This summer I had the opportunity of talking with Dr. Petroc Willey while I was at the Maryvale Institute in Birmingham, England. One of the things he was sharing with me is that the New Evangelization is often thought of as being exclusively about new methods of presenting the faith, but one must be careful to not overlook how important the deposit of faith as communicated in the Catechism is regarding the New Evangelization. It’s important to note that he upcoming Synod of Bishops is dedicated to the New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith. The emphasis is the Transmission of the Christian Faith not on merely new methods.
Communicating the faith in the Third Millennium does call for a re-proposing the Gospel Message in a way that will be received by the People of God today. We know that people are less receptive to hour long lectures (just to name one example) than they once were. Therefore, various tools and methods need to be incorporated (e.g., Video, dialogue, small group interaction, etc.). At the same time Our Faith must be presented from the living sources of the faith – the liturgy, the Fathers of the Church, the saints, Council documents. The Catechism does this is an unprecedented manner. The reality of presenting the immeasurable riches of the Faith from these living sources is key to the New Evangelization.
What do you think? It would be great to hear your thoughts on this.
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