All Believers are Called to the Evangelizing Mission The Holy Father received members of the Superior Council of the Pontifical Missionary Works, accompanied by Council President Archbishop Charles Schleck, on the occasion of their annual assembly. After recalling that "mission is a duty of all believers," John Paul II urged those present to "dedicate yourselves unceasingly to missionary activity, formation, and cooperation; have the courage to dare and the wisdom of discernment, planning and developing every useful initiative in the service of Christ." The Holy Father thanked all those who, despite difficulties, "persevere in announcing and witness, regardless of risks, and even ready to sacrifice their lives. God will not fail to give them His presence and His consolation. How many times does the death of these witnesses to the faith open unexpected possibilities for the Gospel of love and peace! This invincible passion for Christ is a singular and eloquent testimony for the men of our time." "All believers," the Pope continued, "are called to 'prepare the way of the Lord', abandoning all fears and hesitations. All are invited to welcome, though conscious of their own poverties, the invitation of Christ: 'Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation'." In conclusion, John Paul II emphasized that "Jesus calls us and sends us out as he did with the Apostles; He does not choose us based on our merits or our works. ... Only 'armed' with His grace can we carry the Good News to the furthest ends of the earth. Difficulties and obstacles will not stop us, because the Father's love for all of humankind will be our continual support." MISSION/PONTIFICAL MISSIONARY WORKS, VATICAN CITY, MAY 11, 2001


Cardinal Roger Mahony Calls for a Directory on the New Evangelization at Extraordinary Consistory of Cardinals

Most Holy Father:
My brothers in the College of Cardinals:

As we begin to chronicle the extraordinary pastoral leadership which you, Most Holy Father, have given over these past 23 years, I do believe that one of the most extraordinary and fruitful directions which you have given us over these past years is a renewed emphasis upon meeting in new and exciting ways the Person of Jesus Christ. Our Holy Father has stirred up in our hearts and minds the urgent plea of the author of the Book of Hebrews: "Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus…." (Hebrews 12:2).

And flowing from that emphasis on our deeper encounter with Jesus Christ is the term the "New Evangelization" which now permeates all of the major writings, documents, and homilies which our Holy Father has given year after year—especially in preparation for the great Jubilee Year 2000. Each continental Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops has highlighted and encouraged this New Evangelization thrust of the Church.

As pastors of large Dioceses and Archdioceses around the world, we are all facing many and great challenges in serving our people. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles now numbers well over five million Catholics, and that number is growing significantly year after year. As my priests and religious try to minister to such large numbers of Catholics, one reality we face is that so many are not fully and deeply evangelized, and in too many cases, are barely catechized.

Consequently, what does the New Evangelization mean to such large numbers of my people? I fear that most do not have that daily encounter with Jesus Christ, Son of God, nor do their lives reflect the fullness of discipleship as envisioned by the New Evangelization.

Many of my pastors question me about the meaning of the New Evangelization, and ask for guidance on how to draw our people more closely into the Mystery of Jesus Christ, nourishing them and allowing the power of our Risen Savior to be a part of their daily lives.

Our Holy Father has made the New Evangelization a major priority for the Church, and I am eager to help translate this into more meaningful action steps at the local level of my own Archdiocese. But I need help, and very possibly, other Bishops around the world need similar guidance and assistance.

Catechetical instruction for children and young people is a major pastoral priority for the Church throughout the world, and because of its importance, the Holy See issues from time to time the General Catechetical Directory to help all of the Particular Churches and the Episcopal Conferences in meeting our pastoral responsibilities in catechetics. The General Catechetical Directory has led to greatly improved catechetical materials and techniques across the world, and the results have been most encouraging.

Consequently, I would propose that you, my brother Cardinals, join me in recommending to our Holy Father that the Holy See produce a "Directory on the New Evangelization" for the use of the Church throughout the world, adopting a form similar to the General Catechetical Directory.

