

Hope for the future

On the plus side, numerous Catholic volunteers have come together to welcome young participants.

Organisers hope WYD will breathe new life into the Church in Portugal.

Over the past four years, a network of young people preparing for the event has developed.

"Not all Catholics have engaged in this process," admits Bishop José Ornelas Carvalho.

"But those who have engaged have done significant work that will revitalise evangelisation after the World Youth Day."

Source

• La Croix
• Reuters

The once powerful Brazilian basic church communities have declined since the 1990s.

Last week, 1,000 Brazilian basic church community leaders gathered to discuss Brazil's most pressing issues, from Amazon deforestation to unemployment. They also set up a future-focused strategy.

A central discussion point was ways to encourage more young Catholics to join them.

CEBs and Liberation Theology

Brazil's Basic Church Community movement grew strong in the 1970s during a military junta rule when people's basic rights were suppressed.

Priests and religious often accompanied basic church communities which played a central community role.

The basic church community movement inspired Catholics to participate directly in church life. It encouraged them to organise and act to improve their living conditions.

Liberation theology was the basic church community's theoretical counterpart. Many liberation theologians were persecuted in the 1980s.

"Attacks on Liberation theology were attacks on the basic church communities. That process was very strong during the papacies of John Paul II and Benedict XVI," professor of theology and long-time basic church community leader Celso Carias says.

Basic church community membership dropped from 50,000 to today's 20,000.

Clericalism and democracy

While the Church in Brazil became more centralised, clergy took over most parish life, Carias says.

"The community ... was gradually driven away from the decision-making spaces of the parishes."

What was challenged was the kind of spirituality directly connected to social causes which the basic church community stimulated.

Carias says resurrecting the relevance of basic church communities in Brazil will take daily effort - effort that ignores resistance.

An outgoing church

Pope Francis is an important CEB supporter. Last week, he sent a video to motivate basic church community members at a national gathering, urging them to keep working for an outgoing Church.

One of the 50 Brazilian episcopate members at the gathering is delighted that many clergy participated. But "there is a huge resistance among many in the Church to accept the basic church community model," he says.

"Many people continue to prefer a closed Church ... that looks only to itself. We have many barriers to overcome."

He suggests working with popular movements and community organisations as Francis does.

Beginning again

Members of Brazilian Indigenous groups were also at the gathering. Some led the liturgy.

Bishop Luiz Fernando Lisboa says "A person who was not an enthusiast of the basic church community told me that 'only in a Church like that did the Indigenous and other traditional peoples have a place'."

"It was a moment of conversion."

Many Youth Pastoral Ministry leaders at the gathering were invited to work with veteran leaders to reorganise basic church communities throughout Brazil.

Bible circles are reviving, and young people are joining them.

"We have to educate and form new leaders. That is how we will change things," basic church community leader Edson Canchilheri says.

In rural areas, basic church communities can help communities as they have formerly - promoting solidarity and practical support and supporting rural associations striving for better conditions for farmers, Canchilheri says.

Source

• La Croix

Regardless of his impending cardinal appointment, Bishop Robert Barron has made it clear to Américo Aguiar that he intends to evangelise during his visit to Lisbon.

Aguiar, a youthful 49-year-old auxiliary bishop of the Patriarchate of Lisbon, is the primary coordinator of World Youth Day 2023 (WYD) and was recently appointed as a cardinal by Pope Francis.

Aguiar stirred up a debate when he allegedly stated that the WYD with the pope is not about converting people to Christ.

He made the comment while discussing Pope Francis' encyclical 'Fratelli tutti' on Portuguese television.

Aguiar stated that the WYD is not meant to "forcefully convert young people to Christ, to the Catholic Church or to anything else."

Regrettably, his interview snippets were disseminated on news websites and social media platforms.

Often taken out of context, these fragments have incited confusion and disapproval among Catholics who feel their leader abandoned them in their evangelisation mission.

The controversy surrounding the bishop's remarks was ignited primarily by the headline of an article published by the Catholic News Agency (CNA), a service of EWTN.

In response to the criticism, the news agency altered the headline.

