In his Sunday sermon, Bishop Robert Barron said, "Dumbed down Catholicism has not helped evangelisation. Quite the contrary, we did this to ourselves".

The bishop is a controversial figure on both the secular left and right for his nonpartisan ethical advice and largely apolitical social advocacy.

Barron, 62, of the Dioceses of Winona-Rochester, is the most widely-followed online Catholic cleric in the country aside from Pope Francis. His public influence stretches worldwide via his books, videos, radio shows and documentaries with his Word on Fire ministries.

"So, in a way, we met the enemy, and it's us. We did such a bad job as teaching our faith and making it beautiful and making it intellectually compelling," Barron told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview.

"Many of the disaffiliated [Christians who left their church and no longer claim religious affiliation] have said, ‘I never got my questions answered. I had all kinds of questions. I never got good answers'".

Barron blamed the continuing decline of church attendance — at least in the Catholic rite — on weak spiritual education and a disordered emphasis on approachability.

He said, "We reduced religion — often to feel good — to ethics."

Many traditionalist Catholics point to Vatican II as a reason for the decay in Catholic theological education.

Changes at Vatican II included dropping the requirement for masses to be said in Latin, a greater emphasis on church community, and modifying the liturgy to allow greater participation from the pews.

Barron dismisses critics of the council, saying instead that the damage was done after the council when priests and prelates failed to implement its ideas intelligently.

"[The errors occurred] after the council, not because of the council," Barron said. "It was a pastoral disaster."

In an attempt to reorient the church for the modern times, Barron argues too much emphasis was put on the temporal works of charity and justice — but at the cost of the crucial necessity of theology.

"The church was often reduced to ethics and more precisely, to social justice. Nothing wrong with ethics or social justice, but it was a kind of reductionism and the doctrinal element was underplayed," Barron continued. "A caving in to the very relativistic culture held sway. So that's been a problem for a long time."

Sources

Fox News

The trainer's goal is to "catch 'em all," and become a Pokémon master by defeating other trainers.

What is Pokémon GO?
Pokémon GO is a free game available for download on Android and iOS devices. The goal is still for players to "catch them all." The game uses a phone's GPS and clock to decide which Pokémon appear in the game.

Different types appear near parks than by water. Some types only come out at night. Pokémon Go is an augmented reality game — it mixes real-world elements with the game — players have to traverse the real world to catch 'em all. The game is so popular that it has more active users than other popular apps like Snapchat, Instagram and even Twitter.

Why is it so popular?
It was just released (July 6), so it's new and exciting. It's also free. Pokémon has been a popular trading card and video game franchise for over 20 years — which means it has a nostalgia that appeals adults, but is still new enough to appeal to kids, teens, and young adults.

It debuts augmented reality technology in a new and exciting way. Finally, as players encounter each other out in their communities, they are meeting new people, having conversations, and building relationships.

Why should my parish care about a video game?
In the new Pokémon Go game, points, prizes and levels are gained by catching Pokémon and by going to Gyms and PokéStops — tagged locations in the real world where users can stock up on gear and points for the game. These locations — determined by GPS coordinates and Google Maps — are often found at historical landmarks, parks, and memorials. Many of those stops are also located at churches. Many parishes are reporting massive increases in foot traffic around their buildings and on their grounds.

Unlike with other video games, players encounter each other out in their communities — face-to-face. The game is fostering relationship building between parents & children, neighbors and even among strangers. Continue reading

Sources

• Department of New Evangelization, Diocese of Green Bay
• Image: OSV Newsweekly

I've listened to several of his lectures, read many of his articles, and become a devotee.

He's got a lot of great stuff to say, and he isn't afraid to say it.

His appeal, to me, is that Kreeft is not a man who's afraid to mince his words.

Still, I was floored by a comment he made in a lecture on ecumenism—that is, his view on how to restore Christian unity.

A task I see, and many see, as absolutely critical in our age.

