Posted on 01/10/2005 4:36:59 PM PST by Land of the Irish
VATICAN CITY, Vatican, January 10 (CNA) - The Pope's Angelus reflections today, the feast of the Baptism of Jesus, highlighted this sacrament which he said the Evangelists considered as the start of Jesus' messianic ministry.
"Christ's mission, thus begun, was fulfilled in the paschal mystery in which, having died and risen, He took away the sin of the world."
"The mission of every Christian also begins with Baptism," said the Holy Father. "The rediscovery of Baptism, through appropriate itineraries of adult catechesis, is thus an important aspect of the new evangelization.”
“Renewing in a more mature fashion one's own adherence to the faith is the condition for a true and full participation in the Eucharistic celebration that is the summit of ecclesial life."
After praying the Angelus with the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square, the Pope said "my thoughts turn this Sunday of the Lord's Baptism to all the children who were baptized in the course of the year. I embrace and bless them.”
“I also bless their godfathers and godmothers and, in a special way, the parents of the newly baptized, asking everyone to cultivate in them, through word and example, the seeds of divine life born in the sacrament of Baptism."
Ping
Sorry about the bad link. Here's a working one:
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=2783
What exactly is "the new evangelization"?
Turning you all into protestants?
Apparently the "born again" type.
Are the Assisi group hugs part of this "New Evangelization"?
It might help to evangelize the world if the Pope stopped giving our altars to heathens to use. It would also help if he urged Jews to convert--which has been a prerequisite for redemption, according to the Catholic Church, from its inception--but which is now denied with regularity by some very important churchmen he himself has elevated to the highest levels. He might start by silencing Kasper, for instance. Then he might publicly disagree with most of what his bishops have had to say on this subject. He might also want to jump-start the Church's missionary zeal--which has abruptly petered-out in the last forty years. Short of this--why should we believe this little piece of orthodoxy in the face of so much heterodoxy? Just more doublespeak from the top.
How about the presence of Catholic bishops at the installation of a protestant "bishop"?
http://www.fbsynod.org/Web/OffBishop/InstallERB/Pictures.html
Is this "the New Evangelization"?
It's the V-2 version of witnessing the faith. You study the doctrines of the New Catechism (e.g., the Two Covenants, the Church of Christ subsists in the Catholic Church, Jesus is a Sacrament, full and active participation in the liturgy, etc.). Then you live your life as an exemplary NO Catholic. You do not try to convert anyone or encourage them to join the Catholic Church -- you most definitely do not tell non-Christians that they need to be baptized.
This sort of fervor for witnessing does not come automatically from within the soul through God's grace. No, one must be formally trained in it through some form of "adult catechesis," as the Pope clearly says here, such as the Renew program, or joining Opus Dei or Cursillo or Focolare or the NeoCatechumenate Movement, etc. The training itself is often the beginning and end of the person's "new evangelization."
If, throught no fault of your own, somebody of your acquaintence becomes impressed with your examplary life, and despite all efforts on your part to dissuade him insists on entering the RCIA program and become baptized, then this, too is included in the "new evangelization."
"why should we believe this little piece of orthodoxy in the face of so much heterodoxy? Just more doublespeak from the top."
Nice jab from one of our resident Catholic-bashers. Get back to your little Protestant sect.
Insofar as it displays the Catholic bishops' internalization of the ecumenical teachings of V-2, and their acting as living examples of those doctrines.
Excellent summary!
Thanks
We must be slipping. We've got 55 people in the RCIA. Somebody must have invited them.
What "New Catechism" are you referring to? Surely not the one used by the Catholic Church:
The Church does not know of any means other than Baptism that assures entry into eternal beatitude; this is why she takes care not to neglect the mission she has received from the Lord to see that all who can be baptized are "reborn of water and the Spirit." (1257)
It sometimes may spill over and influence someone else, despite your best efforts. If he is a baptised Catholic, then he may go in for training for his own "new evangelization." If he is a non-Catholic he may be moved to enter an RCIA program. But both of these influences are "accidental" (to use a dusty old scholastic term) to your "new evangelization."
Sorry but I just can't buy third party salvation. Baptism is a confession of faith. Hard to do when you're an infant. Now if it is done as a dedication by the parents I can go along with that. IMHO
The truth tends to hurt, so you call it Catholic-bashing. But in fact it has been the Pope who has done the bashing. He was the one who disgraced his pontificate at Assisi, placing Christ's Church on a par with animism and voodooism. He was the one who apologized to ISLAM, of all religions, for the deficiencies of the Catholic Church during the Crusades--though it was Islam who was the aggressor. He was the one who gave the red hat to the German theologian who publicly called belief in the gospel miracles "theological nonsense." Now THAT'S what I call Catholic-bashing, not my little posts.
"Get back to your little Protestant sect."
It's not that little. Nor is it Protestant. It includes the entire Catholic Communion of saints up till around 1970. It's your version of Catholicism that's small--and pretty hard to tell apart from Protestantism. It's true you guys blindly adore the Pope--but that makes you an idol-worshiper, not a Catholic. Neither does attendance at a protestantizing liturgy that is indistinguishable from a Lutheran Lord's Supper Worship Service make you a Catholic. If anybody belongs to a Protestant sect, it would probably be a Novus Ordo Catholic like yourself.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.