Such a Directory would draw upon all of our Holy Father's many pronouncements on the New Evangelization, and would then develop very concrete guidance and recommendations on how to implement the New Evangelization at the local level. The Directory would speak directly to individual Catholics, to our parishes, to our Particular Churches, and to our Episcopal Conferences—urging a new and sustained evangelization effort at each level. Each Episcopal Conference would be invited to issue its own local level Directory on the New Evangelization to adapt more fully the local pastoral reality and the cultural/societal challenges into a local plan.

Such a Directory on the New Evangelization could be developed collaboratively by several dicasteries of the Holy See according to their competence and relevance. But the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples might serve as the lead dicastery in such a project.

Our Holy Father's extraordinary focus upon the centrality of the Mystery of Jesus Christ must not be lost. May we together assure the continued fruitfulness of the Church's primary mission to evangelize through the early development of a new Directory on the New Evangelization. Vatican City State, Monday, May 21 to Thursday, May 24, 2001


Catholic Church Increases by 16 Million in 1999... From 1998 to 1999 Catholics worldwide increased by 16 million, according to data made public today at the presentation of the Annuario Pontificio 2001. Among the data: Catholics in the world increased from 1.022 billion in 1998 to 1.038 billion in 1999, an increase of 1.6%. World population grew by 1.4% during the same time. Catholics' share of the world population remains essentially unchanged at 17.4%. The American continent has about half the world's Catholics, while Europe has 27.3%. Africa has 12%; Asia, 10.4%; and Oceania, 0.8%. There are 3.86 million people dedicated to the apostolate, including 2.44 million catechists. There are 4,482 bishops, 405,009 priests (of whom 265,012 are diocesan), 26,629 permanent deacons, 55,428 religious who are not priests, 809,351 professed nuns, 31,049 members of secular institutes, and 80,662 lay missionaries. In the United States, the 2001 Official Catholic Directory reports that in 2000 there were 83,234 Adult Baptisms and 95, 299 received into full communion with the Catholic Church.


News from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
Secretariat &Committee on Evangelization

Secretariat Welcomes new Administrative Secretary, Nick Morse. In July, he joined the staff in the Secretariat and assists Fr. Hurley in the daily running of the office and coordination of projects. In May 2001, Nick graduated from Gettysburg College and at Easter this past year was baptized into the Catholic Community. He is a great addition to the staff. If he can be off assistance, please feel free to e-mail him at <nmorse@usccb.org>

US Commission on Catholic Evangelization off to enthusiastic start. Over the last couple of months, the USCCE Evangelization Ministries Committee and the National Catholic Organizations Committee met. The energy and ideas that are coming forward proves the vision of this advisory body to the BCEV. The Executive Committee will meet at the USCCB on September 10, 2001. If you have any ideas you would like to present, you can send them to <evangelization@usccb.org> or contact your Metropolitan Province Representative which is listed under the USCCE on the website. Check out the minutes on the website <www.usccb.org/evangelization>

December 2001, Symposium on Leadership for Ministry with Catholic Men is being co-sponsored with the Committee on Marriage and Family Life. This will take place at Our Lady of Florida Retreat Center in Palm Beach, December 4th to 7th. Featured speakers are Scripture scholar, Fr. Larry Boadt CSP, Dr. James Healy, Director of the Center for Family Ministry in the Diocese of Joliet, Mr. James Nolan, Executive Director of Woodstock Business Center, Mr. Kevin Lynch and Mr. Maurice Blumberg of the National Resource Center for Catholic Men along with Bishops Carl Moeddel, Anthony O'Connell, Michael Warfel and Gabino Zavala. For more information contact <evangelization@usccb.org> or call 202-541-3012

Convocation 2002 for Diocesan Evangelization Coordinators is being planned for September 13-17, 2002 at San Damiano Retreat Center outside Oakland, CA. After the first convocation in November 2000 in celebration of the Jubilee Year, diocesan coordinators expressed a strong desire for this type of gathering in two years. The Bishops Committee on Evangelization also welcomed this opportunity once again and is delighted that there will be another such gathering. The 2002 gathering will also celebrate the 10th anniversary of Go and Make Disciples, The National Plan and Strategy for Catholic Evangelization in the United States. Check out the website home page for more information: <www.usccb.org/evangelization>.

