“Quello che io vi dico nelle tenebre, ditelo voi nella luce; e ciò
che udite detto all’orecchio predicatelo sopra i tetti”. E’ questo il
tema – tratto dal Vangelo secondo Matteo 10, 27 – di “Proclaim 2012”, la
prima conferenza nazionale sulla Nuova Evangelizzazione in Australia.
L’evento – riferisce l’
Osservatore Romano – si svolgerà
nella cittadina di Chatswood, nello Stato del New South Wales, avrà una
durata di tre giorni, a partire da oggi 9 agosto, ed è stato
promosso dalla Conferenza episcopale australiana (Acbc), e organizzata
dal
Catholic Mission Australia e dal
Catholic Enquiry Centre’s National Office for Evangelism.
Già oltre 450 persone (tra giovani
responsabili religiosi, religiose, parroci, personale e volontari
diocesani e parrocchiali, dirigenti scolastici, insegnanti di religione)
hanno dato la loro adesione. Tra gli altri, parteciperà al convegno,
con due interventi, l’arcivescovo Rino Fisichella, presidente del
Pontificio Consiglio per la Promozione della Nuova Evangelizzazione.
“Proclaim 2012″, spiega il presule all’
Osservatore Romano,
“è un evento molto importante, è il primo momento di nuova
evangelizzazione che coinvolge l’Australia”. Questo, prosegue il
presule, è “un Paese molto lontano da noi, ma che rappresenta una
presenza molto significativa nella Chiesa cattolica”.
Al centro dell’evento sarà la nuova evangelizzazione nelle
parrocchie. “Vogliamo prendere l’energia, l’esperienza e l’entusiasmo
dei carismi dei movimenti coinvolti nella nuova evangelizzazione –
spiega Marita Winters, direttore del
National Office for Evangelization and the Catholic Enquiry Centre –
e trasmetterli nelle parrocchie”. Le parrocchie, infatti, spiega il
sito della conferenza episcopale nazionale “sono comunità donateci dalla
Chiesa all’interno delle quali si può vivere la fede cattolica”.
* * *
“Costringere al silenzio il desiderio di Dio non può far approdare
all’autonomia”; “l’uomo è in crisi, ma non è emarginando il
cristianesimo che si potrà avere una società migliore”.
Questo il
centro dell’intervento di oggi, intitolato “Cos’è la nuova
evangelizzazione”, tenuto dal presidente del Pontificio Consiglio per la
Promozione della nuova evangelizzazione, mons. Rino Fisichella, a
Chatswood, in Australia, al convegno “Proclaim 2012”, secondo quanto
riferito dalla Radio Vaticana.
“La grande sfida che attende il futuro è tutta qui: chi vuole la
libertà di vivere come se Dio non esistesse può farlo, ma deve sapere a
cosa va incontro”. Mons. Fisichella traccia così la situazione di crisi
dell’uomo contemporaneo, che “ha dimenticato l’essenziale”, geloso com’è
della propria indipendenza e della responsabilità personale del suo
modo di vivere.
Non è escludendo Dio dalla propria vita, però, che il mondo sarà
migliore: i cattolici non accetteranno di essere emarginati e
continueranno a portare al mondo la buona notizia di Gesù. L’annuncio
dei credenti, però, “non può ricorrere all’arroganza e all’orgoglio” né
esprimere “senso di superiorità verso gli altri”, ma, al contrario, deve
essere portato con “dolcezza, rispetto e retta coscienza”.
In questo consiste la nuova evangelizzazione, la missione della
Chiesa di oggi, di tutta la Chiesa, fatta da pastori, sacerdoti e laici:
non qualcosa di diverso dal passato, ma un modo nuovo per trasmettere
l’identico messaggio di salvezza del Signore Risorto per noi.
Con Benedetto XVI, Fisichella ricorda che “non è l’annacquamento
della fede che aiuta, bensì solo il viverla interamente nel nostro oggi…
Non saranno le tattiche a salvarci, a salvare il cristianesimo, ma una
fede ripensata e rivissuta in modo nuovo, mediante la quale Cristo, e
con Lui il Dio vivente, entri in questo nostro mondo”.
Il primato va alla testimonianza, dunque, lo strumento principale per
portare a ogni persona, in ogni luogo e in ogni tempo, l’annuncio che
la salvezza è divenuta realtà; e alla carità, perché la vita trova la
sua piena realizzazione solo nell’orizzonte della gratuità.
