LOS ANGELES — Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles has written his first pastoral letter to his archdiocese, invoking the Catholic history of California and calling on Catholics to witness to the “New World of faith.”
“Los Angeles — like all of California and the Americas — is built on a Christian foundation. And, today, we are called to build on that missionary foundation to make a New Evangelization of the Americas,” the archbishop said in his Oct. 2 letter, which was released Oct. 10, the eve of the Catholic Church’s Year of Faith.
“The world needs a New Evangelization! The people of our city, our nation and our continent are waiting for the encounter with Jesus Christ, who makes all things new,” he proclaimed.
Archbishop Gomez encouraged Catholics to embrace the Year of Faith as “a time of interior renewal and spiritual preparation for a new Christian witness to our city and our continent.” This renewal, he said, is for each individual and for the archdiocese in its parishes, schools, catechesis, religious education and social ministries.
“We need to ask ourselves: Is our work leading men and women to Jesus Christ and his Church? Is the Christian faith spreading, and is knowledge of the faith deepening through our programs and ministries?” Archbishop Gomez said. He is presently in Rome for the Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization, which will run until Oct. 28.
The archbishop, who took office in March 2011, named five pastoral priorities: improving faith education, encouraging vocations to the priesthood and religious life, fostering Catholic identity and diversity, promoting a culture of life and strengthening marriage and the family.
He stressed the need for every Catholic to grow in his or her knowledge of the faith.
Every Catholic should learn how to pray better and how to read the Gospels with “more lively faith and deeper understanding,” he wrote, recommending the practice of lectio divina, meditating and praying using Scripture, to help Catholics encounter Jesus Christ. He emphasized that this education is rooted in the Eucharist.
Vocations to the priesthood and religious life are “born of a Catholic culture,” and intensified prayer is a practical step to advance them, the archbishop explained.
In the realm of promoting a culture of life, the archbishop said the Church must “proclaim the gospel of life” and protect “the rights of the person from conception to natural death.”
He explained the defense of marriage as an effort to restore a “family culture” in the face of “widespread cultural confusion.” This defense must include doing more to support mothers, fathers and families in Catholic parishes and ministries.
“Our Church must lead a cultural renewal, so that our society will once more see that marriage is sacred and that the family is the true sanctuary of life and the heart of a civilization of love,” he said.
Archbishop Gomez encouraged laypeople to sanctify their work and see their daily activities “as the place where you meet and walk with Jesus.”
“Through our witness, let us make this truly a City of the Angels — a city of love and truth, where all can know that God is near in his love and where the horizons of every life are open to his promise of salvation,” he said.
The pastoral letter also announced some changes in the diocesan administration.
The archbishop intends to create an Office of the New Evangelization. He will expand the mission of the archdiocese’s Office of Justice and Peace to include “defending innocent life against the threats of abortion and euthanasia.”
The archbishop closed his letter by asking for the prayers of Our Lady of Guadalupe and Our Lady of the Angels.
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Unfortunately the Archbishop still does not get it. If our leaders do not ‘get it’ then evangelization will fail, as do words in the wind.
We must use the kiss principle.
This is what each individual must do - - -
1) Pray.
2) Read the CATECHISM of the CATHOLIC CHURCH, Second Edition” in entirety.
3) Ask others to do the same (both Catholics and non-Catholics).
4) Discuss contents of the CCC with them.
This formula is in accord with what Pope Benedict has asked each of us to do starting in paragraphs 11 of his Motu Proprio Porta Fidei, not expanding Diocese bureaucracies.
(The CCC is printed in many languages including Spanish.)
Blessed John Paul II wrote and was it repeated in Pope Benedict’s Porta Fidei: “this catechism will make a very important contribution to that work of renewing the whole life of the Church..”
Why don’t all US Bishops get it ? ? ?
Dr. Scott Hahn has a statement on the Catechism and Year of Faith.
See: http://whatcatholicsreallybelieve.com
or
Search internet: ” What Catholics REALLY Believe SOURCE ” which includes a short video from Dr. Hahn.
Hi Anne- It sounds like you’re asking why the Bishops don’t get what evangelization is all about, although your 4 point solution outlined above puts all evangelization stock into praying and reading and discussing the Catechism of the Catholic Church. That’s not the entire message of Porta Fidei at all, nor is what Evangelization is.