Without compromising the integrity of the Catholic Church, and the truth of Catholic doctrine, Kreeft said, simply, that if Catholicism is going to have any hope of attracting our non-Catholic brothers and sisters the Catholic Church must become more Protestant.

A bold claim, and surely one to raise the ire of just about any serious Catholic but do Kreeft and me a favour and, please, read on.

Evangelical Protestantism, says Kreeft, has a serious market cornered on relationship-building, discipleship, and evangelization.

That is, Evangelical churches the world over are great at making people feel welcome (like they're part of something bigger—because they are), teaching them how to become "little Jesus's", and equipping them to go out into the world and act accordingly.

Through successful programs of Bible Study, Sunday School, youth groups, and enriching fellowship, Evangelical churches build up a community that feels like a community.

They're accessible and welcoming (an important key to the New Evangelization).

Through this kind of dedication and devotion to study and fellowship, Evangelicals are equipped to live amongst the world and witness to Christ—to live a life oriented to Christ and make it known. And the job of being Christ to our fellow sojourners is taken seriously, for the most part.

The Evangelical church is, fundamentally, missionary in its orientation. Continue reading

• K. Albert Little is an Evangelical convert to Catholicism from Ontario, Canada.

Until yesterday the Catholic Enquiry Centre's virtual home was catholicenquiry.org.nz however from around 1:15pm yesterday the New Zealand Catholic Enquiry Centre can be reached at www.catholicenquiry.nz.

"It's a positive way to brand the Centre", Catholic Enquiry Centre Director, Fr Allan Jones SM told CathNews.

"When you think about it, we're clearly not a .co.nz, nor a .net.nz, and while from among the choices the .org.nz was the best fit for us, we're really not an organisation either", he said.

"We're simply the Catholic Enquiry Centre in New Zealand and so www.catholicenquiry.nz is the best fit."

At 1pm Tuesday 30 September, the New Zealand Domain Name Commission (DNC) made third-level domain names optional, giving New Zealanders the choice to either register .co.nz, .org.nz, .net.nz or simply register .nz at the second-level.

Many other countries have already made this change.

Those in New Zealand with existing names have until 1pm, 30 March 2015 to stake a claim on their .nz equivalent.

In cases where several groups want the same .nz domain, the DNC has established mediation process. If mediation is unsuccessful it could mean the .nz second-level domain remains unallocated.

Fr John Murphy of Church Resources, who manages a number of domains for various Church organisations, told CathNews that The Catholic Enquiry Centre's application was actually very straight-forward.

"The Centre pre-registered early and didn't have any other competition for the name."

"They've also actually been pretty smart and have both spellings "inquiry" and "enquiry" for the Centre", he said.

Launched 53 years ago, the Catholic Enquiry Centre is modernising its communications, reaching out to new New Zealanders, beyond the Church walls and in ways modern society uses.

"Our television and internet advertising is very successful", Fr Jones said.

"Getting the .nz domain name just makes sense".

I. Communal and societal repercussions of the kerygma

177. The kerygma has a clear social content: at the very heart of the Gospel is life in community and engagement with others. The content of the first proclamation has an immediate moral implication centred on charity.

Confession of faith and commitment to society

178. To believe in a Father who loves all men and women with an infinite love means realizing that "he thereby confers upon them an infinite dignity".[141] To believe that the Son of God assumed our human flesh means that each human person has been taken up into the very heart of God. To believe that Jesus shed his blood for us removes any doubt about the boundless love which ennobles each human being. Our redemption has a social dimension because "God, in Christ, redeems not only the individual person, but also the social relations existing between men".[142] To believe that the Holy Spirit is at work in everyone means realizing that he seeks to penetrate every human situation and all social bonds: "The Holy Spirit can be said to possess an infinite creativity, proper to the divine mind, which knows how to loosen the knots of human affairs, even the most complex and inscrutable".[143] Evangelization is meant to cooperate with this liberating work of the Spirit. The very mystery of the Trinity reminds us that we have been created in the image of that divine communion, and so we cannot achieve fulfilment or salvation purely by our own efforts. From the heart of the Gospel we see the profound connection between evangelization and human advancement, which must necessarily find expression and develop in every work of evangelization. Accepting the first proclamation, which invites us to receive God's love and to love him in return with the very love which is his gift, brings forth in our lives and actions a primary and fundamental response: to desire, seek and protect the good of others.

179. This inseparable bond between our acceptance of the message of salvation and genuine fraternal love appears in several scriptural texts which we would do well to meditate upon, in order to appreciate all their consequences. The message is one which we often take for granted, and can repeat almost mechanically, without necessarily ensuring that it has a real effect on our lives and in our communities. How dangerous and harmful this is, for it makes us lose our amazement, our excitement and our zeal for living the Gospel of fraternity and justice! 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). The way we treat others has a transcendent dimension: "The measure you give will be the measure you get" (Mt 7:2). It corresponds to the mercy which God has shown us: "Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you… For the measure you give will be the measure you get back" (Lk 6:36-38). What these passages make clear is the absolute priority of "going forth from ourselves towards our brothers and sisters" as one of the two great commandments which ground every moral norm and as the clearest sign for discerning spiritual growth in response to God's completely free gift. For this reason, "the service of charity is also a constituent element of the Church's mission and an indispensable expression of her very being".[144] By her very nature the Church is missionary; she abounds in effective charity and a compassion which understands, assists and promotes.

161. It would not be right to see this call to growth exclusively or primarily in terms of doctrinal formation. It has to do with "observing" all that the Lord has shown us as the way of responding to his love. Along with the virtues, this means above all the new commandment, the first and the greatest of the commandments, and the one that best identifies us as Christ's disciples: "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you" (Jn15:12). Clearly, whenever the New Testament authors want to present the heart of the Christian moral message, they present the essential requirement of love for one's neighbour: "The one who loves his neighbour has fulfilled the whole law... therefore love of neighbour is the fulfilling of the law" (Rom 13:8, 10). These are the words of Saint Paul, for whom the commandment of love not only sums up the law but constitutes its very heart and purpose: "For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, 'you shall love your neighbour as yourself'" (Gal 5:14). To his communities Paul presents the Christian life as a journey of growth in love: "May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all" (1 Th 3:12). Saint James likewise exhorts Christians to fulfil "the royal law according to the Scripture: You shall love your neighbour as yourself" (2:8), in order not to fall short of any commandment.

162. On the other hand this process of response and growth is always preceded by God's gift, since the Lord first says: "Baptize them in the name..." (Mt 28:19). The Father's free gift which makes us his sons and daughters, and the priority of the gift of his grace (cf. Eph 2:8-9; 1 Cor 4:7), enable that constant sanctification which pleases God and gives him glory. In this way, we allow ourselves to be transformed in Christ through a life lived "according to the Spirit" (Rom 8:5).

"Many of our people do not even know the fundamentals of our faith," Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan said in a pastoral letter on the Year of the Laity released yesterday.

"It is certainly shameful proof of our failure to evangelize our country that our churches are filled with people, our religious festivities are fervent, our Catholic schools are many, but our country is mired in poverty and corruption," he said.

"Many, perhaps the majority of corrupt people in politics and in business, are graduates of our own Catholic schools and are 'practicing' Catholics," Villegas said, adding that most of those who cheat in elections and those who sell their votes are baptized Catholics.

"This is also true of the bribe takers in public offices and the looters of our public coffers," he said.

Villegas, who took over as head of the bishops' conference on Saturday, also said Catholics have become "very vulnerable to the seductions of other religious groups who find [Filipinos] easy targets."

Recent political developments in the country have highlighted corruption that is connected with "blatant misuse of political patronage," he noted.

"It is now clear that our people are poor because our leaders have kept them poor by their greed for money and power," he said, pointing to several senators and congressmen implicated in a 10-billion peso (US$228.8 million) pork barrel fund scam.

The pork barrel is a lump sum given through the national budget to legislators supposedly to finance priority development programs and projects.

