Synod of Bishops on “New Evangelization” nearing end

(Oct. 24, 2012) The Synod of Bishops on the “New Evangelization” continues in the Vatican. It is scheduled to conclude on Sunday, Oct. 28. A few Synod Fathers and participants unable to pronounce their interventions handed them in writing to the participants on Tuesday evening. Among them was Bishop Daniel Koroma of Kenema, President of the Episcopal Conference of Sierra Leone. He noted that in relatively younger churches such as in his own country and Gambia there is also a loss of faith just as in the West. He blamed this on little knowledge of the social teachings of the Church to look up solely to Jesus Christ and His Gospel for guidance in their social life of politics and business. He also mentioned the mixing of African religious practices and superstitution . He suggested that ample recognition should be given to the role of the Holy Spirit in all our efforts towards new evangelization for the transmission of the Christian faith.
Cardinal Raymond Burke, Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura said among the many grave wounds society suffers of today is a loss of morals and he mentioned euthanasia, procured abortion and men and women living together outside matrimony. Mons. Gevorg Saroyan of the Armenian Apostolic Church also handed in a written script of his intervention. In it, he mentioned the crisis the church is passing through, especially in Europe but said people are in search of spirituality and it is essential that the Church find new ways to carry out its mission.