Evangelizing is not limited to “pray, read and discuss the Catechism.” That’s being “catechized.” There are so many kids (and now grown adults) in the faith that know all the words to those rote prayers taught in religious education but are very limited on what they mean or what Jesus said to do.
Evangelization, for starters, is follow the command of Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:19-20) to spread the Gospel to all nations and to develop and enhance an ongoing personal relationship with Him, so that we can freely share our faith with others. Unfortunately, the words “personal relationship with Jesus” is not commonspeak among our own brethren.
If we don’t know our own faith, how- pray tell- can we convince a potential convert to join? We have too many Catholics beating others over the head about how we are the “one true faith” and think their own personal salvation is already guaranteed simply because they’re a Catholic. Think about how that sounds to a non-Catholic. I don’t think that line of rhetoric is attractive at all- especially since Jesus Himself never said anything of the sort.
Evangelii Nuntiandi, a 1975 Apostolic Exhortation authored by Paul VI, writes clearly that Evangelization is the Essential Mission of the Catholic Church, that she exists to evangelize, and - here’s the lynchpin- “she BEGINS by being evangelized herself.”
So, we’ve been given plenty of instruction on what to do, dating back 2,000 years. The Clarion Call has gone out again, over and over, from Holy Fathers throughout the ages and followed up on by many Bishops and Clergy. The sad part is the Church has placed Doctrine above the Word of God and the baptismal water has gotten muddy for many who go to Church and nothing else. There’s confusion in the ranks.
I think that our half empty churches are a pretty good witness that we can’t catechize someone if they haven’t been evangelized first. They are two separate entities that the Church, for whatever reason, found necessary to lump together. That’s what Ralph Martin, among other lay people in our Church, is trying to get across at the Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization this month.
Does anyone know of any Fortune 500 Company that has, for all intents and purposes, neglected its Essential Mission but has still turned a profit? I don’t - and the Catholic Church doesn’t get a free pass as to what takes place when that happens. We need to stop blaming protestants (or anyone non-Catholic) for our own self-inflicted wounds and get to work. We need to get back to Jesus, re-learn what He said to do and then do it. Our moral compasses will be pointing due north in no time. Amen!
http://www.beholdthelambministry.com/getoutoftheboat.htm
Have a Blessed day, everybody.
I would be proud to have a pastoral letter such as this come from my bishop with the admonition to the priests of his dioceses that they, too, much preach, from the ambo, these teachings of the Catholic Church. My priests are silent on these issues. They preach “love” but not what that means in literal, concrete ways, such as not supporting pro abortion political candidates, etc.
Anne,I don’t see how his letter contradicts what you have outlined. I think the archbishops call to evangeliza and grow in the faith is not out of line with the steps Pope Benedict wants us to follow or at least I don’t read that in his letter. Can you explain why you say he doesn’t get it so I can understand your argument? Thanks
Sorry that it took me so long to get back.
The majority of CATHOLICS in the pews do not know their Faith.
They have never been told to read the “CATECHISM of the CATHOLIC CHURCH, Second Edition”, and some don’t even know it exists.
The New Evangelization is for the transmission of the faith.
The synod highlighted the important role of every disciple of Christ in the mission of spreading the faith. Laypeople must use their God-given gifts to evangelize with “eager dedication.” - is not only important but required.
When was the last time you heard this in a Homily in your Parish, or any Religious class -
“....The social duty of Christians is to respect and awaken in each man the love of the true and the good. It requires them to make known the worship of the one true religion which subsists in the Catholic and apostolic Church. ...” ?
It’s a quote right from the 20 year old “CATECHISM of the CATHOLIC CHURCH, Second Edition”.
Humans can not accurately teach others what they accurately do not know.
Rather than argue amongst ourselves, lets be obedient to the instruction of Pope Benedict in Porta Fidei, and STUDY the CATECHISM of the CATHOLIC CHURCH, and share it with others.
For more info on the net search ” What Catholics REALLY Believe SOURCE “.
Included is a short video by Dr. Scott Hahn.
QUOTE: - - ” There are two levels to the New Evangelization.
FIRST is the FORMATION and EDUCATION of those who practice the faith, so they can be better witnesses and evangelizers in their own lives to those in their family, their neighborhood and their workplace.
The other level is to REACH OUT to the secular culture, to people who are away from the Church or who are seeking something better, and to put together arenas where they can feel comfortable coming to find something they are looking for. ”
- - -UNQUOTE. Fr. Gino Sylva (who is on the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization).
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