Evangelisation by love

The defining theme for the Church in 2012 and the year after will be the New Evangelisation, a project initiated by Pope John Paul II and now a pillar of Pope Benedict’s pontificate.

We get an idea of how Pope Benedict imagines the Year of Faith, which will run for 13 months as of October 11, in the title of the document he issued to declare it: Porta Fidei, or the Door of Faith.

Where Pope John XXIII, in calling for the Second Vatican Council, sought to open the windows of the Church to disperse the dust that had settled within the Church and to let the world in, Pope Benedict is hoping to open the doors of the Church to those who have placed themselves outside it.

Likewise, he is appealing to those, individually and communally, who have their roots in the Christian faith but have turned from it to open their doors—their hearts—to Christ and his Church.

The pope knows that the mission of the Church cannot be communicated by the hierarchy alone, and that the message of the Church is transmitted in many different and often unexpected ways.

The working document for the Synod of Bishops on New Evangelisation, to be held from October 7-28 at the Vatican, acknowledges the scope of that obligation: “Every one of the Church’s actions has an essential evangelising character and must never be separated from the duty to help others encounter Christ in faith.”

This includes every action that Catholics perform as members of the Church. Regardless of where we reside in the hierarchy of the Church, we are representatives of the Body of the Christ, collectively and individually.

Just as we can bring people closer to Christ through our good example, so can our actions alienate them from Christ and his Good News of salvation.

One may argue about the definitions of such good examples, but the one quality that must be common to any of them, right at the top, is love. Love through charity for those in need, and love as a manifestation of mutual respect for others.

The early Christian writer Tertullian (c.160–c.225 AD) noted that the pagans were taken aback at the sense of love among the followers of Christ: “‘Look,’ they say, ‘how they love one another’.” It was that love, more than any teaching, that attracted many pagans to the faith.

In the centuries since then, Christians often forgot Christ’s commandment to love one another, even and especially when they are in disagreement. It is this sense of Christian love and the projection of Christian joy, more than impassioned argumentation and fervent rhetoric, which we must revive and learn to express if we are to meet Pope Benedict’s call for a New Evangelisation.

We will not evangelise by bad example, or by lacking in compassion, or by appearing enraged with the world. We will not persuade by aggression, but by the way our faith gives us joy and hope, even amid our sorrows.

In the words of Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town, an evangelising Church must show “gentleness, kindness and respect”.

In a world dominated by the social media, the opportunities for engaging with others are immense.

Addressing an audience at the Eucharistic Congress in Dublin this month, Auxiliary Bishop Frank Caggiano of Brooklyn, New York, called on young Catholics to be present on the web as witnesses of Christ to their peers: “Many people, especially young people, are searching in the electronic world for a word of hope in their troubles, a word of consolation in their fears, a word of welcome in their loneliness.”

In the domain of social media as elsewhere, Catholics, of any age, must act sensibly. They must know the teachings of the Church and express them truthfully, patiently and not by way of condemnation.

To evangelise effectively, they must reflect their relationship with Christ and the joy they find in it and in the sacraments of the Church.

The most potent form of New Evangelisation will be the witness of people who radiate the glow of Christ’s love.

Let them shine!