For the Sake of the Gospel #13 Evangelization
For the past few weeks, I have been focusing on the first half of the theme that I have chosen for my ministry among you this year, “Faith and Evangelization.” In today’s column I turn to the second half of that theme, evangelization, by which I mean the process of proclaiming the gospel to others.
The word “evangelization” comes from the Greek word euangelion, which means “gospel” or “good new.” Thus an “evangelist” is someone who proclaims good news; and “to evangelize” is to proclaim good news. The good news in question is the good news of what God has done through the death and resurrection of his Son; it is the good news of the gospel about Jesus Christ.
While we normally think of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John as the four evangelists, everyone who proclaims the good news of the gospel is an evangelist. Indeed Jesus himself was an evangelist inasmuch as he proclaimed the good new of the kingdom of God. After his death and resurrection, others proclaimed the good news og what God had accomplished in Christ.
The task of preaching the good news—evangelizing—is not an option for the church; it is at the very heart of the church’s mission. If the church does not proclaim the gospel; it has no reason to exist. If the church does not preach the gospel; it will die.
In our own day, John Paul II and Benedict XVI have called for a new evangelization, by which they mean a renewed effort to proclaim the gospel in a way that it can be understood by our generation. This new evangelization has two aspects. On the one hand, the church must preach the gospel to those who have not heard the word of Christ. On the other, the church must re-evangelize those who have heard the word and have fallen away.
It is the second part of this work of evangelization that concerns me. We live in a part of the world that was once deeply Christian and fervently Catholic but is rapidly becoming more and more secular in its values. Once it was easy to distinguish Catholics from their contemporaries; today it is becoming more difficult to do so. Many Catholics have become indifferent about their faith; they have not formally left the church, and they still identify themselves as Catholics; but they no longer practice their faith.
This is why there is an urgent need for a new evangelization in New England. This is why we must boldly reach out and invite our brothers and sisters in Christ to return. This is why we must evangelize them by reminding them of the good news of the gospel. What they have left is too precious to abandon; for what they have left is the fullness of life.
Next week I will to present ten suggestions for reaching out to others. In the meantime I invite you to pray about your responsibility as one who has been baptized in Christ to share the good news you have received. We you are evangelists. If each of us at St. Mary’s becomes convinced of this, we will form an army of evangelists who can proclaim the good news.
Fr. Matera