9/23/2020 CODE 196: CICM in Action A (Justice, Peace, Indigenous and Interreligious Dialogue) -

CODE 196: CICM in Action A (Justice, Peace, Indigenous and Interreligious Dialogue)
Prelim Learning Resources

Week 3: THE CALL FOR A NEW EVANGELIZATION

INTRODUCTION
The mark of a true CICM is the zeal for missionary work.This means that the charism of the CICM as a missionary institute is to go out to those who are in
most need (ad extra) - to go into frontier situations, to nations (ad gentes) wherever the Good News was not heard especially by the poor. “Going out”
as a missionary gesture is the availability of oneself to be sent wherever a CICM presence is needed. Inspired by the CICM charism of mission ad
extra and dedicated to the Incarnate Word and inspired by Mary, Theophile Verbist animates every CICM missionary to be competent and creative persons
in Jesus’ name, and a faithful disciple at the service of the community for the respect and preservation of the integrity of the whole creation.

                   THE CALL FOR A NEW EVANGELIZATION

Pope Benedict XVI in his address to the International Congress of Catechists and Religion Teachers in Rome (12 December 2000) provided the reason why
human beings are in need of a new evangelization today. He pronounces that the “deepest poverty is not physical poverty but spiritual poverty; it is the
inability for joy, the tediousness of a life considered absurd and contradictory. This poverty is widespread today in varied forms in both the materially rich as
well as the poor countries. The inability of joy presupposes and results to lack of love; produces jealousy, avarice – all defects which devastate the life of
individuals and of the world.” At this time, people wish to choose the path toward peaceful life and happiness. New evangelization ushers them to this path –
which is the path of Jesus who has come to evangelize the poor (cf. Lk 4:18).

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On October 11, 2011, Pope Benedict XVI issued a letter to the Catholic faithful entitled Porta Fidei. The document is a call to celebrate a Year of Faith with
the theme, “The New Evangelization for the Transmission of Faith”. The theme was significant since Benedict XVI sees a crisis of faith in the world, a
problem which he considers as the greatest challenge to the Church today. This crisis of faith is characterized by what the Pontiff describes as an “eclipsed
of God, a kind of amnesia which, albeit not an outright rejection of Christianity, is nonetheless, a denial of the treasure of our faith, a denial that could lead to
the loss of our deepest identity.”

Pope John Paul II had also displayed his great ardor for “new evangelization” during his pontificate. He envisioned that new evangelization must be applied
in a diverse, complex and various societies where methods and ways of proclaiming the Gospel should always be updated, in order to meet the needs and
special demands of special periods. As he spoke to the Episcopal Conference of a Latin American meeting in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on 9 March 1983, Pope
John Paul II emphasizes: “The commemoration of half-a Millennium of evangelization will have its full significance if there is a commitment on your part as
Bishops, together with your Presbyters and with your Lay Faithful, a commitment not to re-evangelization, but to a new evangelization. It will be new in its
ardor, new in its methods and new in its expressions.”

The New Areopagi of Mission

The New Evangelization is the announcement of the Good News of Jesus Christ in the midst of the post-Christian and post-secularist situation of our time.
The “New Areopagi” is a metaphor John Paul II used in a missionary context, defining them as spaces opened to mission. There are two kinds of New
Areopagi: one that is Christian-ecclesial which requires an ad intra evangelization, and another that is mundane or neopagan, addressed by the ad extra
evangelization. The New Evangelization demands both a new personal experience of faith, considered as a free encounter with Jesus Christ, and also the
discovering of the communal aspect of that faith. From this strong position we might hope for the recovery of the public dimension of Christianity.

The challenge for mission, hence, is how re-engage western secularized humanity in the search for meaning – or,
rather, to give it fresh focus. One of the advantages for mission in a post-Christian society is that the phenomenon of “Christianity” has lost the weight of its
baggage of history to a large extent, and along with many of the negative connotations of “Church” and “Christendom”.

“The time is ripe for a new evangelization, speaking with the technology of the digital age that addresses the search for meaning that surpasses all ages, that
respects human freedom and autonomy that is comfortable with and can dialogue with diversity. And that witnesses to the Kingdom present amongst us
through quiet but persuasive example.”

Therefore, the Church at present is challenged to be involved in the new sectors of evangelization – the new Areopaguses (Areopagi) of mission.

