SAINT MARY’S UNIVERSITY

Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya

School of Teacher Education and Humanities
Christian Faith Education

INDEPENDENT LEARNING GUIDE on

THE CALL FOR A NEW EVANGELIZATION
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 need 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).

On October 11, 2011, 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.”

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.”
 SAINT MARY’S UNIVERSITY
Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya

School of Teacher Education and Humanities

Christian Faith Education

A. The New Areopagi of Mission

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 to a large
extent lost the weight of its baggage of history, and, with it, 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.”

Today, we are called to give witness to the personal transcendent God. That is, God
being alive and part of human affairs(cultural 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 (social 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)
(economic sector).

In this age of strife, the laity are called to participate in the pursuit for peace, the liberation
of people, thr promotion of the indigenous peoples’ rights and the integrity of creation
(civic sector). 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 deify virtual reality (science, technology and communication sectors).
Finally, the laity are called to return to religion that promote peace and inter-existence
and not on fundamentalism and violence (religious sector).

Inspired by Mission 1/F RT Bldg., Saint Mary’s University, Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya
Driven by Excellence Tel. No.: (078) 321-2221
www.smu.edu.ph
 SAINT MARY’S UNIVERSITY
Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya

School of Teacher Education and Humanities

Christian Faith Education

B. The New Trajectories of the CICM Mission

The CICM in the Philippines in their vision for the “CICM Tomorrow” accepted the
challenge of re-conceiving their missionary identity – adapts the process of reinvention
and revitalization, explores new missionary paradigms and develops new missionary
strategies – within the context of the new planetary transformation.

This is so, since the Philippines was not spared from the impacts of globalization. The
proliferation of new technology may mean loss of jobs for manual laborers. It means
more money for those who have capital, but it makes life more difficult for those living in
the margins of society. This is felt in the urban areas as well as the rural areas. Farmers,
for example, are greatly affected with the influx of imported goods and their expensive
farm inputs and high interest of farm loans. Poverty, hunger, unemployment, depletion
of natural, and migration are only few but present the drama of globalization in the
Philippines. As they rise, the crime rate is also rising, and terrorism which is happening in
other countries, are also at our doors.

This situation should not be dismissed and ignored. In a situation of dehumanization and
meaninglessness, the CICM-RP is expected to encourage and give hope. As the CICM
claimed in one voice, “Today, the CICM as an international group of missionaries, will be
called upon to support the movement towards the promotion of a global ethics which is
the common quest for a meaningful co-existence that is genuinely fostered by mutual
respect for the world’s diverse cultures and religions.”

Inspired by Mission 1/F RT Bldg., Saint Mary’s University, Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya
Driven by Excellence Tel. No.: (078) 321-2221
www.smu.edu.ph