Controversy unfortunately enflamed

The comment, when viewed in isolation, sparked controversy among many WYD participants including Barron who, in a recent column, wrote:

"When any Catholic institution, ministry or outreach forgets its evangelical purpose, it has lost its soul."

Barron concluded his column in a somewhat 'stroppy' tone, writing:

"I'm scheduled to give five presentations at World Youth Day in Lisbon, and I want to assure Bishop Aguiar that each one is intended to evangelise."

Regrettably, Barron took the CNA report at face value and seems to have overreacted.

The Pillar, a Catholic media agency, also strongly criticised Aguiar's misquoted remarks, with author Filipe D'Avillz branding him a "raging heretic."

WYD is not Catholic World Youth Day

Aguiar confirmed that World Youth Day is not exclusively for Catholics.

"Popes have never invited only young Catholics; they have always invited youth from all over the world," he said.

He emphasised the importance of the youth who come to Lisbon to meet other young people from different parts of the world, different backgrounds, different faiths and understanding that this diversity is a richness.

He concluded the interview by expressing his hope that the pilgrims would appreciate the mutual contribution of differences:

"'I think differently, I feel differently, I organise my life differently, but we are brothers and sisters and we will build the future together.' This is the main message of this encounter with the living Christ that the pope wants to give to young people" he said.

A chaplain in charge of World Youth Day in a diocese in France affirmed that "WYD is a source of conversions."

"The invitation is sent to all young people, it's not WCYD (World Catholic Youth Day)" the priest continued.

Yes, the Pope's Catholic

Cardinal-designate Aguiar has met Francis several times in the run-up to World Youth Day and quotes extensively from the pope's work.

"The world will be objectively a better place if we are able to put the certainty of Fratelli tutti in the hearts of all young people," Aguiar told RTP during the July 6 interview.

The encyclical, published in 2020, is dedicated to fraternity and social friendship.

In terms of substance, the cardinal designate's comments are not at odds with the Jesuit pope's teachings. During his visit to small Christian communities in Morocco in March 2019, Francis warned against any temptation to "proselytise" to swell the ranks.

"The paths of mission are not those of proselytism, which leads always to a dead end," the pope said.

"The Church grows not through proselytism, but through attraction and through witness."

Before Aguiar became a priest he was a politician, a fact he has never hidden and is proud of.

Aguiar is still known in Portugal for his political acumen. He has used it to some effect as he manages preparations for the upcoming World Youth Day in Lisbon — the largest public event in Portuguese history.

When asked by The Pillar if he is flattered or offended when people say that he is like a politician in a cassock: "That all depends on the tone with which they say it," Aguiar replied.

Sources

• La Croix International
• The Pillar
• Word on Fire
• CathNews

Ron was in his late 80s, a bushman who valued his independence.

He wouldn't let Hospice visit him at home because he didn't want the neighbours to know he was sick. But he did agree to me visiting him at the pub, so I would meet with him every Tuesday at the Devonport Tavern.

My very first visit was on a Friday, and I remember standing at the doorway thinking, ‘What am I doing?'

I hadn't been in a bar since before I was married.

The bar was thick with smoke, and there were two TVs showing a boxing match; people were roaring.

I asked the barmaid where I could find Ron and she pointed to a man by the jukebox.

Ron was such a regular he had his own plaque on the wall and his own chair beneath it.

Our first conversation was very difficult because there was so much noise and he was more interested in the boxing match.

We agreed that next time we would meet on a Tuesday when it was quieter.

Over a five-week period, Ron became more and more frail, so I got him to come to Hospice Daycare once a week, where he could have a decent meal and meet other patients.

One day I had a call from the barmaid asking me to come because Ron did not seem well.

I arrived to find Ron looking dreadful.

I took him home and we called his GP, who recommended he go into a Hospice inpatient unit.

At that stage we didn't have one, so we rang St Joseph's Hospice.

At St Joseph's, Ron sat on the bed and pulled out his mouth organ. He had always promised to play it for me, but when he put the instrument to his lips, no sound came.

We both cried.

