Friday, March 4, 2011

Vatican synod aims to rediscover 'original enthusiasm' of following Christ (Post #121)

Excerpt from Catholic News Agency: Vatican synod aims to rediscover 'original enthusiasm' of following Christ

(CNA/EWTN News).- The newly-released outline for 2012's Synod on the New Evangelization speaks of the Church's need to rediscover its “original enthusiasm” – by emphasizing society's need for God, and the possibility of a personal encounter with Christ.
On March 4, Archbishop Nikola Eterovic, Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, presented Pope Benedict XVI with a preparatory document for next year's synod. During the meeting, which will take place from Oct. 7-28, 2011, bishops and other participants from around the world will discuss the late Pope John Paul II's vision of proposing the Christian faith in new ways.

One goal of the new evangelization, according to the synod's new guidelines, is to revive an enthusiasm for the Christian faith among historically Catholic populations.
“The new evangelization,” the drafters wrote, “should aim to revive the original enthusiasm in Christians, a new mission that should involve all members of God's community.”

“The Gospel,” they explained, “is to be understood not as a book or a doctrine, but rather as a person: Jesus Christ, the definitive Word of God, who made himself a man.”
Archbishop Eterovic noted that the outline for the synod also draws an important distinction between two types of contemporary missionary activity.

On the one hand, there is the “regular activity of the Church,” intended for “those who do not yet know Jesus Christ.” But this mission, he explained, differs from “the new evangelization – which is directed toward those who have moved away from the Church, those who have been baptized but not sufficiently evangelized.”

In order to draw these people back, synod organizers believe that the Church must come to grips with a number of challenges posed to the Christian faith by today's “social and cultural context.”

In the document presented to the Pope, they listed a number of these challenges which will be discussed at the 2012 synod – including the secularization of society, the changing global economy, developments in science and technology, and the realm of politics.

The upcoming synod's work is closely connected with Pope Benedict XVI's recent creation of a Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization, which will develop ways of re-proposing the Christian faith in places where it has been weakened.

In the October 2010 letter that established the new council, Pope Benedict said he hopes “that the entire Church, allowing herself to be regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit, may present herself to the contemporary world with a missionary impulse in order to promote the new evangelization.”

Sources include
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/vatican-synod-aims-to-rediscover-original-enthusiasm-of-following-christ/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+catholicnewsagency%2Fdailynews+%28CNA+Daily+News%29
http://visnews-en.blogspot.com/2011/03/synod-guidelines-for-new-evangelization.html
http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/beterovic.html
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/synod/documents/rc_synod_20050309_index-profile_en.html

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Post #120

February 28, 2011

Excerpt from Western Catholic Reporter: Bill to make April 2 Pope John Paul II Day goes to Heritage Committee

OTTAWA — A bill that would make April 2 every year Pope John Paul II Day has been referred to the Heritage Committee, after passing a second reading vote in the House of Commons Feb. 14.

Liberal MP Andrew Kania, who represents the Brampton West riding, introduced Bill C-573, an act to establish Pope John Paul II Day, last year.

A Canadian of Polish extraction and a Roman Catholic, Kania told the House Nov. 16, during the bill’s first hour of debate, that he hoped the anniversary of the late pope’s death on April 2, 2005 would be “a day of memory” for Canadians. The bill would not make April 2 a statutory holiday.

Kania spoke of the role Pope John Paul played in the fall of communism. He and several other MPs also praised the late pope’s reaching out to other religious communities, especially Jews and Muslims. Members from all political parties spoke in favour of the bill.

On Feb. 14, Kania updated his speech. “Pope Benedict has declared that Pope John Paul II will be beatified on May 1 in Rome, a ceremony that millions of Catholics, including myself, are planning to attend,” Kania said. “That is of huge significance for the Roman Catholic Church and for the Polish community generally.”

Kania said thousands of Canadians mailed in cards in support of the bill.

Though the Bloc Quebecois supports the bill, Bloc MP Carole Lavallée used her time Nov. 16 to both praise the late pope “as a promoter of peace” and to criticize the Catholic Church.

“The Bloc Québécois would also like to acknowledge the contribution made by Catholics in building Quebec, despite abuses in the Church’s dogma concerning the rights of women and homosexuals and despite having hidden cases of pedophilia in the Church,” Lavallée said.

Sources include
http://www.wcr.ab.ca/WCRThisWeek/Stories/tabid/61/entryid/647/Default.aspx
http://webinfo.parl.gc.ca/MembersOfParliament/ProfileMP.aspx?Key=128874
http://webinfo.parl.gc.ca/MembersOfParliament/ProfileMP.aspx?Key=128139&Language=E
http://www2.parl.gc.ca/CommitteeBusiness/CommitteeHome.aspx?Cmte=CHPC&Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=40&Ses=3