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C 105A - Cicm in Action: JP, Ird, IP

This document discusses Pope Benedict XVI and Pope John Paul II's calls for a "new evangelization" in response to a crisis of faith in the modern world. It describes the "new Areopagi" or sectors that the Church is challenged to evangelize, including cultural, social, economic, civic, scientific, technological, communications, and religious spheres. The laity are called to participate in evangelizing these new sectors. The document also discusses how the CICM religious order in the Philippines has accepted the challenge to reinvent their missionary identity and strategies to address issues of poverty, hunger, unemployment, and crime caused by globalization.

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Angelica Pagaduan
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240 views

C 105A - Cicm in Action: JP, Ird, IP

This document discusses Pope Benedict XVI and Pope John Paul II's calls for a "new evangelization" in response to a crisis of faith in the modern world. It describes the "new Areopagi" or sectors that the Church is challenged to evangelize, including cultural, social, economic, civic, scientific, technological, communications, and religious spheres. The laity are called to participate in evangelizing these new sectors. The document also discusses how the CICM religious order in the Philippines has accepted the challenge to reinvent their missionary identity and strategies to address issues of poverty, hunger, unemployment, and crime caused by globalization.

Uploaded by

Angelica Pagaduan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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CFE 105A –

CICM IN
ACTION: JP,
IRD, AND IPS
GENERAL INTRODUCTION:
THE CALL FOR A NEW
EVANGELIZATION
Benedict XVI in his address to the
International Congress of Catechists and
Religion Teachers in Rome (12 December
2000) provided the reason why human beings
are in need of a new evangelization today.
He pronounces that the “deepest
poverty” is not physical poverty but
spiritual poverty; it is the inability for
joy, the tediousness of a life considered
absurd and contradictory. This poverty is
widespread today in varied forms in both
the materially rich as well as the poor
countries.
The inability of joy presupposes and results to
lack of love; produces jealousy, avarice – all
defects which devastate the life of individuals
and of the world.” At this time, people wish to
choose the path toward peaceful life and
happiness. New evangelization ushers them to
this path – which is the path of Jesus who has
come to evangelize the poor (cf. Lk 4:18).
On October 11, 2011, Benedict XVI issued a
letter to the Catholic faithful entitled Porta
Fidei. The document is a call to celebrate a
Year of Faith with the theme, “The New
Evangelization for the Transmission of
Faith”. The theme was significant since
Benedict XVI sees a crisis of faith in the
world, a problem which he considers as the
greatest challenge to the Church today.
This crisis of faith is characterized by
what the Pontiff describes as an “eclipse
of God, a kind of amnesia which, albeit
not an outright rejection of Christianity,
is nonetheless, a denial of the treasure of
our faith, a denial that could lead to the
loss of our deepest identity.”
John Paul II had also displayed his great ardor
for “new evangelization” during his
pontificate. He envisioned that new
evangelization must be applied in a diverse,
complex and various societies where methods
and ways of proclaiming the Gospel should
always be updated, in order to meet the needs
and special demands of special periods.
As he spoke to the Episcopal Conference of a Latin
American meeting in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on 9
March 1983, Pope John Paul II emphasizes: “The
commemoration of half-a Millennium of
evangelization will have its full significance if there
is a commitment on your part as Bishops, together
with your Presbyters and with your Lay Faithful, a
commitment not to re-evangelization, but to a new
evangelization. It will be new in its ardor, new in its
methods and new in its expressions.”
A. The New Areopagi of Mission
“The time is ripe for a new evangelization,
speaking with the technology of the digital age
that addresses the search for meaning that
surpasses all ages, that respects human freedom
and autonomy that is comfortable with and can
dialogue with diversity (Acts 17:22-31). And
that witnesses to the Kingdom present amongst
us through quiet but persuasive example.”
Therefore, the Church at present is
challenged to be involved in the new
sectors of evangelization – the new
Areopaguses (Areopagi) of mission.
“Mission today is described as crossing
boundaries. It is going to the public
square. It is described as going to the new
Areopagi of contemporary times (RM
31-37)
The new sectors of evangelization are:
cultural sector, social sector, economic
sector, civic life sector, scientific research
and technology sector, communications
sector, and religious sector. These new
sectors of evangelization involve new
techniques and circumstances whereby the
laity are called to participate.
Javier went further saying, “the modern
equivalents of the Areopagus, therefore,
define the parameters of the identity and
mission of the laity in the contemporary
world.”
Today, we are called to give witness to the
personal transcendent God. That is, God
being alive and part of human
affairs(cultural sector). Recognizing that
the world today is the world of
mega-migration, the laity hence are invited
to enter into collegiality (interconnected and
interdependent) with other peoples and
cultures (social sector).
In this age of commodification
(everything has tag price/for sale), the
laity are called to live the evangelical
idea of poverty (you have nothing
hence, you have everything)
(economic sector).
In this age of strife, the laity are called to
participate in the pursuit of peace, the
liberation of people, the promotion of the
indigenous peoples’ rights and the integrity
of creation (civic sector). There is no doubt
that at present, science, technology and
communications have been making great
innovations.
They seem to become everything for the
human person. However, the laity are
challenged to live their lives in aid of virtual
reality and not to deify virtual reality
(science, technology and communication
sectors). Finally, the laity are called to
return to religion that promote peace and
inter-existence and not on fundamentalism
and violence (religious sector).
B. THE NEW TRAJECTORIES OF THE CICM
MISSION
The CICM in the Philippines in their vision for
the “CICM Tomorrow” accepted the challenge
of re-conceiving their missionary identity –
adapts the process of reinvention and
revitalization, explores new missionary
paradigms and develops new missionary
strategies – within the context of the new
planetary transformation.
This is so, since the Philippines was not
spared from the impacts of globalization.
The proliferation of new technology may
mean loss of jobs for manual laborers. It
means more money for those who have
capital, but it makes life more difficult for
those living in the margins of society. This
is felt in the urban areas as well as the rural
areas.
Farmers, for example, are greatly affected with
the influx of imported goods and their
expensive farm inputs and high interest of farm
loans. Poverty, hunger, unemployment,
depletion of nature, and migration are only few
but present the drama of globalization in the
Philippines. As they rise, the crime rate is also
rising, and terrorism which is happening in
other countries, are also at our doors.
This situation should not be dismissed
and ignored. In a situation of
dehumanization and meaninglessness,
the CICM-RP is expected to
encourage and give hope.
As the CICM claimed in one voice, “Today,
the CICM as an international group of
missionaries, will be called upon to support
the movement towards the promotion of a
global ethics which is the common quest for
a meaningful co-existence that is genuinely
fostered by mutual respect for the world’s
diverse cultures and religions.”
ASSIGNMENT #1
1. What is your areopagus of mission?
2. Describe your mission and indicate
how you are going to fulfill it.

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