Ron died a couple of days later.

All the bar regulars were at his funeral, and that was just the most amazing tribute to a wonderful Devonport character.

My Hospice role was honestly the best I ever had.

It was tough at times, but knowing I made a difference has given me immense satisfaction.

Orla and Brian were devout Irish Catholics.

They shared a very strong faith and had crosses all over their house.

I had been calling in regularly to help Orla care for Brian, who had cancer.

On this particular day, I was on a rostered day off, but Orla found my number and called me and said, "You'd better come quickly, it's time."

I said, "Orla, I'm off duty. But tell me, what is Brian doing?"

She said, "He's sitting at the table eating his porridge."

I said, "Well, Orla, I can probably reassure you that Brian's not dying today."

She said, "He is. He'll be going at three o'clock today. I've prayed to the Holy Spirit. I've prayed to the Novena of the Precious Blood that he will have a holy death and I will be told. And she told me Brian's going today at three o'clock."

Orla had called their only son and told him to be there to say goodbye to his father.

I stopped by to reassure them and saw that Brian was fine, so I went on my merry way.

The next morning I got to work… only to learn that Brian had passed away at exactly three o'clock the previous afternoon, just as Orla had said he would.

To my absolute surprise, she had been right, and I had been wrong.

I'll never forget Orla.

She's affected me hugely over the years in regard to her practice and her total belief in the hereafter.

The reality for me was that her belief was so strong that it came to fruition.

And I don't think it would have mattered what religion she followed - whether it was Hindu or Buddhism or whatever - it was the depth of her belief system that defied all logic and made what she saw, true. Continue reading

He was initially regarded as a conservative choice as archbishop; however, he became increasingly outspoken about human rights violations in El Salvador - particularly after the murder of his close friend Fr Rutilio Grande in March 1977.

During his three years as archbishop, Romero repeatedly denounced violence and spoke out on behalf of the victims of the civil war.

In times of heavy press censorship, his weekly radio broadcasts were often the only way people could find out the truth about the atrocities that were happening in their country.

He defended the right of the poor to demand political change, making him a troublesome adversary for those in Government.

He was under constant threat of death.

Still, he would not be silenced or go into hiding or exile.

He explained, "At the first sight of danger, the shepherd cannot run and leave the sheep to fend for themselves. I will stay with my people."

Sunday's Gospel (Matthew 10: 26 - 33) says, "Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul."

The man, priest, and archbishop Oscar Romero are physically dead.

Oscar Romero proclaims the Gospel message as loudly today as he did from the lectern of Catedral Metropolitana de San Salvador)

• Gerard Whiteford is Marist priest; retreat facilitator, and spiritual companion for 35 years. He writes weekly at Restawhile.nz.

The date was chosen from the very beginning for two reasons: it falls nine months before we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, and it conforms to an ancient belief that God became incarnate during the spring equinox.

However, our liturgical texts and prayers for this feast tend to put more emphasis on the Virgin Mary's free-will consent (her fiat) to bear the saviour of the world than on the fact that this is the moment God begins to take flesh in her womb.

We could call this the feast of Jesus' conception.

But Danilo Sartor, a priest of the Servites of Mary who taught liturgy for many years in Rome, says it would be better to change it to the "Feast of the Incarnation".

In his words, this would best "get to the heart of the mystery that is being celebrated".

A mystery and a scandal

More than a mystery, the incarnation is a scandal to many.

God who becomes a human being?

The consequences of that threaten our safe and tidy "god in a box" mentality that we are so often tempted to embrace and find comfort in.

It's a God who is detached from the messiness of our world.

He (always "He") is encountered in ritualised prayer formulas, in church buildings (but only those that "look" like churches), in tabernacles or gold monstrances... God who becomes flesh like us?

This is the Jesus that scandalised many in the early Church (and led to schisms) and scandalises many today.

"One and the same person — this must be said over and over again — is truly the Son of God and truly the Son of humankind," wrote Saint Leo the Great in the 5th century.

"(Jesus) is God in the virtue of the fact that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

"He is human in virtue of the fact that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us."