“Mission today is described as crossing boundaries. It is going to the public square. It is described as going to the new Areopagi of contemporary times (RM
31-37)”. The new sectors of evangelization as: cultural sector, social sector, economic sector, civic life sector, scientific research and technology sector,
communications sector, and religious sector. These new sectors of evangelization involve new techniques and circumstances whereby the laity are called to
participate. Javier went further saying, “the modern equivalents of the Areopagus, therefore, define the parameters of the identity and mission of the laity in
the contemporary word.”

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a. Cultural sector

- Today, we are called to give witness to the personal transcendent God. That is, God being alive and part of human affairs.

b. Social sector

Recognizing that the world today is the world of mega-migration, the laity hence are invited to enter into collegiality (interconnected and interdependent) with
other peoples and cultures.

c. Economic sector

In this age of commodification (everything has tag price/for sale), the laity are called to live the evangelical idea of poverty (you have nothing hence, you
have everything).

d. Civic sector

-In this age of strife, the laity are called to participate in the pursuit for peace, liberation of people, promotion of the indigenous peoples’ rights and the
integrity of creation.

e. Science, Technology and Communication sectors

-There is no doubt that at the present, science, technology and communications have been making great innovations. They seem to become everything for
the human person. However, the laity are challenged to live their lives in aid of virtual reality and not to defy virtual reality.

f. Religious sector

-Finally, the laity are called to return to religion that promote peace and inter-existence and not on fundamentalism and violence.

REFERENCE:

BOOK:

CICM-membership. (1999). Rome: Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (CICM).

CICM: Christ is calling me: 150 years of service in God's mission (2007 ). Rome: Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (CICM).

AD GENTES: Decree on the Missionary Acitivity of the Church (7 December, 1965), in “The Documents of Vatican II”, ed. Walter M. Abbot, S.J., The
America Press, New York, 1966, pp. 584-630. Original text in “Acta Apostolicae Sedis” (AAS), vol. LVIII (1966), pp. 947-990.

LUMEN GENTIUM: Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (21 November, 1964), in “The Documents of Vatican II”, ed. Walter M. Abbot, S.J., The America
Press, New York, 1966, pp. 14-96. Original text in “AAS”, vol. LVII (1965), pp. 5-67.

ONLINE:

NOVA ET VETERA RP PROVINCE NEWSLETTER. May 2016 Vol. 52 No. 5. (n.d.). Retrieved September 03, 2020, from https://docplayer.net/55474385-
Nova-et-vetera-rp-province-newsletter-may-2016-vol-52-no-5.html

Null. (2009, November 16). On New Territories for Evangelizing - ZENIT - English. Retrieved September 03, 2020, from https://zenit.org/articles/on-new-
territories-for-evangelizing/https://zenit.org/articles/on-new-territories-for-evangelizing/

Cicm in Missionary Works. (n.d). [Photo]. Google.com. https://www.google.com/search?

q=cicm+missionary+work&rlz=1C1CHBF_enPH911PH911&sxsrf=ALeKk03zrbxSwBkpH2iMLFYGSS9XAsBdPA:1599467022060&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa

Revisiting the CICM, Louisian Missionary Identity. (n.d). [Photo]. Google.com. https://www.google.com/search?
q=cicm+missionary+work&rlz=1C1CHBF_enPH911PH911&sxsrf=ALeKk03zrbxSwBkpH2iMLFYGSS9XAsBdPA:1599467022060&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa

Porta Fidei. (n.d). [Photo]. Google.com. https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.gr-

assets.com%2Fimages%2FS%2Fcompressed.photo.goodreads.com%2Fbooks%2F1362273996l%2F17456136.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.good
porta-fidei---gate-of-faith&tbnid=prxCqaaNyMWLXM&vet=12ahUKEwiJnrDK-
9brAhUcI6YKHQ1XDSsQMygBegUIARCTAQ..i&docid=_BRuAV5S738iOM&w=318&h=462&q=porta%20fidei&ved=2ahUKEwiJnrDK-
9brAhUcI6YKHQ1XDSsQMygBegUIARCTAQ

Challenge. (n.d). [Photo]. Google.com. https://www.google.com/search?

q=challenge&rlz=1C1CHBF_enPH911PH911&sxsrf=ALeKk00oZUzCpVUQDaTy5oRhy5r3Z4P3bA:1599482695940&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ah

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