The Neocatechumenal Way evangelized on foot, which is what the Apostles and the Early Christians did. After all, there were no internet in those days. The Apostles went door to door preaching the word of God. They also preached in the public squares.
Mark 6:7-12 Calling the Twelve to him, he began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over impure spirits. These were his instructions: “Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. Wear sandals but not an extra shirt. Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.” They went out and preached that people should repent.
Interestingly enough, the NCW have evangelized in two by twos, taking nothing with them except their bible. This is taking it to the extreme. Even the Jehovah Witnesses and Mormons do not do this in their two by twos. Nevertheless, evangelizing on foot or in the public squares is still one of the best forms of evangelization because there is interaction between people.
The Apostles and Early Christians also evangelized in the public squares. In 2015, the NCW went out in the Great Mission. A community from the Great Mission was also born. The Great Mission of the NCW took place in 10,000 public squares in 120 countries. As a result of the Great Mission, about 25,000 people returned to the parishes. In the United States, the Great Mission took place in 200 public squares, and 1500 people returned to the parishes.
I had posted this video in my blog previously and decided to re-post it again. According to Church Universal, "the Neocatechumenal Way works to evangelize and instruct adults on the truths of the Catholic faith. Fr. Joseph Mary Wolfe is joined by members of the Way who demonstrate the impact it has had on their lives and taught them to depend on God for happiness, not the material world." If you cannot see the video below, it is found in the following weblink:
https://youtu.be/mFn1bOppBYE
The center and backbone of NCW agenda is evangelization.
ReplyDeletemy brother Zoltan....what good is evangelization without the backbone and center of the Church?
ReplyDeleteHow many priest in our parishes, in our diocese have ever...ever gone two by two?
In practice; other than perform the mass; where is the SPIRIT of EVANGELIZATION evident in the history of our parish priest?
They are hypocrites my brother. With all due respect; we are being led by hypocrites and many of our so called Catholic brothers are "comfortable" with their practice.
Dear brother J., I believe in the evangelization as a fit agenda for Catholics. But who should evangelize? I guess the best is if those evangelize who can do it best! We are not all natural born evangelizers, you know. Going out 2 by 2 requires a down-to-the-earth kind of personality who can bring Jesus close, in just a few words, to those who have fallen away from their faith. Not everybody can do that.
DeleteSt. Paul says we are all in one, but with different gifts and all these gifts work together for the benefit of the community. Whoever likes to go out and knock on the doors of people, should do it. Same way, whoever has other gift should use this other gift to attract people to Jesus. God produced a true diversity of gifts and talents for man. Our unity in diversity inside the communities is one of the most beautiful values to hold. We should respect this natural diversity and stick to it because it is the work of God for us.
So I would not call anybody a hypocrite just because s/he is not going out 2 by 2 to evangelize to Catholic villages. Our Lord would like to see evangelization among the unbaptized pagans. If you succeed attracting people to the church via 2 by 2 invitations, then it is the duty of the pastor of the church to make sure that the faith of these newly recruited people are nourished and nurtured.
Successful evangelization increases the participation of the faithful in the parish life. The growth of the church depends on involved participation. External, extensive growth is measured by numbers, but internal, intensive growth is measured by the depth of faith of the faithful. These two things completely differ from each other, so they also require completely different abilities and talents to succeed.
Pope Frances sends messages Zolton to cardinals; bishops and priest.
DeleteThe Pope states the truth and will not speak of hypocrisy in the church if it were false.
Ok so neither of these two are anonymous. Why dont you meet for coffee and have this discussion face to face?!?! Why are you spewing sermons on the a blog instead of sitting down and talking?!??
ReplyDeleteYes....we meet in the light....anonymous nov 20 7:03.
Deletestaying in the dark...responding as anonymous is more easier for you than talking in the light.
Anonymous.....?????? you do not have the courage to speak in the light.
Dear Anonymous, we should look after that the changes in NCW life be beneficial and not damaging. Meaningful reforms are always the heralds of deepening impact and renewal. This is why it is important to see the fruits of the NCW in proper light. Evangelization is a powerful thing and it has many aspect. None of these aspects should be made absolute and glorified over the others.
Delete"To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.(...) God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many members, yet one body." (1 Cor 12: 8-11, 18-20)
Dear Zoltan,
DeleteYou are wrong. I assume you went to Mass this weekend. The gospel spoke about talents. On Vatican Radio one of the homilies said that the talents were the evangelization. Which means that every baptized Christian has a mandate to evangelize. Christ did not say only the best of you with down to earth qualities evangelize he said go to the ends of the world to everyone. Yes there are different charisms given for service inside the church but the mission to bring the good news is entrusted to everyone. So much so that St. Paul says that it doesn’t matter who or why they evangelize just that they do it.