HOMILY OF ARCHBISHOP JOHN P. FOLEY,
PRESIDENT, PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR SOCIAL COMMUNICATIONS,
MASS AT CONGRESS OF NEW EVANGELIZATION OF AMERICA (NEA),
DALLAS, TEXAS, FEBRUARY 1, 2003
My brothers and sisters in Christ:
If we are to be instruments of a New Evangelization of America,
then we must be men and women of faith.
We are given the splendid example of Abraham.
He was called from his native land to another place. He went
because he had faith.
He was called to bring forth children when he was old and when
he was was sterile. Because he had faith, what had been promised
happened -- and, in a very real sense, we are all children of
Abraham.
He was even called upon to sacrifice his own son, and he was
ready to do it, because he had faith that the one ordering him
to do it had the authority to do so and truly knew what he was
doing.
In the Gospel passage read today, the Apostles panicked in the
heavy seas and the awakened Jesus who said to the waves: "Peace,
be still", and to the Apostles, "Why are you terrified?
Do you not yet have faith?"
We are certainly living in a stormy time. The storms have certainly
been battering the Church in the United States.
But we are people of faith.
We believe in God -- and we live in a nation which has for a
motto: "In God, we trust."
We believe in Jesus Christ, and we live in a nation in which
many other Christians share our faith in the divinity and redemptive
power of Jesus Christ.
We believe that Jesus founded on the Apostle Peter and on the
other Apostles a Church, a continuation of His work in the world.
While the existence of God is a stumbling block for atheists,
and while the divinity and unique saving power of Jesus Christ
are stumbling blocks for non-Christians, the teaching authority
of the Church founded by Jesus Christ has become a stumbling
block for many, and they seek to justify their rejection of
the Church by using the bad example of some churchmen.
We believe, however, that the Church founded by Christ is divine
in its origin but human in its members. We believe that Jesus
gave to the imperfect Peter and to the equally imperfect Apostles
the responsibility to preach, teach and baptize in His Name.
We believe that the Pope, the successor of Peter, has the authority
to teach in the name of Jesus and has the responsibility to
confirm his brother bishops in the faith. We believe that we,
as Christians, also have the task not only to live our faith
but also to share it.
What more precious gift can we give to others than our faith
in God, in Our Lord Jesus and in His Church?
In the midst of the storms of life, people seek a secure conveyance
to eternal life -- and the same Jesus who was with the Apostles
in the boat on the Sea of Galilee is with us in the barque of
Peter.
Jesus said to Simon: "You are Peter and upon this rock
I will build my Church and the gates of hell will not prevail
against it!"
We have a faith founded on Jesus Christ and a Church founded
on the rock of Peter.
It is that security, that faith, with which we wish to confirm
our fellow believers and it is that faith which we wish and
are called upon to share.
LUNCHEON ADDRESS BY ARCHBISHOP JOHN P. FOLEY,
PRESIDENT, PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR SOCIAL COMMUNICATIONS,
NEW EVANGELIZATION OF AMERICA CONFERENCE (NEA),
DALLAS, TEXAS, JANUARY 31, 2003
It is a pleasure and an honor for me to be here for my third
meeting of NEA, the New Evangelization of America.
Last year, at the Miami meeting, some people said that they liked
the funny stories I told about my experiences in broadcasting.
This year, I can share only one such story with you, because it
is related to World Family Day which was celebrated in Manila
just last week.
One time the Holy Father asked me:
"What was the most difficult telecast you ever did?"
I responded: "It was your World Youth Day Mass in Manila
in 1995."
He asked, "Why?" And I said, "Because you were
an hour and a half late. The streets were so crowded you couldn't
get through it the Popemobile, so they had to take you out of
Manila and bring you in to the site of the Mass in a helicopter
-- so I was on the air for an hour and a half with no Pope."
He asked, "What did you talk about?"
I said, "First, I recounted the history of world Youth Day;
then I recalled the history of the Church in the Philippines;
then I began reviewing the history of the Church."
He laughed and he asked, "What else happened?"
I said, "At the end of the Mass, you ad-libbed. First, you
ad-libbed in English; then in Spanish, which had been the language
of the Philippines, and I could translate that; then, in Italian,
because you had seen a large group from Italy, and I could translate
from the Italian; but then, you saw the flag of Bosnia-Herzogovina,
and you ad-libbed in Serbo-Croatian, and I was lost, until I heard
the word "mir", which I know means "peace"
in Slavic languages. He said, "It also means "cosmos",
"universe".
I responded: "Well, I said, 'The Holy Father has seen the
flag of Bosnia-Herzogovina and has assured the people of that
war-torn nation of his prayers for peace'".
The Holy Father smiled and replied: "That's what I said"
-- and I said a quiet prayer of thanks and gave a sigh of relief.
I said that I would recount only that story, which is really tied
in with evangelization, because this is not a year for funny stories.
The Catholic Church in the United States has gone through what
is probably the most difficult year in its history -- and the
stories of priests who have gravely betrayed their trust have
begun to obscure in the public mind the all-important story of
the Good News of Jesus Christ.