The incarnation is at the very core of what we believe as followers of Jesus the Christ.

Believing in a God who becomes part of God's own creation — and, even more, the implications of that — can seem not to be other-worldly and "sacral" enough for us.

We prefer to skip over the entire earthly (fleshly) life of Christ in our creedal statements.

The "great comma"

As Richard Rohr likes to point out,"Have you ever noticed the huge leap the creed makes between 'born of the Virgin Mary' and 'suffered under Pontius Pilate'?"

This leap is marked by the "great comma", which he says should lead us to ask come serious questions: "Did all the things Jesus said and did in those years not count for much?

"Were they nothing to 'believe' in?

"Was it only his birth and death that mattered?

"Does the gap in some way explain Christianity's often dismal record of imitating Jesus' actual life and teaching?"

It seems to me that Pope Francis does not fall into this trap.

And, ironically, it's why some Catholics are cool towards him and his evangelical, incarnate way of evangelising and renewing the Church.

"The joy of the gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus.

"Those who accept his offer of salvation are set free from sin, sorrow, inner emptiness and loneliness.

"With Christ joy is constantly born anew."

These are the words that begin Evangelii gaudium, the apostolic exhortation Francis published in 2013 shortly after his election to the papacy.

"In this exhortation, I wish to encourage the Christian faithful to embark upon a new chapter of evangelisation marked by this joy, while pointing out new paths for the Church's journey in years to come," he continues in this document.

It remains the most important text he's issued during his ten years as pope.

"Realities are greater than ideas"

But the type of evangelisation Francis is talking about — and that which he has modelled throughout his pontificate — has nothing to do with proselytisation (i.e. trying any means to force, scare or trick people into becoming part of a particular group or ideology).

And it has even less to do with presenting Christian faith as something other-worldly, pie-in-the-sky or detached from human reality.

This is one of the reasons the 86-year-old pope continues to upset those Catholics who see their religion more as a form of private piety and devotion (even if they fulfil that in the presence of others on Sundays) than a living, incarnate faith that poses communal, societal and ethical demands and obligations.

Francis would say it is a faith that has to do with finding God and responding to God within the messy realities of our lives and our world, not in some lofty and idealised realm that is outside of such realities.

"Realities are greater than ideas," he says in Evangelii gaudium.

"This principle has to do with incarnation of the word and its being put into practice... The principle of reality, of a word already made flesh and constantly striving to take flesh anew, is essential to evangelisation," he continues.

And here's the essence of the type of incarnate reality he's talking about:

It helps us to see that the Church's history is a history of salvation, to be mindful of those saints who inculturated the Gospel in the life of our peoples and to reap the fruits of the Church's rich bimillennial tradition without pretending to come up with a system of thought detached from this treasury as if we wanted to reinvent the Gospel.

At the same time, this principle impels us to put the word into practice, to perform works of justice and charity which make that word fruitful.

Not to put the word into practice, not to make it reality, is to build on sand, to remain in the realm of pure ideas and to end up in a lifeless and unfruitful self-centredness and gnosticism (EG, 233).

A pope who never speaks of Jesus?

It is always curious to hear people accuse Francis of not speaking enough about Jesus, but focusing more on social issues like poverty, war, the environment and so forth.

It is, in fact, through these realities that he is challenging us to the "put the word into practice" and make it "fruitful".

He points out that scripture makes it clear that there is an "inseparable bond between our acceptance of the message of salvation and genuine fraternal love".

But the consequences are evidently unclear to those who accuse the pope of not talking enough about Jesus.

"God's word teaches that our brothers and sisters are the prolongation of the incarnation for each of us: 'As you did it to one of these, the least of my brethren, you did it to me' (Mt 25:40)," he point out in his exhortation (EG, 179).

The pope is showing, by example, that the Christian faith has social consequences.

But it is ludicrous and an outright lie to say he does not preach or talk enough about Jesus.

Francis is actually extremely devoted to prayer, even in a traditional way; but he correctly sees that devotion is only one part of the equation for a Christian life.

