WHAT IS THE NEW EVANGELIZATION?
“Evangelization is the grace and vocation proper to the church, her deepest identity. She exists
in order to evangelize…” (Evangelii Nuntiandi §14)
To understand the New Evangelization, we must first understand what it means to evangelize.
Evangelizing means proclaiming the gospel to those have do not know it. Or to put in in
layman’s terms, it means sharing who Jesus is with those who have not met Him. In order to
effectively evangelize we need to do three things, first we imitate Jesus in our own lives so that
others can glimpse Him in us. Second, we have to be able to share with others how Jesus has
affected and changed our own lives; and thirdly we need to be able to share the actual story of
Jesus with others, His life, death, resurrection and what it means for us today. For the past 20
centuries Catholics have been using this exact formula to tell the world about Jesus, and more
people believe in Jesus now then there have ever before!
Evangelization is something that every baptised Catholic around the world is called to do, but the
New Evangelization is special. The New Evangelization is a call specifically for those Catholics
who live in countries where the culture was once Catholic (or Christian), but is not so anymore.
Most of the western world (Canada, the States, most of Western Europe) falls into this category.
This call is special because in these countries evangelization is extra hard. People who live in
these countries have been raised around Christianity and may even have gone to a catholic
school, so even though they do not know Jesus, think that they do. The people who live in these
countries need to be shown who Jesus really is. Because of this, these people need to be RE-
evangelized or evangelized ANEW, hence the name, the New Evangelization.
WHO IS SUPPOSED TO EVANGELIZE?
“It is not permissible for anyone to remain idle.” (Christifideles Laici §3)
In the Catholic Church, every baptised Catholic is supposed to be evangelize. We believe that in
baptism, and especially in confirmation, we are given spiritual gifts from God that will help us to
evangelize. We are all given unique spiritual gifts, and the gifts we are given help us determine
how we are meant to evangelize.
For an example, we will use the gift of teaching (1 Corinthians 12). Everyone knows a teacher
from their high-school years who has this gift. They made you excited about the subject they
taught and made you want to learn more. You also probably even got a good grade in that class.
People who have a spiritual gift for teaching have that effect on the people they teach. If you
have the gift of teaching, a way you could evangelize is to help with the RCIA or sacramental
programs in your parish. You could lead an alpha program or run a bible study. In summery you
can use the gift of teaching to teach about Jesus.
But not everyone has a gift for teaching. Everyone will have different gifts, and need to use them! Maybe it’s
the gift of hospitality, or healing, or faith! These gifts also have a place and the way the people
who have them will use them will be different but will still follow the three ways to effectively
evangelize; imitating Jesus, sharing our own story and then sharing Jesus’ story.