Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – At the Lambeth Conference, the meeting every ten years of the Anglican Bishops of the world which took place in Canterbury (England) July 16 to August 3, Cardinal Ivan Dias, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, was invited to speak on the afternoon of July 22 on the topic: “Mission, Social Justice, and Evangelization.”
Cardinal Dias’ address opened with Jesus’ mandate to evangelize, and the Cardinal highlighted that the theme is “very appropriate in this year which commemorates the two thousandth birth anniversary of the great evangelizer, converted from Saul, the persecutor of the Christians, to Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles.” Quoting Jesus’ discourse in the Synagogue of Nazareth, where Jesus speaks of His mission as taken from the Prophet Isaiah (cf. Lk 4:18-19), Cardinal Dias pointed out that here we can see the close relationship “between the mission to preach the Good News and the necessity to be alert to the needs of our brethren relating to social and justice issues.” This implies making our love for God overflow into charitable works towards our neighbor: this is the essence of the New Commandment of love that Jesus has given us and according to which we will be judged on the Last Day.
Jesus has given his disciples the mission to renew the face of the earth, announcing the message of salvation to all humanity. Cardinal Dias continued: “He wished His Church to be dynamic, not static, and to transform humanity from within by being the salt of the earth, the light of the world and leaven in the dough, in order to prepare the advent of a new creation.” “For a disciple of Jesus Christ, then, to preach the Gospel is not an option, but a command of the Lord.” The Cardinal pointed out that the mission to announce the Gospel is just as urgent today as it was 2,000 years ago, in spite of some who say that “God is dead.” After reaffirming the uniqueness of the Jesus Christ and the universality of His salvation, Cardinal Dias stated that “The missionary mandate thus makes us enter into the very heart of God, who wills all men, women and children to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the Truth. After all, they are His children, the work of His hands, made in His own image and likeness, and Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, died for them all, saints and sinners.A Christian must, therefore, consider himself as on a “mission” to proclaim the sacred person and salvific mission of Jesus Christ at all times and without any compromise whatsoever, and to spread Gospel values to every heart and home and culture.”
Cardinal Dias later reflected on the challenges in evangelization today: “Whereas, in the past, the traditional areas of evangelisation were the heart and the home, health and education, care of the sick and the aged, we cannot ignore the new horizons which must be illumined by the light of Christ.” Among the modern “Areopagoi” (recalling the preaching of Saint Paul in the areopagus of Athens) that need to be evangelized today are mainly the mass media, the world of science and technology, of politics and social communications, of refugees and migrants, and others.
“Then there is the vast gamut of non Christian religions and cultures,” the Cardinal said, that exert a deep influence on the thoughts and lifestyles of their followers. This mosaic of religious and cultural -isms is now complicated by a deep questioning about man’s identity and purpose in life. many answers being proposed in our post-modern world ignore the transcendental dimension of life and seek to make God irrelevant. The Western world, which is increasingly becoming distanced from its Christian traditions and roots, moral and ethical, is now under threat from various quarters. Faced with this world situation, the Cardinal encouraged the Bishops not to become passive spectators: “true to our mission... we must be pro-active, and not merely reactive, in reading the signs of the times and projecting our missionary thrust, firmly convinced that He who holds the destinies of humankind in His hands has promised to be with His disciples till the end of time.”
Among the means of evangelization in our time, Cardinal Dias mentioned above all exemplary Christian living. In the first Christian era, the pagans were attracted to the Christian faith because of the way Christians behaved, their way of life. Today the world is still in need of the “credible witness of simple Christians who live in the world, with its joys and sorrows, its hopes and tribulations, but are not of the world.” Likewise, the Bishops should encourage the faithful to “give witness to the hope which is in them,” because the world is in need of people like John Henry Cardinal Newman, G. K. Chesterton, C. S. Lewis, Hilaire Belloc and others, who brilliantly expose “the beauty of the Christian faith without blushing or compromise.”
Another two ways of contributing to the cause of evangelization are inculturation and interreligious dialogue. “Inculturation is the process by which the Gospel message is incarnated into cultures and local contexts, Cardinal Dias said. “One of the great tragedies of our times is the divorce between Faith and Culture. Bishops must, therefore, encourage initiatives which aim at blending Faith and Culture harmoniously together through art, music, dance and liturgy...”
In speaking of interreligious dialogue, Cardinal Dias affirmed that in other religious traditions and cultures there are also elements which are true, good and holy. “The spiritual patrimony of non Christian religious traditions is a genuine invitation to dialogue, not only in those things which they have in common with Christian culture, but also in their differences. Dialogue, in fact, is never an attempt to impose our own views upon others, since such dialogue would become a form of spiritual and cultural domination; nor does it mean that we abandon our own convictions.” Later, Cardinal Dias recalled the various types of dialogue on an interreligious level – dialogue of life and action, of ideas and experience – and encouraged all to learn to perceive in non-Christian religions those values that can be a valid point of reference for fruitful interreligious dialogue.
Cardinal Dias also reflected on the ecumenical dimension of evangelization: “Evangelization is the unique prerogative of the Holy Spirit, who needs channels through which He may flow unhampered. This will be possible in the measure in which there is unity and cohesion between the members of the Church, between them and their shepherds, and, above all, between the shepherds themselves, both within the community as well as with the other Christian confessions.” When they are of one mind and heart, their missionary thrust is indeed enhanced and strengthened, but, when the diversity degenerates into division, it becomes a counter-witness which seriously compromises their image and endeavors to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ.
At the close of his address, the Cardinal invited those present to look towards Mary, the Star of the New Evangelization, who can be a model for all Christians, a point of reference in interreligious dialogue, and a guide for the Bishops in their ministry of discernment. (SL) (Agenzia Fides 23/7/2008)