Bishops have repeatedly argued that politics as it is practiced in the Philippines is the single biggest obstacle to development of the country.

"What are you doing, our dear lay faithful to rid our country of graft and corruption? Do you perhaps participate in corrupt practices by selling your votes, by buying votes, by bribery and acceptance of kickbacks?" Villegas asked.

Villegas urged the faithful to "take courage" and stand up for their faith. "Speak for Jesus and His Church in public discussions. Do not be afraid to be identified as Catholic Christians," he said.

Church leaders in the Philippines are conducting a nine-year intensive evangelization campaign in the run-up to the 500th anniversary celebrations in 2021 marking the arrival of Christianity in the country.

Source

UCA News
Image: UCA News

"If we are to share the Good News with our brothers and sisters in the digital continent, we must speak a language they can understand," said Monsignor Paul Tighe, secretary of the Vatican's Pontifical Commission on Social Communication.

Speaking at the two-day Catholic Social Media Summit in Manila, Tighe said the challenge confronting the Church is how to communicate effectively the word of God to today's social media generation.

He said the language of digital and social communication is appropriate for evangelization because it is "conversational, interactive and dialogical."

To become good citizens of the digital world, one must be open to dialogue and live a life that is "consistent with the Gospel," he said.

Sources

UCA News
Interaksyon
Image: UCA News

When I travel, I always get asked by parents how they can get their adult children back to church. It's an epidemic. We know this.

And we can talk about catechesis and community and leadership and orthodoxy and the sacraments and the fullness of truth. We can complain about politics and how we need more preaching from the pulpit. But here is the core problem. Here is the practical reason why people are not convinced of the Catholic faith anymore:

We Catholics don't look or act any different than non-catholics. It's that simple.

The question we must answer is "if Catholicism offers a better way, why don't Catholics' lives seem any better?"

If we believe our faith and action in this life has eternal consequences, why don't we act like it? If the God of our universe, the Creator of everything, is truly present in the Eucharist, why don't our actions show this?

If our relationship with God is truly the most important relationship, why don't our daily schedules reflect that? If our marriages and families are our greatest blessings, why do we sacrifice them for our careers?

If God has a plan for us, why do we make so many plans without him? And why are we not on our knees every morning thanking, praising and giving over to him every moment of our entire day?

If Catholicism is true, why isn't everything we do ordered around this Truth? Continue reading

Sources

• Matthew Warner in National Catholic Register
• Image: Patheos

Matthew Warner is a lover of God, his wife, his kids, his life, cookies, hot-buttered bread, snoozin' & awkward (as well as not awkward) silence.

It is undoubtedly true that Pope Francis' personal style is distinct from that of his immediate predecessors. How could it not be so? Inevitably each pope has his own personality, context and point of emphasis. But what is equally true is that the content and purpose of Francis' outreach are in clear continuity with the legacy of the Second Vatican Council and especially Blessed John Paul II and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI; the new pope's outreach is an embodiment of the new evangelization.

The New Evangelization in Context

The theme of evangelization is indeed relatively new in Catholic circles. "Evangelizing" is something we had long associated with Protestant groups that send their members door to door. When we Catholics worried about the growth of the church, we thought in terms of missions, which meant, in practical terms, sending a donation to clergy who traveled overseas. The notion of evangelization was foreign to Catholics. Though the term and its near relatives are common in the church's documents from the second half of the 20th century, one has to strain to find it before then. In the documents of Vatican I (1869-70), the word evangelium (Latin for "Gospel") appears only once, and only then in reference to the four written Gospels.

If one skips ahead to the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), however, one will find the root evangel and its cognates—evangelize, evangelizing, evangelization—more than 200 times. These words are used to speak of the act of spreading the Good News, sharing the message and life of Jesus Christ. Something had changed between the councils. The popes noticed. Continue reading

Sources

• America
• Image: St Patrick's Cathedral

The archbishop expressed hope that some of the things spoken about which were specifically about what parishes and schools will be elaborated on.

