Here is one more passage from my recent article on evangelisation, this time about how those involved in the New Evangelisation often have a strong interest in deepening their understanding of faith and sharing that understanding with others:
St Patrick's Church, Soho Square, home of St Patrick's Evangelisation School
St Patrick’s Evangelisation School in Soho takes in a dozen young people every year. They live an intense community life together, pray for an hour each day before the Blessed Sacrament, serve food to the homeless, run a prayer-line, and go into the streets every Friday night – in a not too salubrious area – to meet people, share their faith, and offer spiritual support to those who seek it.
And they study. Fifteen hours a week of philosophy, theology, spirituality and psychology, focussed on preparing for a Diploma in the Catechism from the Maryvale Institute. There is a profound conviction that the Catholic faith is a gift to be understood and shared.
The emphasis on orthodox Catholic teaching seems to be an essential aspect of the New Evangelisation. Those involved want to proclaim the basic message of Christianity, to explain the core teachings of the Scriptures and of the Church, and to apply these teachings to everyday life. They are not arrogant, or unaware of the nuances and disputed questions within Catholic thought; but they are more interested in helping people to understand the settled faith of the Church than in exploring the boundaries. Their experience is that people are actually longing to learn more.
There is a hunger for truth in contemporary society, and a desire in many Catholic circles to share it. The intention is not to proselytise, in the sense of targeting people from other religions, but it is certainly to share this Christian vision with anyone who is attracted to it.
It’s refreshing to know that there are people who want to share the Catholic faith with others and at the same time broaden their own understanding of it. I find it wonderful that they also evangelise in a way often associated with other denominations of Christianity, by going out into the streets to minister to people.
For me, though, a truly awesome aspect of this post is the realisation that there are still people who are willing to give a year or two of their lives to live a challenging life for little or no renumeration and serve their God and their fellow human beings. This is truly revolutionary and, I suspect, points to the fact that their is a thirst for the transcendent and for meaning in life beyond the material things.
Dear Father Stephen,
Your remarks about what young Catholics are looking for are right on the mark. All the evidence is that the young are seeking the authentic truth and beauty of the Catholic faith and no less.
For evidence of this, please go to:-
http://www.colleen-campbell.com/thenewfaithful.htm
This great young writer on the Catholic faith has written a book detailing her experiences with young Catholics, and this book corroborates the views you have expressed.
Keep up the good work,
Jim McGroarty
I was lucky enough to experience a year at the heart of Fr Alexander’s previous parish. There was a very extensive programme of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and small Cell groups that exist to evangelise. It was an extraordinary and inspiring experience of Parish life and the essential simplicity of evangelisation. An angle to it all that particularly touched my heart was the way that creative types came together to evangelise through art/music. There was a composer in the parish, musicians, singers. In the space of less than two years we had responded to the local issue of there being an Abortion clinic on the doorstep with a beautiful, classical ‘Requiem for the Innocents.’ Some of us who were involved in the Cell groups travelled to Milan to experience the parish of St Eustorgio, which hosts an international gathering once a year – a ‘come and see’ Adoration and Cell groups in action. The parishioners themselves host the guests in their homes. The parish has to be seen to be believed; utterly dynamic. Truly Christ reigns there. I would recommend a visit to anyone.
I completely agree about the hunger in people. I had an experience of this just today in my staff canteen. I got into conversation with someone and when he discovered that I had faith it was as though I had said that I had the precise knowlege to win the lottery. I was grilled. No detail or angle was uninteresting to him. He said that his stumbling block was faith; that he wanted to believe. I asked if he had ever asked God simply for the gift of faith. He said he hadn’t. If you are reading this, please say a quick prayer for this soul to be given the gift of faith!
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