We all know that the validity of Christ's message and even the
validity of Christ's sacraments do not depend in preaching or
administration upon the worthiness of the messenger or minister.
But the priest is called upon to be another Christ, and what the
Second Vatican Council said about the conduct of all believers
as an obstacle to effective evangelization is sometimes especially
true of priests: that we sometimes conceal rather than reveal
the authentic face of God.
At no time in the history of the Church in the United States has
it been more necessary to be a saint than it is now in order to
give effective witness to our faith in Jesus Christ.
I would also say that it is necessary to avoid the irresponsible
gossip that often accompanies great scandals. It should be able
to be said of us as it was of our forebears in the faith: "See
how these Christians love one another." Thus, we should avoid
not only calumny, telling lies about others, but also detraction,
revealing the unknown faults of others, and rash judgment, jumping
to conclusions about the actions and motives of others. Even more
important, it is necessary to make known the good news -- the
wonderful things done by the Church and by the overwhelming majority
of its priests, Sisters and lay people in serving the poor, the
sick, the handicapped, the young -- all those who should be for
us as they were for Mother Teresa, Jesus, the face of Jesus in
the world.
It is true that we are seeking to bring Jesus to others; it will
be easier to do so if we can already see Jesus in them.
Thus, not only should we be ready to proclaim the truth about
Christ and His Church, that it is the one true Church founded
by Jesus on the rock of Peter and on His other Apostles, but we
should also be ready to tell the story of the Church -- to tell
the story of Catholic Relief Services, the largest private relief
organization in the world; of our Catholic hospitals, the largest
such private network in the world, now threatened not only by
financial problems but also by regulations which seek to require
that Catholic hospitals provide services which violate our moral
principles -- abortions, sterilizations, contraceptive services;
of our Catholic schools, also the largest such private network
in the world, blocked from receiving public money because they
dare to honor and teach about God.
I always found it ironic that the one hospital for lepers which
remained in the United States -- and I do not know whether this
is still true, because I've been out of the country for nineteen
years -- was funded by the Federal government but staffed by Catholic
Sisters, because no one else would do the work! Apparently, the
wall of separation between Church and State can be breached when
the State is desperate and when it knows it can truly depend upon
women of Christian faith and love.
The Holy Father once said that investigative reports should seek
out not just the hidden sinners but also the hidden saints --
because people have need of positive role models.
This is the good news which we should be telling, not only through
effective and credible public relations programs aimed at the
secular media, but also through our own Catholic media -- press,
radio and television. Ironically, the good news about the Church
is more likely to be believed when it is made known through the
secular media, first, because they are viewed as not having a
vested interest in telling such good news and, second, because
they are better known for having published so much bad news.
This brings me to a point with which many of you may disagree.
I say, do not blame the media or seek to punish them when they
publish bad news about the Church, when that bad news is true.
Kings used to kill the messengers who brought bad news. That meant
they soon didn't get much bad news.
It has been said for generations that there are two things which
a bishop does not get: a bad meal and the truth. God knows that
is not the case any more, although you may judge from my girth
that I don't get many or even any bad meals.
We have learned, tragically, that there are some priests who did
unspeakable things to children. I get sick when I think of it.
I'm sure we all do.
Some have said: in other segments of society, the situation is
worse. Why don't the media focus on those people? That statement
may be true and the question may naturally come to mind, but both
the statement and the question are irrelevant.
Priests, by their exalted vocation, are literally called upon
to be holy. If they have literally betrayed their vocation by
engaging in acts which are not only unspeakable but criminal,
then the crime lies not in the revelation of those facts but in
their commission.
The greatest barrier to evangelization in the nation today is
not an inadequate use of the communications media, although that
enters into the equation. The greatest barrier to evangelization
today is bad example.
It may be simplistic to say, but it is nevertheless true, that
our strategy of evangelization must be based upon sanctity, upon
our enthusiastic response to Christ's universal call to holiness.
I do not say that the world will be immediately converted if we
become saints; otherwise Jesus would not have been crucified and
many Christian saints would not have been martyrs.
I am saying that many in the world will not be converted if we
are not saints. Our most effective witness to the truth of what
Jesus has revealed through His Church will be the example of holy
lives.
It is said that there are about 65 million people in the United
States who identify themselves as Catholics -- but that only about
one third of them practice their faith. The Paulist Fathers say
that there are 21 million inactive Catholics in the United States
who do not even identify themselves as Catholics.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if we had 65 million saints who called
back to their Catholic roots 21 million other former Catholics
and challenged them to be saints?
And then how many unchurched people are there in the United States?
Why are we not reaching out to them?
I yearn for the day when the news I read and hear will be not
the tragedy of scandal but the exciting news of holiness and of
evangelization -- of Catholics on fire with their faith who transform
society through their charity and who invite people to share their
faith through the witness of their lives.
That's why, if we wish to evangelize the world, each one of us
must begin by trying to become a saint.
Thank you.
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