"Hopefully some of that will come out in the final document" the archbishops said in his letter to priests and pastoral leaders".

"One of the things that came though very loud and clear is that the Christian message is not just any piece of 'good news,' but the Good News. It is the only complete, lasting and full answer to the longing that is in every human heart".

The archbishop told the priests and parish leaders some of the presentations were inspiring, and a number were less so.

Archbishop Dew said he is very pleased to be back in Wellington.

Source:

• + John Dew
• Image: USA TODAY

One participant was quoted as saying that Islam had become the "buzzword" of the synod that ends this weekend.

"It's no surprise that Islam has taken on such importance during this synod," French-born Bishop Paul Desfarges, who heads the diocese of Constantine in Algeria, told journalists in Rome this week. "It's an issue that concerns Europe."

Christianity, with about 2 billion followers, is the world's largest religion and Catholicism - its biggest denomination by far - makes up just over half that total.

But some estimates suggest that the 1.3 billion Muslims, four-fifths of them outside the Arab world, are growing in number much faster than Christians, whose numbers are shrinking in their European heartland.

"We need a much more developed analysis and discussion of the consequences of the Islamic presence in the Western world," Sydney Cardinal George Pell was quoted by the Reuters report.

Kyrillos William, the Catholic Coptic bishop of Assiut, painted a stark picture of the situation facing Egypt's large Christian minority - about 10 percent of the population - since the upheavals of the Arab Spring.

"Every day since the Muslim Brotherhood's rise to power, we see new steps towards the Islamisation of the state," he said. "Christians continue to be considered second-class citizens and many of their rights are not recognized."

In West Africa, where Christianity and Islam are vying for new followers among the many people quitting traditional religions, bishops felt Catholicism had a double disadvantage.

"The rapid expansion of Islam and especially the spreading of fundamentalism in West Africa enormously worries the Church," said Bishop Nicodeme Anani Barrigah-Benissan from Togo.

"It only takes one day to become Muslim but it is impossible to renounce this religion later," he said. By contrast, he added, it takes at least three years of study for an adult to become a Catholic, and the baptized can leave at will.

Sources

• Reuters
• AFP/France 24
• Catholic Herald
• Image: Reuters

At the end of a Synod a Message (Nuntius) is addressed to the People of God, particularly to those people who are directly associated with the Synod's topic. The Message is Pastoral in nature; its purpose is to encourage the People of God to respond faithfully to their proper vocation, and to praise them for the efforts already being made.

During the second week a first draft of the Nuntius is presented to the Assembly for general discussion. After noting the observations of the Assembly, the Commission prepares the definitive text which is later submitted to the Assembly for its approval. The definitive text of the Nuntius is published at the end of the Synod's work. Archbishop John writes from Rome:

Source:

• Incaelo
• Zenit
• Archbishop John's blog
• Image: CNews

Why Does the Holy Father Need to Call a Synod?

The bishops of the Church, in unity with Peter's successor, and as successors to the apostles, were given a promise by Jesus Christ — I will be with you until the end of time (John 14:16, 26). This promise is given in relationship to the mission entrusted to their care: to teach and baptize all nations (Matthew 28:18-20). When the bishops are assembled by mandate of the pope, amazing things happen. We see this in the Acts of the Apostles, when pastoral questions were raised and answers needed to be given (Acts 15). The apostolic ministry the bishops exercise in the name of Jesus Christ shoulders them with the burdens and joys of shepherding with authority over the flock, with the same love that the Good Shepherd has for the flock — and with the mission to teach and baptize all nations.

We profess our faith in an apostolic Church for a reason. The successors to the apostles, discerning with the ordained and non-ordained the needs of the Church and how to respond to those needs, are the ones who are called to definitively and authentically teach and baptize all nations.