"More than just simple doctrinal and moral transmission"

"The Church urgently needs the deep breath of prayer, and to my great joy groups devoted to prayer and intercession, the prayerful reading of God's word and the perpetual adoration of the Eucharist are growing at every level of ecclesial life," he says further on in Evangelii gaudium.

"Even so, 'we must reject the temptation to offer a privatised and individualistic spirituality which ill accords with the demands of charity, to say nothing of the implications of the incarnation'," he adds, quoting none other than John Paul II! (EG 262).

"Evangelisation is more than just simple doctrinal and moral transmission.

It is, first and foremost, witness - one cannot evangelise without witness - witness of the personal encounter with Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word in which salvation is fulfilled," Francis said at his most recent Wednesday general audience.

He upheld Evangelii nuntiandi — the apostolic exhortation Paul VI issued back in 1975 — as "the magna carta of evangelisation in the contemporary world", saying it is as topical as if it had been written yesterday.

Francis then paraphrased the Second Vatican Council and said the Church, too, "has a constant need of being evangelised; she needs to read the Gospel, to pray and to feel the force of the Spirit changing her heart".

And that is all done in the messy reality of our world here and now.

In dialogue with the contemporary world

"A Church that evangelises herself in order to evangelise is a Church that, guided by the Holy Spirit, is required to walk a demanding path, a path of conversion and renewal," the Jesuit pope continued.

"This also entails the ability to change the ways of understanding and living its evangelising presence in history, avoiding taking refuge in the protected zones of the logic of 'it has always been done this way'... the refuges that cause the Church to sicken," he added.

"The Church must go forward, she must grow continually... must be a Church that dialogically encounters the contemporary world, that weaves fraternal relationships, that generates spaces of encounter, implementing good practices of hospitality, of welcome, of recognition and integration of the other and of otherness, and that cares for the common home that is creation," he said.

"That is, a Church... that dialogues with the contemporary world, but that encounters the Lord every day, and dialogues with the Lord, and allows the Holy Spirit, the agent of evangelisation, to enter," he said.

Pope Francis believes it is a Church that incarnates the Word — the person and message of Jesus Christ — in today's realities, not in "the realm of pure ideas" of how we'd like things to be.

Evidently, that unsettles some folks.

• Robert Mickens is LCI Editor in Chief.
• First published in La-Croix International. Republished with permission.

The five priests seated with him laughed at this.

But, as the conversation turned to the realities of our failing diocesan infrastructures, the tone became more serious.

Two priests were managing three separate, cooperating parishes, three priests were managing two amalgamated parishes and the Vicar General had one parish.

The six priests around the table were managing thirteen parishes with a total of thirty distinct communities between them, doing the work of ten previous parish priests.

Amalgamation

Amalgamation looks like the solution until you ask what problem it is trying to solve.

The amalgamation of parishes is an attempt to solve the problem of institutional collapse in dioceses in three ways.

• amalgamation solves the problem of too few priests being available to provide sacramental ministry.
• amalgamation presumes that the parish structures are integral to pastoral life.
• amalgamation keeps the civil and canonical framework of parishes as a managerial structure that provides a living for a priest and income for a diocese.

As a diocese's infrastructure of pastoral and sacramental life becomes untenable, the notion takes hold that the problem lies with the parishes when the problem lies in the episcopal mindset.

Having solved the structural problem through amalgamation the newly blended parishes should function happily in this new future designed by others.

However, the gloss of efficient pastoral functioning covers a multitude of unresolved issues, like

• the independence of established communities,
• the lines of communication between previous separate parish groups, and
• the stretch of the clergy who are expected to respond.

The amalgamation of parishes does not ultimately solve the larger organisational and theological questions amongst which are:

• who can preside at the Eucharist?;
• are the laity part of the fabric of parish leadership, discernment and management?;
• are the liturgy, sacraments and priestly ministry just functional elements of diocesan structures?

Social and Cultural Elements of Change

Often the social and cultural dimensions implicit in ecclesial change are forgotten.

Solving the structural problem using clerical and lay workarounds takes little or no regard for the anthropological (human) and social (cultural) dimensions of worship and community.

