The Year of Faith
Celebrating Evangelization, Catechesis & 50 Years of Vatican II by Dianne Rachal
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n October 17, 2011 Pope Benedict XVI issued an apostolic letter, Porta Fidei, announcing a Year of Faith for the Church. “Ever since the start of my ministry as Successor of Peter, I have spoken of the need to rediscover the journey of faith so as to shed ever clearer light on the joy and renewed enthusiasm of the encounter with Christ.” Porta Fidei n. 2. The Year of Faith will begin on October 11, 2012— the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, and the twentieth anniversary of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Thus the catechetical focus for the Year of Faith will be the study of the documents of Vatican II and the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The Year of Faith will conclude on November 24, 2013—the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Universal King. The last Year of Faith was 1967—the nineteenth century anniversary of the martyrdom of Saint Peter and Saint Paul.
The New Evangelization
The Church exists in order to evangelize. Pope John Paul II recognized the “need for a great relaunching of evangelization in the present life of the Church, to proclaim Christ to all peoples.” While the message remains the same: salvation offered to all through Jesus Christ, the New Evangelization calls for new ardor, new methods and new 12 Catholic Connection
expression of that message adapted to the people of our day. Evangelization is not just the responsibility of missionaries; all Christians, all dioceses, parishes, Church institutions and associations are charged with living out our belief in and our relationship with Jesus Christ. The context for the New Evangelization is the context of our Christian lives: in our family, our parish, our workplace, our social life, our charitable works and in the world. The New Evangelization is not about bringing the good news to countries and continents that have never heard of Jesus Christ. Today there is a profound crisis of faith within large swathes of cultures evangelized centuries ago. People who have already received the Gospel message of Jesus are the object of the New Evangelization. In his address at the 25th Anniversary of the diocese, Bishop Michael Duca emphasized that evangelization begins with each person— “We must first evangelize ourselves and have the courage and willingness to go out and proclaim the good news. Then we evangelize our community, our parish and diocese . . . and the world today.” Pope Benedict XVI echoes this sentiment: “We want this Year to arouse in every believer the aspiration to profess the faith in fullness and with renewed conviction, with confidence and hope.” Porta Fidei.
Challenges in the World Today
The Church is facing social and cultural changes that profoundly affect a person’s perception of self and the world, and ultimately a person’s way of believing in God. Several challenges are identified in the working document, Instrumentum Laboris, for the Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization. These challenges include a weakening of faith of individual believers, a decline in the ability to bear witness to the Gospel, and a detachment, disorientation and distrust of things passed down. People today consider faith a private matter and so they separate their faith from life and culture. Many no longer feel the need to continue to grow in the faith, thus rejecting the principle that faith is a process of life-long conversion. In reality we are a pilgrim people—we are always on the journey of faith.
Year of Faith
The Year of Faith is a summons to an authentic and renewed conversion to the Lord, the one Savior of the world. We have an opportunity to know our Catholic faith better through study of the Catechism and the documents of Vatican II. Knowledge of the faith enables us to articulate our faith experience to others—to be evangelizers. Following Jesus through a personal relationship with him draws us into the fullness of God, the Trinity, and calls us to live for the