The New Evangelisation of families in Catholic schools

Spirit Dream In Burning Hearts

Paul Sharkey

29 May 2011

What is evangelisation?

Evangelisation

a process of deep interior transformation

a conversion at the individual and collective levels of conscience

a transformation of the whole sphere of human activity

and even of the total environment in which humanity lives and has its being

Evangelii Nuntiandi, n. 18

Evangelisation Categories

Evangelisation

Witness

Presence Charity

Ministry of the Word

CatechesisKnowledge

and experience

Gerry Holohan,(1999), Australian Religious Education.

Conversion: 4 moments

1. Interest in the Gospel: there is born, as a result of its first proclamation, an interest in the Gospel, yet without any firm decision.

2. Conversion - This first moment of interest in the Gospel requires a period of searching to be transformed into a firm option.

Conversion: 4 moments

3. Profession of Faith - Abandonment of self to Jesus Christ arouses in believers a desire to know him more profoundly and to identify with him.

4. Journeying towards perfection. The basic maturity which gives rise to the profession of faith is not the final point in the process of continuing conversion.

Congregation for the Clergy, (1997)General Directory for Catechesis, n. 56

Liturgical Catechesis

four characteristics of liturgical catechesis:

1. paschal: it focuses on the death-resurrection mystery of Jesus Christ.

2. ecclesial: its point of reference is the whole Church, as seen as the assembly gathers to celebrate its identity in public worship

Liturgical Catechesis

3. it is sacramental: it aims to help those catechised discover the meaning of the sacramental symbolic actions so that they realise they are participating in the saving action of Christ.

4. it is transformative: it aims at conversion and the bringing about of the Reign of God.

Catherine Dooley cited in The art of catechesis. (1998) M. Gallagher (Ed.)

What is New evangelisation?

New Evangelisation Definitions

JP II definition in addres to Latin American Bishops

Redemptoris Missio definition Re-definitions … the 2012 Synod of Bishops in October

2012:

The New Evangelization: for the transmission of the Christian faith

Latin American definition

Pope John Paul II repeatedly called for a New Evangelisation

Pope John Paul II. (1983)address to the bishops’ council

of Latin American churches

an approach to evangelisation that is “new in ardour, methods and expression”

Redemptoris Missio definition

Synod of Bishops, XIII Ordinary General AssemblyLineamenta: 2 February 2011, n. 9

cf Redemptoris Missio, n. 33

The traditional, long-accepted model of a division of the world into "Christian countries" and "mission lands", despite its conceptual clarity, is now seen as limited, overly simple and no longer applicable to the present situation

a ‘living sense’ of the faith

Redemptoris Missio, n. 33

New Evangelisation is necessary when entire groups of baptised people lose ‘a living sense of the faith’ or perceive Christian beliefs and practices in a superficial and exterior way

The great moments ofbirth, suffering and death

Christifideles Laici, n. 34

The subjects of New Evangelisation are people who, despite being sacramentally initiated into the Church, do not make connections between what matters most to them – ‘the great moments of birth, suffering and death’ – and the symbols, teachings and rituals of the Catholic Church.

The 2012 Synod of Bishops

How will the Synod shape our understandingof evangelisation?

(and New Evangelisation)?

What agendas are driving this Synod?

What responsesdoes the termNew Evangelisation evoke for you?

How do fruitful communities develop?

Communal Faith Transmission

Synod of Bishops, XIII Ordinary General AssemblyLineamenta: 2 February 2011, n. 2

The transmission of the faith is never an individual, isolated undertaking, but a communal, ecclesial event

Unfruitful Evangelisation

Synod of Bishops, XIII Ordinary General AssemblyLineamenta: 2 February 2011, n. 2

The problem of unfruitfulness in evangelisation and catechesis today can be seen as an ecclesiological problem which concerns the Church's capacity, more or less, of becoming a real community, a true fraternity and a living body, and not a mechanical thing or enterprise.

Developing Community

Community Development ‘skillset’

1. spirituality: a living faith that provides a compelling witness

2. a capacity to reflect theologically from a Catholic place

3. an ability to understand and appreciate the contemporary outlook and mindset of families – especially those families not currently engaged in the life of the Church beyond school

Community Development Skillset

4. able to network and offer effective invitations to families, especially those families who are in special need or those who are not engaged with the life of the Church

5. is creative and able to devise pastoral strategies and structures that connect with those families in new ways

Community Development Skillset

6. appreciates the Church’s understanding of the unfolding stages or ‘moments’ of conversion which begins with the desire of the human heart for love and beauty, then moves into discipleship, then abandonment of self in Christ and finally, moved by the Spirit and nourished by the sacraments, prayer and charity, journeys towards perfection

Community Development Skillset

7. builds the capacity of community members so that the community develops initiatives that matter to them – as distinct from ‘delivering services’ to community members that professionals feel they need

Growing a broader ecclesial community of the school site

3 models of partnership between the Catholic school and the wider Church

Parish Church

Catholicity of Catholic School is measured by the movement of people from the School community which is understood not to be Church into the Parish Church that gathers on Sunday.

School isNOT Church

Schoolnot Church

SchoolIS Church

Parish Church

School is THE Church for families in the school because more than 85% of these families do not experience the broader parish – e.g. at Mass on Sunday

Church= School

A single ecclesial community that builds Church out of the school community by creating strong and multi-layered bonds to other parts of the local Church.

1. Recognisably much more than a school

2. Organic integration of all constituent elements

Family CentredChurch

Kerygma(Proclaiming)

Leiturgia(Liturgy)

Family isChurch

So isParish

So isSchoolDiakonia

(Service)

Koinonia(Community)

So are a range of other integrated services

Didache(Teaching)

Do these 3 models ring true to your experience?

Should we be trying to move into the third model?

traps / benefits of the model …

Planting seeds of faiththat will grow in our times

Reconfessionalising Catholic Mirror

Interpreter

staticpre-formulatedCatholic beliefs

CatholicMirror

The interpreter’s views are bounced in the direction of static pre-formed Catholic beliefs and values

Secularising Mirror

Interpreter

Secularisedworldview

SecularMirror The

interpreter’s views are bounced in the direction of prevailing social beliefs and values

The backyard view

Interpreter

The Backyard

The school affirms the students’ views and outlook. But everyone stays in the comfort zone of known and safe views.

Catholic Focusing

Interpreter

Catholic focusing lens

The educational process is illuminated by the light of faith. Students are invited into a space where they actively co-create new Catholic expressions as they engage with the tradition.

Recontextualising faith