2003 North American Institute on Catholic Evangelization approved by BCEV in June. The BCEV will co-sponsor this institute with the Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon, the University of Portland and the Metropolitan Province of Vancouver, BC. Designed for church leadership on the national, diocesan, and parish levels, the institute will be held at the University of Portland, July 9-13, 2003. The institute's purpose is to provide a forum for Catholic leadership to come together and reflect on the essential mission of the Church and explore ways with their colleagues to foster their respective ministries through the lens of evangelization. The secretariat looks forward to keeping you posted on institute developments and a separate listing will be added shortly to the secretariat website. In the meantime, mark your calendar.


News from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

The Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist...the U.S. bishops respond to fifteen of the most commonly asked questions about the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The questions include:

• Why does Jesus give himself to us as food and drink?
  
• Why is the Eucharist not only a meal but also a sacrifice?
  
• When the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ, why do they still look and taste like bread and wine?
  
• Does the bread cease to be bread and the wine cease to be wine?
  
• Are the consecrated bread and wine "merely symbols"?
  
• Do the consecrated bread and wine cease to be the Body and Blood of Christ when the Mass is over?
  
• Why are some of the consecrated hosts reserved after the Mass?
  
• Does one receive the whole Christ if one receives Holy Communion under a single form?
  
• Is Christ present during the celebration of the Eucharist in other ways in addition to his Real Presence in the Blessed Sacrament?
  
• Why do we speak of the "Body of Christ" in more than one sense?

Paulist President Receives Pope Paul VI Award... Fr. Frank DeSiano, CSP received this award for his outstanding leadership in evangelization from the National Council for Catholic Evangelization.

National Catholic Council for Hispanic Ministry (NCCHM) recently updated its website with news information, new links and highlights of past events. You are invited to review it at <www.ncchm.org> Reported by Armando A. Contreras, Executive Director. For more information contact: NCCHM1@aol.com

Once Catholic via Internet... This Franciscan Friars program at St. Anthony Messenger seeks to help people reconnect with a local Catholic faith community. WWW.OnceCatholic.org does this by offering: information, inspiration, opportunities for interaction with others, personal responses and referral to "Come Home" programs within the Catholic Church in the US.

Eight chat rooms offer a cyber but personal connection with a "companion," a pastoral minister in the Church. The eight areas are: marriage issues, not being fed spiritually, just drifted away, quarrel with a Church representative, feeling excluded from the Church, abortion and/or post-abortion issues, difficulty with a Church teaching and a general area where those not represented above can add their own story or issue. OnceCatholic has received the enthusiastic endorsement of Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk of Cincinnati. Contacts: Reported by Fr. Pat McCloskey, OFM at Our Sunday Visitor, 513-241-5615, ext. 116 and Mr. Chris Heffron, ext. 209.

Diocese of Juneau... Our primary goal for the diocese at this time is to respond to the statements made at the first Diocesan synod held last year. That is being completed and the response (and our future plans for evangelization) will be discussed in September at a Diocesan wide Full-Time Ministers meeting. As part of our overall strategy RENEW 2000 will be initiated this fall creating a first, diocesan wide step. On a provincial note we have two contacts now in the Diocese of Fairbanks although there will not be much done there until a new Bishop is named and he sets priorities. An evangelization column in the diocesan newspaper, "The Inside Passage" was begun in late winter and is enjoying a good reception. The goal behind the column is to introduce some of the basic principles of evangelization in a popular manner providing access to all the readers. Reported by Michael O. Price, Director of Evangelization <moprice@gci.net>

