Islamic extremists are spoiling for a “holy war” with America and the West … but the West (and legitimate Muslim leaders) have, thankfully, declined the invitation. The West has no interest in killing people because of their religion, or making Christianity spread by force, and that's good. But the West also no longer identifies itself as Christian, and most of its leaders have no strong feelings about religion one way or another — and that's bad.

If we are uninterested in a military face-off, we might be interested in a different kind of contest. Islam is a strong and pervasive influence in countries in the Middle East, at exactly a time when the Catholic faith and Christianity are fading as a force in the West.

On this first week of Advent, we suggest that Catholics should wage a spiritual war to reestablish the power of Christianity in our own country.

Earlier this year, the Holy Father provided a detailed proposal in his apostolic letter Novo Millennium Inuente (At the Beginning of the New Millennium) as to how such a battle — the new evangelization — should proceed. He called on Catholics to “put out into the deep for a catch” as the apostles did.

Register readers are just the sort to take up the Pope's challenge, and so, starting this week, the Register is offering, on our back page, a four-part series to help.

The idea is this: If each Register reader successfully encourages one family each year to live an active faith, then, in a few years’ time, we will see scores of active Catholics living their faith and having an impact on society.

Starting this week, we will be printing a series of features that can help answer the concerns of people returning to the faith. Taking up four proposals of the Holy Father in Novo Millennium Inuente, one for each week of Advent, the guides can be cut out of the paper, photo-copied, and given to people interested in being active in the Catholic faith. We will make them available on our Web site, www.ncregister.com, in a .pdf format.

They follow the Pope's program for the new millennium, as follows:

Week 1, Sunday Mass. “We do not know what the millennium has in store for us,” John Paul wrote presciently, “but we know we are certain that it is safe in the hands of Christ, the ‘King of kings and Lord of lords” (No. 35). To assure more people of their safety, he said, we need to encourage them to return to the Lord of the Passover each Sunday. Do neighbors worry about terrorism? Is a family member paralyzed by rage? Mass has the answers they need to hear.

Week 2, Confession. Noting the tragic neglect of a sacrament which is absolutely necessary to a Christian life, the Holy Father called for a new emphasis on confession.

Many today distrust the confessional. They suspect it's a place of disapproval and severity, where they have to bear the rebuke of a priest. Our guide, we hope, will help you deliver the good news that the confessional is a place of mercy and love.

As the Pope pointed out, confession can be popular, too: “The Jubilee Year, which has been particularly marked by a return to the Sacrament of Penance, has given us an encouraging message, which should not be ignored” (No. 37).

Week 3, Prayer. John Paul's next suggestion is to promote prayer, a suggestion he has personally followed in his continued call for rosaries to end terrorism.

This will be the secret weapon of the new evangelization, said the Holy Father. “As this millennium begins, allow the successor of Peter to invite the whole Church to make this act of faith, which expresses itself in a renewed commitment to prayer” (No. 38).

Week 4, Catholic Living. Our fourth guide will give the basics of living a Catholic life.

We hope in this way to help fulfill the great hopes of the Holy Father for a new evangelization — which he said can usher in a new springtime of faith.

After all, he says in the apostolic letter, evangelization “cannot be left to a group of 'specialists.’” It falls, rather, to people like us.