They often ask fewer people to do more to keep the boat afloat.

Keeping former parishes going with liturgies of Word and Communion on Sundays as a stop-gap for Mass seems a nice alternative. However, it reframes our understanding of the Church by undermining the centrality of the Eucharist.

Eventually, the diocese reframes itself according to what it cannot provide.

Looking for answers among the dead

Many argue the real change will come with lay-parish leadership, lay-led liturgy, replacing the parish with the schools as the "new parish", importing clergy and seminarians, ordaining married men, ordaining women, geriatric men and similar solutions.

The answer might be found in some, or all, of these, but I am reminded of Christ's response in Luke 9:56-62, "leave the dead to bury the dead".

All these suggestions are deeply inauthentic because they do not address the substantive issue; the death of the local churches.

Churches do die; historically, we have only to look at North Africa.

The death of a local church—diocese or parish—is not a comforting experience.

There is a deep sense of loss.

Coming to the end of the present ‘organisational road' begs the question of a new ecclesiology and a new form of ecclesial leadership that isn't restorationist but more deeply missionary.

Pope Francis has offered a missiological vision similar to St Pope Paul IV's in Evangelii Nunciandi: "The conditions of the society in which we live oblige all of us therefore to revise methods, to seek by every means to study how we can bring the Christian message to modern man."

He acknowledged "the split between the Gospel and culture is without a doubt the drama of our time" and that the ‘Gospel must be proclaimed by witness'.

Function and structure play a role in this, but they shouldn't drive the change because we are a theological community and theology immersed in life must lead us in the work of evangelisation and mission.

Downsizing and right-sizing

When people speak of downsizing, often they mean "right-sizing" the house and garden for their current and future needs.

Finding the right size for today's local church means relearning what it means to be a Missionary Church.

The experience of change and diminution will continue; nothing can stop it at this point because the cultural changes influencing contemporary Catholicism are very strong.

The Second Vatican Council sought to provide us with the tools we require to engage with the enormity of the change and reengage with the world as it has become.

What does a diocese or parish look like in the 21 century in a small, secular country like ours struggling to articulate its cultural self-understanding and not possessing a millennial-long shared language of religious institutionalisation?

Integral to this consideration is the emerging new church that is already replacing the church of my consciousness.

It will be different because it already is.

As the Church of my generation and older dies out a new Church may emerge and it will be different.

Then again, without a suitably led ongoing discussion about what it means to be Church and what evangelisation and mission look like today, the church may indeed look very different.=

• Joe Grayland is a theologian and a priest of the Diocese of Palmerston North. His latest book is: Liturgical Lockdown. Covid and the Absence of the Laity (Te Hepara Pai, 2020).

There is a passion that involves everything: the mind, the heart, the hands, going out… everything, the whole person is involved with this proclamation of the Gospel, and for this reason we talk about the passion for evangelising.

After having seen in Jesus the model and the master of proclamation, we turn today to the first disciples, to what the disciples did.

The Gospel says that Jesus "appointed twelve, to be with Him, and to be sent out to preach" (Mk 3:14), two things: to be with him and to send them to preach.

There is one aspect that seems contradictory: He called them to be with Him and to go and preach.

One would say: either one or the other, either stay or go.

But no: for Jesus there is no going without staying and there is no staying without going.

It is not easy to understand this, but that's the way it is.

Let us try to understand a little bit what is the sense in which Jesus says these things.

First of all, there is no going without staying: before sending the disciples on mission, Christ—the Gospel says—"calls them to Himself" (cf. Mt 10:1).

The proclamation is born from the encounter with the Lord; every Christian activity, especially the mission, begins from there.

Not from what is learnt in an academy.

No, no!

It begins from the encounter with the Lord. Witnessing Him, in fact, means radiating Him; but, if we do not receive His light, we will be extinguished; if we do not spend time with Him, we will bear ourselves instead of Him—I am bringing myself and not Him—and it will all be in vain.

So only the person who remains with Him can bring the Gospel of Jesus.

Someone who does not remain with Him cannot bear the Gospel.

