Brasilia (Agenzia Fides) - The 2022 Evangelization Campaign, promoted by the Brazilian Episcopal Conference (CNBB) through the dioceses and particular Churches of Brazil, aims to train and update Brazilian catechists, support the Teams of pastoral biblical animation in the 19 regions of the CNBB, to strengthen the organization of the Brazilian laity, to produce material and to promote the meetings of the National Council of the Laity of Brazil (CNLB).
The Evangelization Campaign was created by the CNBB in 1998 with the aim of raising awareness among Catholics of co-responsibility in supporting the evangelization activities of the Brazilian Church. It takes place from the Sunday of Christ the King to the 3rd Sunday of Advent. The campaign collection will take place this year on December 10 and 11.
According to the note from the CNBB, the theme of this 2022 edition - "Evangelizing: grace and mission that takes place in the encounter" - is part of the continuity of the 3rd vocational year that the Church of Brazil celebrates on November 20, 2022 to November 26, 2023, on the theme "Vocation: grace and mission". The reflection proposed for this Campaign recalls that evangelization is the vocation of the Church and, in her, the vocation of every baptized person, missionary disciple of Jesus Christ. "This vocation is gift and commitment, that is to say grace and mission, which is realized in the interpersonal, intercommunity, intergenerational encounter, etc.", underlines the basic text.
The theme reflects the indications of Pope Francis to build a culture of encounter, expressed in particular in the encyclical “Fratelli Tutti” on friendship and social peace.
"In this season of Advent, where the high point of the evangelization campaign takes place, continues the basic text, God comes to meet us and renew our hope for a new world. We therefore want to invite all Christians and other people of good will to intensify: the encounter with the Word; the encounter with Christ Bread; the encounter with brothers and sisters who suffer; and the missionary encounter". Thus, the four pillars of evangelizing action - Word, Bread, Charity and Missionary Action - proposed by the General Guidelines for the Evangelizing Action of the Church in Brazil (DGAE, 2019-2023) will be revived, and Catholic Christians should realize that there is no evangelization without interpersonal encounter.
45% of the collection for Evangelization remains in the diocese to subsidize the missionary, evangelizing and pastoral action of the local Church; 20% is forwarded to the regional CNBB to support regional evangelization structures; the remaining 35% goes to the national CNBB, to guarantee initiatives and structures of evangelization throughout Brazil, especially in the most disadvantaged regions. (SL) (Agenzia Fides, 29/11/2022)