The Synod of Bishops represents a way for the Holy Father to bring bishops together to address matters of the Church in light of the Tradition of the Church and what the word of God has revealed. We should then not look at a synod as a bureaucratic process or a waste of time, but a very important moment in the life of the Church, because the Holy Spirit will bring the bishops the direction, insight and even resolution we need to advance the mission of the Catholic Church. Read more

Sources

• National Catholic Register
• Image: USA Today

In all honesty, at least from a media point of view, it's not even the biggest Vatican event happening right now. That distinction belongs to the trial of Paolo Gabriele, the former papal butler charged with being the mole at the heart of the Vatican leaks scandal. An initial verdict could come as early as Saturday.

Yet the synod is nonetheless worth tracking, especially given the theme. (For those not fluent in Catholic-speak, "evangelization" refers to missionary outreach. We'll get to the "new" part below.) Here are three good reasons why:

• Particularly in places where Catholicism traditionally has been strong, evangelization is a real challenge. In Latin America, the church has sustained massive losses to Pentecostal and evangelical Christianity, estimated at 8,000 defections per day during the 1990s; in the United States, Catholicism has a higher retention rate than other Christian denominations, but a lower recruitment rate, and would be losing ground without Hispanic immigration.
• Synods are always a valuable sounding board for the realities of the church in various parts of the world — sort of a graduate seminar in being part of a global family of faith.
• Synods are also a bit like the Iowa caucuses of Catholicism, a chance for up-and-coming leaders to break out of the crowd, often with one eye on the next papal election.

This synod will run Oct. 7-28. I'll be in Rome for most of that time covering it, so watch the NCR website for regular reports. In the meantime, here's a basic primer. Read more

Sources

• John L Allen Jr in National Catholic Reporter
• Image: Malankara Catholic News

"Those who know little and care even less about the institutions and hierarchies of the church these days" nevertheless are attracted and challenged by Christians whose lives show they have been transformed by their encounter with Christ, said the leader of the Anglican Communion.

Pope Benedict invited Archbishop Williams to deliver a major address at the synod on the new evangelization on Wednesday.

Archbishop Williams recalled the Second Vatican Council, which, he said, was a sign that "the church was strong enough to ask itself some demanding questions."

He told CNS and Vatican Radio that the Second Vatican Council was "enormously important" for other Christians as well as for Catholics.

"I was a teenager as the council began, and a practicing Anglican, and what had been a very self-contained, rather remote, exotic, fascinating, but strange body, suddenly opened up," he said.

In many ways, he said, the synod on new evangelization is a continuation of the work of Vatican II.

"With our minds made still and ready to receive, with our self-generated fantasies about God and ourselves reduced to silence, we are at last at the point where we may begin to grow," he said.

"The face we need to show to our world is the face of a humanity in endless growth toward love, a humanity so delighted and engaged by the glory of what we look toward that we are prepared to embark on a journey without end to find our way more deeply into it," Archbishop Williams told the synod.

During an interview earlier with Catholic News Service and Vatican Radio, the archbishop said: "If evangelization is just rallying the troops or just trying to get people to sign up, something's missing — what's missing is the transformed humanity that the Gospel brings us."

Archbishop Williams, who has announced he will retire at the end of December, also had a private meeting with Pope Benedict.

Sources

• Catholic News Service
• Virtue Online
• Image: Clerical Whispers

"They were punching way above their weight," said Robin Sloan, who discovered the anomaly but did not recognize the names behind the tweets.

Christian evangelists, Joyce Meyer, Max Lucado and Andy Stanley were not well known inside Twitter's offices. But they had all built loyal ranks of followers well beyond their social networks — they were evangelical Christian leaders whose inspirational messages of God's love perform about 30 times as well as Twitter messages from pop culture powerhouses like Lady Gaga. Continue reading

"They were punching way above their weight," said Robin Sloan, who discovered the anomaly but did not recognize the names behind the tweets.

Joyce Meyer, Max Lucado and Andy Stanley were not well known inside Twitter's offices. But they had all built loyal ranks of followers well beyond their social networks — they were evangelical Christian leaders whose inspirational messages of God's love perform about 30 times as well as Twitter messages from pop culture powerhouses like Lady Gaga. Continue reading