ADVANCING THE NEW EVANGELIZATION
Winning the World for the Sacred Heart of Jesus
What Is the
New Evangelization?
Dr. Ralph Martin
S
ince the New Evangelization has become a major
focus for both Sacred Heart Major Seminary and the
Archdiocese of Detroit, it might be well to review a bit
where this emphasis came from and why it is important.
Starting in 1983, St. John Paul II began to
refer frequently to a “new evangelization.”
He made it clear that he wasn’t calling for
a new gospel. Instead, he was calling for
a new effort, characterized by new “ardor,
methods, and expression” and directed in a
new way, not only to those who have never
heard the gospel before—the traditional
“mission territories”—but now also to the
lukewarm and de-Christianized traditionally Christian Western nations.
He distinguished between “primary
evangelization,” directed towards those
who have never heard the gospel before;
“pastoral care,” directed towards those who
were living as believers; and the “new evangelization or re-evangelization,” directed
towards those from traditionally Christian
cultures or backgrounds. Within this last
category, “entire groups of the baptized
have lost a living sense of the faith, or even
no longer consider themselves members of
the Church, and live a life far removed from
Christ and his Gospel” (Mission of the Redeemer, no. 33).
Cardinal Adam Maida, archbishop of Detroit from 1990 to 2009, determined that a
more serious institutional response needed
to be made to this call of St. John Paul II. He
gave Sacred Heart a new motto, “Preparing
Heralds for the New Evangelization,” and
the continuing reality of Pentecost.
directed the seminary to build this focus
As St. John Paul II put it in Mission of the
on evangelization into its degree programs,
Redeemer, his 1990 encyclical on evangewhich we have done. Archbishop Allen
lization, “I sense that the moment has come
Vigneron, Cardinal Maida’s successor, has
to commit all of the Church’s energies to
continued the emphasis and expanded it to
a new evangelization and to the mission
the entire Archdiocese of Detroit.
ad gentes [“to the nations”]. No believer
St. John Paul II published his “vision or
in Christ, no institution of the Church can
mission statement” for the Catholic Church
avoid this supreme duty: to proclaim Christ
as it entered the new millennium, the apto all peoples” (no. 3). The message here is
ostolic letter Novo Millennio Ineunte (At
that the call to evangethe Beginning of a New
lization is addressed to
Millennium). He cited the
“Entire groups of
each Christian and can’t
collapse of Christian sothe baptized have
be delegated to “specialciety as a primary reason
ists” or committees. Nor
for the need for a new
lost a living sense
is it adequate to occasionevangelization.
of the faith.”
ally have special evange“To nourish ourselves
lization events, as useful as they may be.
with the word in order to be ‘servants of the
What is being called for—and what is
Word’ in the work of evangelization: this is
necessary—is that evangelization become
surely a priority for the Church at the dawn
part of the baptized Catholic’s fundamental
of the new m [[