Pope opens Synod to discuss solution to secular tide

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
10/8/2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

New Evangelization will be the key to the solution.

Pope Benedict XVI spent Sunday opening a synod on the 50th Anniversary of the Second Vatican Council. The synod composed of 262 archbishops, bishops, and senior clergy listened to Benedict as he discussed the needs of the Church.

Clergy gathered to hear the Pope's remarks at the opening of the Synod in Vatican City.

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VATICAN CITY (Catholic Online) - Perhaps the leading topic up for discussion is the rapid growth of secularism in Europe and elsewhere in the world. Europe has seen an explosion in the number of people who no longer identify with any faith whatsoever, and an increase in the number of self-declared atheists.

The people behind the new secularism are also championing new discriminations against the Church and her faithful. To counter this, as well as to bring renewal to the whole Church, the Holy Father is calling for the next year to be the "Year of Faith" with a special emphasis placed on the New Evangelization.

The New Evangelization within the church, is a renewed attempt to reach people with the gospel message of Christ, much like was done during the age of exploration, when the faith was spread around the globe by courageous missionaries. However, it also requires that the people "in the pews" have encountered the living Christ themselves. Thus, the effort is oriented toward Catholics as well. You cannot give to others what you do not have yourselves.

The New Evangelization then, represents a new call for courageous Christians, in love with the Lord and faithful to His Church, to step forward and become evangelizers in the spirit of the missionary clergy who have gone before. Of course, there is no need to seek people in the jungles, for there are now millions who live without the light of Christ, in every neighborhood on Earth, due to the growing influences of secularism.

According to Benedict, the family must be at the center of this new evangelization. Beginning with the sacrament of marriage, understood as only possible between one man and one woman, the holy couple in communion with Christ must first witness to one another and their family, the love of Christ. In so doing, souls will be won back to the Church.

From this, the family becomes a beacon which draws in others who witness their evangelization.

This is perhaps, the best approach to the rising tide of secularism. Secularism is cold and indifferent, and is founded on postmodern philosophy that holds all worldviews to be equal - unless they happen to be worldviews consistent with Christianity; those views seem to be held in inferior respect.

If secularism is the poison, then the New Evangelization, with its emphasis on loving witness, is the antidote.

Regardless of the best efforts of those in the modern secularism movement, they will sadly remain frustrated for the Church remains protected by the promises of Christ, who solemnly told St. Peter "the Gates of Hell will not prevail against it."

Historically, the Church has faced many persecutions and has witnessed times of growth and recession in membership. These are old challenges dressed in modern trappings, but the solutions always remain the same - to continue spreading the gospel of Christ and to remain a voice of reason and goodwill in a dark world.

As the three-week Synod continues at the Vatican, the faithful can expect good news and good plans to come from the assembly there.

� 2012, Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.

- - -

Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: New Evangelization, secularism, synod, Benedict, Vatican

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1 - 5 of 5 Comments

Dan
8 months ago
Matthew, you wrote a lot of good things in your post that I agree with, but I don't think it's fair to blame the Church for the revolutions. It's man's sinful nature that led him to destroy Christian Europe and found secularist governments in the new world. It's that same original sin of pride and disobedience that led man to believe that he did not need to serve God or His Church. Sure, there were failings in the Church, but the revolutions you speak of (such as the French Revolution) were revolts against all things Christian, not against a few failings of the Church.
Mathew Thankachen O.Praem
8 months ago
unlike many Institutions and movement that faded away from the face of the earth, the Church survives only because she is ever renewed by the 'Holy Spirit'. After the Vatican Council, once again, the synod of Bishops are on a look out ' within and without'. It is a great moment of Grace when the Pope in communion with the Bishops seek ' New Evangelization' as an ' anti-dote' to the ' venomous Secularism'. In my opinion, it is our radical priests, theologians and Educationists who made the venomous secularism and not the ' laos', the laity. Historically, the hierarchical Church has to admit we deviated from the path of Christ, failed to be an " exemplum" to the Faithful, leading to Revolutions - both material and ideological and hence, the primary conversion must be of the ' de secularization of the clerics and Religious', so that the ' messenger becomes the message' to the family to be imitated. Even in developing countries like Asia and Africa where once their ' material deprivation' is liberated through social action and education by the Church, they fly away from the' Cukoose's Nest', never to return, enjoying the scientific and materialistic world, at times, turning against the Church. Hence, ' spirituality be the core of material transformation', the ' poor' of Luke be mingled with ' poor in spirit', a thirst and faithfulness to the Church, the root they sprang from. As the 'young generation is the future of the Church' who often hold ' the verity of the scientific knowledge' in opposition to Religion, God and Church' as an ' out dated' archaicinstitution, there is a need to revamp the 'contribution of the Church in the Scientific' field to the youth in the school and university level. Thus, the new Evangelization should have an " wholistic' impact in the intellectual, social, economical and integral development of man and society through time and again the Church entering into 'Dialogue with humanity' in a spirit of ' self valuation and assessment'.
Mathew Thankachen O.Praem.
jh
8 months ago
Good summary. In our developed world, many people have forgotten or simply denied that all the blessings we have are from God. We need to remember that every breath we breathe is through the Mercy of God, and the suitable response is "Thank you, Lord."
DERRILL GALLANT
8 months ago
Indeed, the secularist movements appear to be standing on "higher ground" in the eyes our our young people.
Spiritus Gladius
8 months ago
The answer is plain as day! I am sitting here, frustrated beyond all belief, that the Church hierarchy is so blind to see what is plainly visible in front of their faces! Destroy liberalism, it is the bane of virtue. Destroy feminism, it has crippled the family. You think what we have today is bad? Wait, my sisters and brothers, YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHING YET!

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