He will bring ideas, but not the Gospel.

Equally, however, there is no staying without going.

In fact, following Christ is not an inward-looking fact: without proclamation, without service, without mission, the relationship with Jesus does not grow.

We note that in the Gospel, the Lord sends the disciples before having completed their preparation: shortly after having called them,

He is already sending them!

This means that the mission experience is part of Christian formation.

Let us then recall these two constitutive moments for every disciple: staying with Jesus and going forth, sent by Jesus.

Having called the disciples to Himself and before sending them, Christ addresses a discourse to them, known as the ‘missionary discourse'—this is what it is called in the Gospel.

It is found in chapter 10 of Matthew's Gospel and is like the ‘constitution' of the proclamation.

From that discourse, which I recommend you read today—it is only one page in the Gospel—I draw out three aspects: why proclaim, what to proclaim and how to proclaim.

Why to proclaim: The motivation lies in a few words of Jesus, which it is good for us to remember: "Freely you have received, freely give" (v. 8).

They are just a few words. But why proclaim?

Because I have received freely, and I should give freely.

The proclamation does not begin from us, but from the beauty of what we have received for free, without merit: meeting Jesus, knowing Him, and discovering that we are loved and saved.

It is such a great gift that we cannot keep it to ourselves, we feel the need to spread it; but in the same style, right?

That is, in gratuitousness.

In other words: we have a gift, so we are called to make a gift of ourselves; we have received a gift and our vocation is to make a gift of ourselves to others; there is in us the joy of being children of God, it must be shared with our brothers and sisters who do not yet know it!

This is the reason for the proclamation. Going forth and bringing the joy of what we have received.

Second: What, then, to proclaim?

Jesus says: "Preach as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.'" (v. 7).

This is what must be said, first and foremost: God is near.

So, never forget this: God has always been close to the people. He said it to the people Himself: He said, "Look, what God is as close to the nations as I am to you?"

This closeness is one of the most important things about God.

There are three important things: closeness, mercy, and tenderness.

Don't forget that.

Who is God? The One Who is Close, the One Who is Tender, the One Who is Merciful.

This is the reality of God.

We, in preaching, often urge people to do something, and that is fine; but let's not forget that the main message is that He is near: closeness, mercy, and tenderness.

Accepting God's love is more difficult because we always want to be in the centre, we want to be protagonists, we are more inclined to do than to let ourselves be moulded, to speak than to listen.

But, if what we do comes first, we will still be the protagonists.

Instead, the proclamation must give primacy to God: to give the primacy to God, the first place to God, and to give to others the opportunity to welcome Him, to realise that He is near. And me in the background.

The third point: how to proclaim.

This is the aspect Jesus dwells on most: how to proclaim, what is the method, what should be the language for proclaiming; it's significant.

He tells us that the manner, the style is essential in witnessing.

Witnessing does not just involve the mind and saying something, the concepts.

No. It involves everything, mind, heart, hands, everything, the three languages of the person: the language of thought, the language of affection, and the language of work.

The three languages. One cannot evangelise only with the mind or only with the heart or only with the hands. Everything is involved.

And, in style, the important thing is testimony, as Jesus wants us to do.

He says this: "I send you out as sheep among wolves" (v. 16).

He does not ask us to be able to face the wolves, that is, to be able to argue, to offer counter arguments, and to defend ourselves.

No, no.

We might think like this: let us become relevant, numerous, prestigious, and the world will listen to us and respect us and we will defeat the wolves.

No, it's not like that.

No, I send you out as sheep, as lambs.

This is important.

If you don't want to be sheep, the Lord will not defend you from the wolves.

Deal with it as best you can. But if you are sheep, rest assured that the Lord will defend you from the wolves.

Be humble.

He asks us to be like this, to be meek and with the will to be innocent, to be disposed to sacrifice; this is what the lamb represents: meekness, innocence, dedication, and tenderness.

And He, the Shepherd, will recognise His lambs and protect them from the wolves.

On the other hand, lambs disguised as wolves are unmasked and torn to pieces.

