2012: A Year For The New Evangelization

2012 was quite a year for the Church. There were some low points, involving scandal, violence, and religious liberty violations. On the other hand, there were many high points, involving growth, better communication, and a renewed vigor for the Faith. While there was sorrow, our good Father gave us much to be grateful for.

How can we ever forget this year for the New Evangelization? Blessed John Paul II’s call to a re-evangelization of cultures was given a more concrete vision in 2012, as the Church came together for the Synod on the New Evangelization. Leaders from throughout the world gathered in October, in order to discuss how to inspire greater Faith in their countries. At the close of the Synod, the Church looked forward with hope in the Holy Spirit, and Pope Benedict XVI shared his conviction that there would be a “new springtime for Christianity.”

In anticipation of this springtime, the Holy Father launched the Year of Faith, “a summons to an authentic and renewed conversion to the Lord, the one Savior of the world.” Pope Benedict XVI announced the Year of Faith in response to a modern crisis of faith—the very crisis that sparked the Synod for the New Evangelization. This celebration began in October, and it will end on November 24, 2013, the Solemnity of Christ the King. Leaders have already begun to “re-catechize” the faithful, and we can look forward to more in the year to come.

In 2012, the Church promoted a renewed vigor for evangelization and initiated a Year of Faith to ground us in the Truth to be transmitted. There were strong efforts to bring the New Evangelization to the Americas and to spark new unity between American nations, where over half of the world’s Catholics live. This is why the “Ecclesia in America” Conference was held in December. There were over 200 American leaders at the summit, from cities like Toronto, Boston, Tegucigalpa, and Guadalajara. The summit was held in response to Blessed John Paul II’s 1999 apostolic exhortation, delivered in Mexico City, and it sparked a new solidarity between American nations.

2012 was a year for the New Evangelization, and so it has left us much to anticipate. In 2013, we can expect to find the answers to our hopes in many ways. Following the release of Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical on Faith in the spring, there is to be a worldwide, simultaneous hour of Eucharistic Adoration on the feast of Corpus Christi. There's also World Youth Day at the end of the summer in Rio de Janieiro. With these and a new Vatican media strategy (which includes Pope Benedict XVI’s Twitter account), there will be many opportunities for the Church to unite God’s scattered people in Faith.

Oh Blessed Mary, Star of the New Evangelization, Pray for Us!