Charity and justice at the heart of new evangelisation

(Vatican Radio) Five American bishops were amongst the Synod fathers presenting their views on new evangelisation in the Synod hall on Tuesday. They reflected on many of the challenges they face in the United States today, from the problems of globalisation and immigration, to the need for a new Pentecost, the rediscovery of the sacrament of Penance and the key role of Catholic social teaching in bringing people back to the Church.
That question of the importance of works of charity and justice at the heart of the Church’s evangelising mission was explored by Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tucson, chairman of Catholic Relief Services. He spoke with Vatican Radio’s Philippa Hitchen about the task of rediscovering the rich heritage of Catholic social teaching..

Listen:

"Despite the rise of secularism, I think every human being is going to ask the basic questions, ‘who am I, where am I going and what is the best way to live my life? So it’s important for the Church to find ways to address those questions … people say the hardware of the Church doesn’t mesh with the software of people’s lives… we do need new ardour, new expressions, better ways to articulate our faith. It’s not enough to mouth the same messages, we need to frame our message in a way that’s going to address the questions people have…..

What I’m talking about at the Synod is the importance of works of charity and justice as fundamental to the new evangelisation. When people see the good the Church is doing, experience the love the Church is presenting, this is the most people way that people encounter the Lord...

There are some who begin to challenge the Church’s social teaching and doctrine, yet it’s endemic to all that the Church says about human life that flows from our faith and belief in God….it was quite inspiring for me to hear our Holy Father choosing to reflect on these two words, confession and charity … the two go hand in hand, we have to profess our faith but we have to live our faith with courage and commitment to those who are struggling...

Sadly I think for some people there is this tension between pro-life and pro-justice but for a true believer in the Lord there is no such distinction…so a pro-immigration Catholic has to be concerned about the unborn and a person who is concerned for the unborn has to concerned about people on the margins who are living less than decent lives….our Catholic social teaching is a tremendously rich heritage that we have that I hope will continue to live and maybe this Synod will be an inspiration to stir the embers of our social teaching and live it more completely.."