“Sulla parola del Signore – ha aggiunto Fisichella – ci siamo
intestarditi nel privilegiare tutto ciò che il mondo ha rifiutato
considerandolo inutile e poco efficiente: il malato cronico, il
moribondo, l’emarginato, il portatore di handicap e quant’altro esprime
agli occhi del mondo la mancanza di futuro e di speranza, trova
l’impegno dei cristiani”.
Accanto a questo, però, anche l’esigenza di variare il modo di
evangelizzare, come sottolineava già Paolo VI, e di trovare nuove forme,
sviluppando capacità di adattamento.
L’espressione “nuova evangelizzazione” venne usata per la prima volta
da Giovanni Paolo II nel 1979, e il seme fu raccolto da Benedetto XVI
con l’istituzione del Pontificio Consiglio per la Promozione della nuova
evangelizzazione.
Ma non si può fare evangelizzazione senza evangelizzatori – nota
ancora il presule – perché la responsabilità dell’annuncio spetta a
tutti, senza ammettere deleghe: da qui l’invito ai cristiani a saper
discernere tra il vero e il falso, tra ciò che porta frutto e ciò che,
invece, è effimero: la principale sfida della Chiesa di oggi.
[Fonte: Radio Vaticana]
* * *
Di seguito una biografia degli speakers del Convegno, in inglese. Sia mons. Fisichella che Martha Fernandez Sardina sono due ospiti fissi in questo blog. Quest'ultima in particolare (v. etichetta...)
Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella
Rino Fisichella
was born in Codogno, near Milan, on August 25, 1951. As a student of
Almo Collegio Capranica, he was ordained a priest for the Diocese of
Rome on March 13, 1976. In 1980 he was awarded a doctorate in theology
from the Pontifical Gregorian University where he taught from 1981 to
2001, rising to become Professor-in-Ordinary of Fundamental Theology.
From 2002 to 2010 he was Rector of the Pontifical Lateran University,
combining this office with that of President of the Pontifical Academy
for Life from 2008 to 2010. On June 30, 2010 he was appointed by Pope
Benedict XVI as the first President of the newly constituted Pontifical
Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization.
He is also a member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, the Pontifical Council
for Culture, the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, and the
Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses.
He is regarded internationally as one of the leading Italian
theologians, having authored or edited some twenty books—many of which
translated into several languages—in addition to many articles
contributed to national and international scholarly journals.
He has been a visiting professor at several Italian and overseas
universities and has also lectured in various European countries
(Germany, Great Britain, Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal, Poland,
Romania, Hungary) as well as in the United States, Brazil, the
Philippines, Turkey, India, Korea, Taiwan, and Colombia.
In 2005 he was awarded the Gold Medal for Culture by the President of Italy, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi.
Martha Fernández-Sardina
Martha Fernández-Sardina is a bilingual speaker, trainer, and ministry consultant whose life mission is to
prepare the way of the Lord (Jn.1:23, Is.40:3), echoing the Church’s call for a new evangelization and a new springtime for the Gospel.
With
over 20 years of experience in the fields of evangelization,
catechesis, apologetics, and youth and young adult ministry, Martha’s
apostolate has included planning, chairing, and speaking at numerous
diocesan, national, and international conferences, seminars, retreats,
prayer workshops, and parish missions in the U.S. and abroad; forming
parish evangelization teams; developing training and outreach programs,
including the
Hispanic Festival of Faith and the
Hispanic Month of Evangelization; producing and hosting TV and radio shows; and assisting organizations wanting to reach Spanish-speakers.
Martha earned a degree in Psychometry and Psychological Investigation, a Licentiate in Clinical Psychology
Magna Cum Laude, and a Master of Arts in Theology and Christian Ministry
with honors,
but is most honored by the first public recognition of her call to the
new evangelization: a high school graduation plaque given to her
acknowledging her
“desire to know the Lord and make Him known to others.” Martha
has served as a member of several boards, including the Diocesan
Evangelization Ministries Committee of the United States Conference of
Catholic Bishops Commission on Catholic Evangelization, and the
Editorial Board of
Share The Word magazine, and has been a
member of various national organizations, including the National Council
for Catholic Evangelization (NCCE), the Association of Coordinators of
Catholic Schools of Evangelization for North America and the Caribbean
(ACCSE/2000), the Catholic Leadership Conference, the Colebrook Society,
and N.E.A.-New Evangelization of America.
