Poland holds New Evangelization Congress

This weekend saw the first National Congress on the New Evangelization in Poland. Over 15 hundred people gathered in the eastern city of Kostrzyn, including the President of the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization, Archbishop Rino Fisichella.

“Evangelization is not the response for the crisis of faith. It’s exactly the opposite; it’s the fruit of faith. If you have faith in Christ, and your faith is alive, you need to share your faith with others,” explained Grzegorz Ryś, the Auxiliary Bishop of Krakow who is responsible for the New Evangelization for the Polish Bishops’ Conference.

“The church is sent by Christ to preach the Gospel [in every time] and everywhere. The context doesn’t matter,” he told Vatican Radio. “Of course, we need to know to whom we speak, and to whom we go, but the evangelization itself is not the response to the crisis.”

He said the New Evangelization is centred on the person of Jesus Christ.

“The idea is that we discover Christ in our life – Christ who is risen – and this experience is so powerful that we cannot preserve it for ourselves,” he said. “We need to share.”

Listen to the interview by Father Stanisław Tasiemski with Bishop Ryś: