Two weeks ago, Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York was made a cardinal of the church. He was asked by the pope to speak to the entire College of Cardinals the day before the ceremonies, a singular honor. The new cardinal spoke with conviction and humor on the theme of new evangelization.
The term “new evangelization” has been used frequently by recent pontiffs, especially Pope Paul VI, Pope John Paul II and now Pope Benedict XVI. It denotes efforts to bring the Gospel to non-Christian nations and peoples, but also — and more pointedly in our day — to reach out to peoples who have already received the Christian message but do not practice it. As Cardinal Dolan said, “The mission is not only to New Guinea but to New York.” The term includes also the idea that such evangelical efforts should be the responsibility of every member of the church, not some special group. As David Nodar has remarked, “The church teaches that she is missionary by her very nature; evangelization is a duty of every Christian.”
In 2010, Pope Benedict created a new Vatican office, the “Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization.” Its purpose is to work with bishops to promote evangelizing efforts to meet the growing secularization occurring in the world, especially in nations of Europe and elsewhere that have been traditionally Christian, but, as Pope Benedict has written, “vast areas of which the faith is in danger of dying out like a flame which no longer has fuel.”
Cardinal Dolan, in his talk to the Cardinals, spoke of various ways, simple ways, according to which the call to evangelization might be carried out. His remarks ought to be taken to heart by all Catholics.
He noted first of all that the major fight is against “secularism,” the conviction that religion and secular pursuits should not be mixed together, that God should be effectively absent from human life, that lives should be lived (at least public lives) as though God did not exist.
But — and this was the cardinal’s message — secularists too, even unconsciously, are seeking God. The desire for the divine is written into human nature. Every human being possesses a spark of interest in the beyond.
And in our evangelizing efforts we should never forget this. We should be convinced that atheists, agnostics, radical secularists all deep down are searching for the transcendent God. Jesus in the New Testament one day was told, “All the people are looking for you,” Cardinal Dolan remarks, “They still are.”
The cardinal suggests too that our efforts should be done with confidence. “Be not afraid” is one of the most used exhortations in the Scriptures and should become our mantra.
We do not work alone. God is with us. And the cardinal adds that we should remember that we are not first of all to offer “propositions” to people but a person — Jesus. We should not try to convince people by preaching syllogisms but by preaching the Son of God. Love of a person is the center of evangelization.
Another important thing, says Cardinal Dolan, is that we are called in our evangelizing efforts to combat “catechetical illiteracy.” Many of the Christian peoples who have left the church or who remain with little conviction have not received much education about what the belief in Jesus entails. Cardinal George Pell of Australia has remarked, “It is not so much that our people have lost their faith, but they barely had it to begin with, and if they did, it was so vapid that it was easily taken away.”
Now comes perhaps the easiest thing to do: Smile. Cardinal Dolan quotes Leon Bloy, “Joy is the infallible sign of God’s presence.” And it is with joy that we should bring the message of the Gospel to the people of our time; with a smile not a frown.
And this becomes natural if the new evangelization is about love. Cardinal Dolan said that recently the Catholic bishop of Itanagar in northeast India, John Thomas Kattrukudiyll, whose diocese registers 10,000 adult converts every year, explained the success, “We present God as a loving father and people see the church loving them.”
The final reflection of the cardinal was about “blood.” The red of the cardinals’ hats and ceremonial robes is a reminder that the princes of the church should be ready to shed their blood for the faith. “We are ‘scarlet audio-visual aids’ for our brothers and sisters, called to be ready to suffer and die for Jesus,” said Cardinal Dolan. And every Catholic should be ready to do the same.
These practical words of the cardinal ought to resonate in our hearts.
Father John A. Leies, S.M, STD, is president emeritus of St. Mary’s University and was formerly head of the Theology Department there.
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