A skilled evangelist, trainer, and lecturer, Martha has
touched the lives of thousands of Spanish- and English-speaking
individuals of all ages and ethnic backgrounds through engaging radio
and TV shows, insightful articles, and hundreds of lively talks at
conferences, workshops, parish missions, and retreats in almost every
state in the U.S., in Canada, Portugal, Italy, Brazil, Australia, and
Dominican Republic, helping Catholics
“rediscover the joy of believing and the enthusiasm for communicating the faith” (Porta Fidei, 7) and become saintly
effective everyday evangelized evangelizers by obeying the command to “
duc in altum” (“put out into the deep”) and perform a “net-busting” and “boat-sinking” miraculous catch as
“fishers of men” during the Year of Faith and throughout the Third Christian Millennium.
Martha has been featured in
Envoy magazine, interviewed on Vatican Radio, on Relevant Radio’s
Morning Air, and on EWTN Radio’s
Son Rise Morning Show, and has been a guest on numerous television shows, including
EWTN Live,
Nuestra Fe En Vivo,
Cara A Cara,
Franciscan University Presents, and
Life On The Rock. She is the author of
Ten Things To Expect From The Year of Faith;
Twelve Tips for Effective Catholic Evangelization;
Seven Tips for Welcoming Hispanic Catholics Into Parish Life;
a series titled
What Do The New Evangelization, (World Youth Day, Immigrants, Religious Freedom, Catechesis…), and You Have In Common; and
New Evangelization for Dummies – A Reference for the Rest of Us!, a collection of tips for personal and parish evangelization. A former columnist for the
Catholic Standard in Washington, DC, Martha currently writes for
Today’s Catholic (
satodayscatholic.com) and
Evangelization Exchange (
pemdc.org), and has published articles in
The Good News Newsletter,
El Pregonero, Evangelization Update,
Share The Word, New Evangelization 2000, and
Alabanza.
As Director of the Office for Evangelization for the Archdiocese of
San Antonio in Texas, Martha helps parishes, schools, apostolates, and
families become
evangelized and evangelizing communities of faith (
archsa.org/Evangelization),
where she regularly provides inspiring talks, practical training
workshops, and in-services, and spearheads the Annual Archdiocesan
Pentecost Eve Vigil Mass and Celebration with lay ecclesial movements
and new communities, apostolates, ministries, organizations, and lay
Orders. Having co-produced and co-hosted two weekly radio shows in the
U.S. and overseas, Martha now produces and hosts
Prepare The Way,
a weekly TV show dedicated to the new evangelization which airs on
Catholic Television of San Antonio and can be seen on YouTube (
YouTube.com/user/iEvangelize1) and Vimeo (
Vimeo.com/channels/iEvangelize.) She blogs (
iEvangelize.wordpress.com),
tweets (iEvangelize), and is on Facebook. As Director of the Office for
Evangelization of the Archdiocese of Washington in D.C. for 8 years,
Martha provided ongoing support, training, and resources to evangelizers
and leaders of 141 parishes, 28 Hispanic communities, and numerous
apostolates and ethnic groups. She conceived and implemented for three
consecutive years a
Month of Evangelization and a
Hispanic Festival of Faith, winning the attention of
The Washington Post and
The Catholic Digest.
As Assistant Continental Director and Director of the Prayer Campaign
of Evangelization 2000/North America and the Caribbean, Martha worked
with leaders around the world promoting the 1990s as a “Decade of
Evangelization.” Her work included assisting in the development of
evangelization training schools, producing newsletters, conducting
prayer workshops, and assisting Mother Teresa of Calcutta and the
Missionaries of Charity with their
Veronica Intercessors for Priests
prayer project. As a language and Hispanic culture consultant, Martha
has provided simultaneous interpretation nationally and internationally,
translates works for publication, and helps organizations wanting to
reach Spanish-speaking audiences.
A native of New York, Martha grew up between Miami and Dominican
Republic in a bilingual and tri-cultural household, allowing her to
experience the blessings and challenges of living “between languages and
cultures” – which has helped her foster
unity in diversity in
ministry. Martha feels she was “born to evangelize.” Yet, while Martha’s
commitment to clear, relevant, and sound teaching allows her to inspire
thousands of English and Spanish-speaking youth, young adults, and
adults in the U.S. and abroad, Martha remains especially committed to
her own ongoing conversion and growth in love of God and neighbor. With
our heavenly homeland constantly on her mind, Martha has committed her
life to serving the Lord
wherever, however, whenever, and with whomever He wishes and to becoming a saint.