Diocese of Ogdensburg... Bishop Gerald M. Barbarito was surprised by the Spirit as over 2000 people from all parts of the diocese joined him in the Candlelight Procession and Evening Prayer in the Olympic Center, Lake Placid, NY on Pentecost, June 3, 2001. Bishop Barbarito remarked that "though the Diocesan Pentecost Event concludes the Disciples in Mission process which has borne great fruit among us, the real impetus of Disciples in Mission has just begun! What we have experienced, shared and learned through Disciples in Mission is now what inspires us to continue to grow in our faith, to share that faith with our families and each other and to move enthusiastically into the Third Millennium" Reported by Sr. Mary Ellen Brett SSJ, Director of Evangelization <mbrett@dioogdensburg.org>

Diocese of Manchester... In this past year we have initiated a new pastoral plan for evangelization in order to adjust to the new challenges of living in a "post-modern" culture while our diocese is experiencing the onset of fewer ordained clergy. The plan calls for mobilizing prayer, providing opportunities for lay people to grow toward active participation as disciples, supporting group visioning and pastoral planning, and training parish evangelization leaders. Our plan and many resources may be viewed at: http://www.rcbm.org/srs/DERT/default.htm Reported by Dick Kiernan, <rkiernan@rcdm.org>

Diocese of Raleigh...Stewardship and Evangelization Newsletter... Operating out of the conviction that Evangelization and Stewardship are two sides of the same coin, the Raleigh Diocesan Offices of Evangelization and Stewardship and Development are now publishing a joint newsletter that ties the two ministries together. Sample available at the Evangelization link at www.raldioc.org . Reported by Terry Jackson, D.Min., Director of Evangelization <jackson@raldioc.org>

Archdiocese of Santa Fe...Sponsors Evangelization Retreat for Archdiocesan Leaders... Archbishop Michael Sheehan, former chairman of the Bishops' Committee on Evangelization, joins 50 other archdiocesan leaders on July 6th and 7th to live an Evangelization Mini-Retreat. They will reflect on the basic themes of the Kerygma and will celebrate powerful rituals in order to rekindle their enthusiasm and to renew their commitment. They will conclude with a Rite of Sending. Retreats similar to this one will be schedule in parishes and as Lenten Missions. Reported by Deacon Juan Barajas, Director of Evangelization <asfjubilee@aol.com>

Archdiocese of Washington, DC...Second Annual Hispanic Festival of Faith scheduled for June 23... Thanks to the success of last year's Hispanic Festival of Faith, a second one has been scheduled for June 23rd. Last summer, this all-day Hispanic evangelization outreach rally held at Meridian Hill Park in northwest DC, attracted throughout the day more than 3,000 participants, most of which were inactive Catholics and unchurched people. Close to 250 parishioners from across the archdiocese were trained for practical evangelization and visited close to 1,000 homes prior to the event.

The Office for Evangelization and the Inter-parish Planning Committee, in collaboration with the Office for Hispanic Pastoral Affairs, invites all parishes with Hispanic ministry to participate in our planning, training and outreach. Parishioners will be asked to lend their talents in music and drama, sharing personal testimonies, assisting with children's activities, and with set-up, clean up, and other areas where volunteers are needed. Priests and deacons will be needed to hear Confessions and/or pray with and counsel those in need. (Last year, hundreds received the Sacrament of Reconciliation for the first time in years.) Reported by Martha Fernandez-Sardina, Director of Evangelization. <fernandm@adw.org>


Upcoming Events.....2001

For a more complete list of upcoming events, visit the Events section on the secretariat's website: www.nccbuscc.org/evangelization.

SCHEDULE for USCCB Executive Director for Evangelization

August 10-12, 2001 August 20/21, 2001 August 23-31, 2001 Sept. 7/8, 2001 Sept. 9, 2001 Sept. 14/15, 2001 Sept. 19, 2001

San Antonio, Texas Springfield, MA Diocese of Juneau, AK Diocese of Kalamazoo, MI Archdiocese of Washington Diocese of Houma Thibodaux, LA Diocese of Arlington

Small Faith Communities Mtg. New England RE Conference Diocesan Congress Clergy day & Diocesan Congress RCIA Study Workshop Clergy day & Diocesan Congress Diocesan Conference

Email us at evangelization@usccb.org
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