A Church Father wrote: ‘As long as we are lambs, we will conquer, and even if we are surrounded by many wolves, we will overcome them.

But if we become wolves—‘Ah, how clever, look, I feel good about myself'—we will be defeated, because we will be deprived of the shepherd's help.

He does not shepherd wolves, but lambs' (St John Chrysostom, Homily 33 on the Gospel of Matthew).

If I want to be the Lord's, I have to allow Him to be my shepherd; and He is not the shepherd of wolves, He is the shepherd of lambs, meek, humble, kind as the Lord is.

Still on the subject of how to proclaim, it is striking that Jesus, instead of prescribing what to bring on a mission, says what not to bring.

At times, one sees some apostles, some person who relocates, some Christian that says he is an apostle and has given his life to the Lord, and he is carrying a lot of luggage.

But this is not of the Lord.

The Lord makes you lighten your load.

"Take no gold, nor silver, nor copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor a staff" (vv. 9—10).

Don't take anything.

He says not to lean on material certainties, but to go into the world without worldliness.

That is to say, I am going into the world, not with the style of the world, not with the world's values, not with wordliness—for the Church, falling into worldliness is the worst thing that can happen.

I go forth with simplicity.

This is how one should proclaim: by showing Jesus rather than talking about Jesus.

And how do we show Jesus? With our witness.

And finally, by going together, in community: the Lord sends all the disciples, but no one goes alone.

The apostolic Church is completely missionary and in the mission it finds its unity.

So: going forth, meek and good as lambs, without worldliness, and going together.

Here is the key to the proclamation, this is the key to success in evangelisation.

Let us accept these invitations from Jesus: may His words be our point of reference.

• Pope Francis
• Taken from Pope Francis' weekly Wednesday audience, delivered on Feb. 15, 2023.

The comments about parish sacramental celebrations come from Palmerston North's Bishop emeritus, Peter Cullinane, in an article published in Tui Motu.

Citing examples of the Church's mistakes, Cullinane says the lack of training for diocesan priests in ministry to Maori combined with the Church entrusting the ‘Maori Mission' to specialist groups ensures that most Maori do not feel 'at home' in our parish church celebrations of Eucharist.

He says that developing a sense of inclusiveness does not come about by running parallel Maori and European churches.

"The Church in our country is greatly indebted to the Religious Orders to whom the ‘Maori Mission' was entrusted," he writes.

Cullinane mentions the Society of Mary, the Daughters of Our Lady of Compassion, the Mill Hill Missionaries and the Congregation of Our Lady of the Missions in particular.

"Their work continues to bear fruit, and any alterations to pastoral practices need to safeguard the right of Maori to continue to experience life and worship in the Church in ways that are natural to them."

Nevertheless, Cullinane says, running a Maori Mission parallel to parishes had serious unintended side effects.

He writes it is against that background that introducing te reo into parish Eucharists seems a tiny gesture - but it is about recognition of tangata whenua, inclusion and belonging.

"Of course, it would be mere tokenism if it were not to follow through in all the ways required by respect for the rights of Maori in wider society and Te Tiriti o Waitangi."

Our celebrations of the Eucharist are meant to feed into our daily lives, Cullinane points out.

"Eucharistic life involves the rejection of racial prejudice and discrimination wherever these occur.

"In this way, the use of te reo in parish Eucharists should whet our appetites for the kind of hospitality, listening, sense of community and inclusiveness we have been talking about on the synodal journey."

He suggests that the next step is to experience Eucharist on a marae and recognise Maori's warm and welcoming ways.

"This way, people can see how these properly belong to the gathering stage of coming together for Eucharist.

"Respect for the rights of the home people can be only a first step in our reaching out to the many others in our society who suffer from inequalities …

"It also involves our support for other ethnic groups who can be victims of racial prejudice. Anything less than a prophetic stand for all these is less than Eucharistic."

Failure to address prejudice or help people disadvantaged by personal, social or economic conditions, proves the Second Vatican Council's claim:

"The split between the faith which many profess and their daily lives deserves to be counted among the more serious errors of our age," writes Cullinane.

Source

• Tui Motu