Church alive

Way back in the 1980s, John Paul II proposed a "New Evangelization."  Using the riches of the Church's tradition, and rekindling the missionary nature of the Church, John Paul recommended a new era of preaching the Gospel and sharing the 'Good News.'  Many a catholic are uncomfortable with the term 'evangelization,' yet it is our term from the very beginning of the scriptures.  What Peter and Paul are doing in the Acts of the apostles, and the Patristics, is evangelization.  In its simplest form they are sharing the message of the Gospel with other people.

In the U.S. Catholic Bishops document, Go Make Disciples, our Bishops bring this task of evangelizing back to the parish community, and the individual catholic.  In one part of the document the Bishops state, "Each one of us in virtue of our baptism is called to live our faith and to bear witness to the Gospel."  It  seems as if we had become used to 'Father' and 'Sister' doing church things for us and to us, and the rest of the church was simply along for the ride.  Our initiation into the Church suggests that we take responsibility for the Church and its ministries.

The vision of the Vatican II for the laity was a body of believers which continued to reflect on the Gospel, learn about the Church and it's teachings, and carry out missionary and charitable works.  Following Christ Jesus as disciples was seen as a hands on experience.  Even when we speak about stewardship in the Church we do so in the context of being gifted by God, and sharing those gifts so as to unfold the Kingdom of God.

I am more amused that saddened at people who proclaim a catholicity because they can execute a Sign of the Cross, but are apart from any faith community, and live as they wish.  In our reading of the Book of Acts, and the history of the early Church, we will find this to be a problem.  Some groups and communities tended to go their own way.  The early Church continued to draw these folks back into the fold as best as possible.  Ownership of our faith though is not about deciding where a flower pot should go in the Church, but how to respond to the crisis and brokenness of the world around us.

Our Churches are set up to be places of evangelization.  Our ministries teach, sanctify, and proclaim good news, in all the actions of the parish.  Hopefully like the churches in the Acts of the Apostles, our Parish communities will shake with apostolic zeal.