October is a very busy month in Rome at the Vatican. First of all, select bishops from throughout the world are joining Pope Benedict XVI in synod as they discuss “The New Evangelization for the Transmission of Christian Faith.” This is taking place from Oct. 7-28. On Oct. 11 the pope joined the bishops in a concelebrated Mass outside in the Square of St. Peter’s to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council, the Year of Faith and the 20th anniversary of the promulgation of the New Catechism.
The Synod of Bishops is discussing various aspects of their working document. The first chapter “is dedicated to a rediscovery of the heart of evangelization, the experience of Christian faith, the encounter with Jesus Christ, God the Father’s Gospel to humanity, which transforms us, gathers us together and introduces us, through the gift of the Spirit, to a new life.”
The second chapter “seeks to focus attention on discerning the changes which affect how we live our faith and which influence our Christian communities. The reason for spreading the idea of the new evangelization are then evaluated as well as the different ways the many particular churches can feel involved.”
The third chapter “treats the basic places, means, persons and activities in the transmission of the Christian faith, the liturgy, catechesis and works of charity and how, in the process of transmission, the faith needs to be professed, celebrated, lived and prayed.”
What makes this Synod of Bishops gathering unique is that Pope Benedict invited some 14 “fraternal delegates” representing other Christian churches. Two of the stand outs from this group include the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I. He is the successor of St. Andrew the Apostle and the 240th person to hold the title. He is “primus inter pares” (first among equals) and is the spiritual leader of Eastern Orthodoxy, numbering about 300 million members.
The other distinguished ecumenical guest is Archbishop Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Both these men joined and sat on either side of the Holy Father at the Mass celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council. Archbishop Williams proudly wore on his finger the bishop’s ring that Pope Paul VI gave to his predecessor, Archbishop Michael Ramsey, in 1966.
Pope Benedict in an unprecedented gesture invited Archbishop Williams to deliver a major address to the Synod on Oct. 10. He shared with the bishops that evangelization is not a program or project but the encounter that one has of Christ and his church, that once met, changes lives, affording them new meaning and purpose.
“Those who know little and care even less about the institutions and hierarchies of the church these days” are more attracted to the faith by encountering Christians whose lives have been transformed by Christ and filled with joy. He recounted that the changes brought about by the Second Vatican Council were a sign that “the church was strong enough to ask itself some demanding questions about whether its culture and structures were adequate to the task of sharing the Gospel with the complex, often rebellious, always restless mind of the modern world.”
He said that the synod on the new evangelization is a continuation of the work of the Second Vatican Council.
“The face we need to show to our world is the face of humanity in endless growth toward love, a humanity so delighted and engaged by the glory of what we look toward that we are prepared to embark on a journey without end to find our way more deeply into it,” Archbishop Williams told the synod. The day before his address to the synod fathers Archbishop Williams visited the Church of St. Gregory in Rome. He lit a candle and prayed at this church on the Caelian Hill from which Pope St. Gregory the Great sent St. Augustine of Canterbury and his fellow monks to evangelize England in the year 597A.D.
The day after the anniversary Mass Pope Benedict invited Patriarch Bartholomew and Archbishop Williams as guests of honor at a lunch for the participants in the Synod of Bishops. Pope Benedict said that their presence at this important gathering is “a sign that we are walking towards unity.”
Father Joseph D. Wallace is coordinator, Ecumenical and Inter-religious Affairs, Diocese of Camden.
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