I was privileged to be in Rome to attend a Forum for Leaders in the New Evangelisation, which was organised by Caritas in Veritate International on the weekend of Mission Sunday (October 21st 2012) . Approximately 40 people involved in movements and communities from around the world gathered for the 3 day conference at the Centro Internazionale di Animazione Missionaria, part of the Pontifical Urbano College. The main speaker at the forum was Fr. Robert Spitzer SJ of the Magis Center of Reason and Faith. It was a very enriching experience to listen to the inspiring talks of Fr. Spitzer who is a renowned author and speaker and has produced several television series for EWTN. He specialises in using documentaries, books, new media materials and other resources to show the close connection between faith and reason in modern science & philosophy.
The Synod of Bishops on the “New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith” was ongoing at the Vatican and the conference was by addressed by some of the Synod Fathers such as Archbishop Rino Fisichella – President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelisation and Bishop Dominique Rey of Fréjus-Toulon diocese in France. Prominent lay speakers also participated including Florence & Marc de Leyritz who adapted the Alpha course for French Catholics, and Henry Cappello of Caritas in Veritate International.
It was a great joy to be present in St. Peter’s Square on Mission Sunday as Pope Benedict XVI canonised seven new saints:- Jacques Berthieu, Pedro Calungsod, Giovanni Battista Piamarta, Marìa Carmen Sallés y Barangueras, Marianne Cope, Kateri Tekakwitha, and Anna Schäffer; praying that their intercession would “strengthen and sustain” the Church “in her mission to proclaim the Gospel to the whole world”. In his Angelus address after Mass the Pope invited everyone “to entrust to the protection of the Virgin Mary all missionaries – priests, religious, and lay – that in every part of the world sow the good seed of the Gospel”.
I was particularly struck by the story of Jacques Berthieu, a Jesuit priest and missionary who was martyred in Madagascar in 1896. He lived life as a gift and had a deep personal attachment to the Lord in prayer, proclaiming that he would rather die than abandon his religion. He was also a great cathechist who had a special love for the faithful entrusted to his pastoral care, committing to leading them into the richness of the Christian life.
It was fantastic to see so many young people present at the canonisations. The saints remind us that we are all called to holiness in the Christian life – we have a vocation to love, and to live radically according to the Gospel. As Pope Benedict said during World Youth Day in Cologne “It is the great multitude of the saints – both known and unknown – in whose lives the Lord has opened up the Gospel before us and turned over the pages; he has done this throughout history and he still does so today. In their lives, as if in a great picture-book, the riches of the Gospel are revealed. They are the shining path which God himself has traced throughout history and is still tracing today.”
(Pope Benedict XVI, August 20, 2005)
