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1. What is Catholic evangelization?
Pope Paul VI answered this question in his apostolic exhortation, On Evangelization in the Modern World, published in 1975.
For the Church, evangelizing means bringing the Good News into all the strata of humanity, and through its influence transforming humanity from within and making it new: “Now I am making the whole of creation new” (2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15). But there is no new humanity if there are not first of all new persons renewed by baptism and by lives lived according to the gospel. The purpose of evangelization is therefore precisely this interior change, and if it had to be expressed in one sentence the best way of stating it would be to say that the Church evangelizes when she seeks to convert, solely through the divine power of the message she proclaims, both the personal and collective consciences of people, the activities in which they engage, and the lives and concrete milieu which are theirs (no. 18).
The Catholic understanding of evangelization includes a number of interrelated elements: the renewal of humanity, giving witness to Christ, explicit proclamation of the gospel, acceptance of the gospel message and entering into the community of faith—the Church, growing as a disciple, and sharing faith with others. Pope Paul VI summarizes these elements in On Evangelization in the Modern World.
Evangelization, as we have said, is a complex process made up of varied elements: the renewal of humanity, witness, explicit proclamation, inner adherence, entry into the community, acceptance of signs, apostolic initiative. These elements may appear to be contradictory, indeed mutually exclusive. In fact they are complementary and mutually enriching. Each one must always be seen in relationship with the others. The value of the last Synod was to have constantly invited us to relate these elements rather than to place them in opposition one to the other, in order to reach a full understanding of the Church's evangelizing activity (no. 24).
America’s bishops provide another, more succinct definition of Catholic evangelization. In Go and Make Disciples, A National Plan and Strategy for Catholic Evangelization in the United States, published in 1993 and available in our bookstore, the bishops write the following:
The simplest way to say what evangelization means is to follow Pope Paul VI, whose message On Evangelization in the Modern World has inspired so much recent thought and activity in the Church. We can rephrase his words to say that evangelizing means bringing the Good News of Jesus into every human situation and seeking to convert individuals and society by the divine power of the Gospel itself. At its essence are the proclamation of salvation in Jesus Christ and the response of a person in faith, which are both works of the Spirit of God (paragraph 10).
Evangelization must always be directly connected to the Lord Jesus Christ. “There is no true evangelization if the name, the teaching, the life, the promises, the Kingdom and the mystery of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God are not proclaimed” [On Evangelization in the Modern World, no. 22] (paragraph 11).
The Commentary and Planning Guide to Go and Make Disciples by Fr Frank DeSiano, CSP, and Fr. Kenneth Boyack, CSP, also available in our bookstore, gives a more in-depth understanding of Go and Make Disciples.
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