New Evangelization

StMartinTours · #1 Apr 11, '12, 11:45 am

I have been hearing quite a lot about the "New Evangelization". Can someone explain what precisely this term means? I think it has to do partly with evangelizing thru' the mass media, but can somebody offer me a fuller definition?

edward_george · #2 Apr 11, '12, 1:07 pm

The New Evangelization as envisioned in the teachings of Bl. Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI is to present the Gospel to a society which has already been preached to at some point, centuries ago, but has turned away. Where the "old" Evangelization, the first Evangelization, would be the first presentation of the Gospel to a culture, the New Evangelization is re-presenting it to a society which has forgotten. This does involve a certain degree of engaging the culture; meeting society where it is at today, addressing a mass-media oriented people. Hope this helps. For more, see http://www.ewtn.com/new_evangelization/index.htm

-ACEGC

Semper Zelare · #3 Apr 11, '12, 1:41 pm

I definitely agree with the above post. But, I want to stress that the New Evangelization is mainly about reaching people in countries that were once Christian but are now increasingly secular. So, this would be mainly aimed at Europe but also the U.S. and Mexico and Latin America as well.

And while evangelizing over mass media is part of it, Pope Benedict XVI has stressed that communication over the internet can never replace face to face communication. In other words, the New Evangelization shouldn't be an excuse to discourage us from old fashioned preaching. The ways that so many of the saints proclaimed the Gospel are just as relevent today.

But yeah, a lot of it is just getting Christians and Catholics to stop thinking of evangelism as something that missionaries do in Africa and Asia. We need to realize that we don't have to be in a foreign country to reach "unreached peoples". In many ways people in Africa have a lot stronger faith than people in the U.S. We're now called to convert and evangelize our neighbors.

StMartinTours · #4 Apr 12, '12, 4:03 pm

Thank you both.

SurlyMermaid · #5 Apr 18, '12, 7:48 am

So weird....

I stumble across this topic on CAF at THE SAME TIME I've got YouTube open in another tab and it's recommending videos on NE. (Cue "Twilight Zone" music!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acb_I...feature=relmfu

KCT · #6 Apr 18, '12, 11:14 am

Last summer, I heard Cardinal Wuerl explain it this way, "The New Evangelization is about reaching people who have been baptized but not sufficiently evangelized."

It's reaching out to our own who don't know what they don't know.