venerdì 28 dicembre 2012

Lanciare la Nuova Evangelizzazione, senza paura



Rilanciare la Nuova Evangelizzazione in Asia con “rinnovata passione” senza farsi indurre “alla letargia e al pessimismo” dalle grandi sfide che “minacciano il tessuto della nostra società, la stabilità della famiglia e la visione di fede della stessa comunità cristiana”, ma lasciandosi invece guidare dallo “Spirito Santo che agisce nel mondo, nel profondo del nostro essere, nei segni dei tempi e in tutto ciò che è autenticamente umano”. Questa l’indicazione di fondo contenuta nel messaggio finale della recente Assemblea plenaria della Federazione delle Conferenze episcopali d’Asia (Fabc) ospitata quest’anno per la prima volta in Vietnam e dedicata al tema: “I quarant’anni della Fabc e le sfide dell’Asia”. Per sei giorni più di 100 delegati si sono confrontati sulle grandi sfide all’evangelizzazione nei propri Paesi oggi: dalla globalizzazione al rapporto con le culture; dal dialogo interreligioso al tema della libertà religiosa; dalla lotta alla povertà alla difesa delle popolazioni indigene; dalle migrazioni all’ecologia. Ne è emerso un quadro articolato, ma anche una comune convinzione: la necessità di vivere insieme in Asia “una spiritualità della Nuova Evangelizzazione”, cercando le ricchezze dello Spirito Santo nelle tradizioni asiatiche dove sono presenti “i semi di quella nuova umanità che ha sete della pienezza della vita in Gesù”. Il documento finale indica quindi dieci percorsi per la Nuova Evangelizzazione nel Continente: a cominciare dall’incontro personale con Gesù Cristo, “senza il qualche nessuno potrà toccare il cuore dell’Asia” e dalla “passione per la missione” di cui sono un modello esemplare i santi e i martiri che ci spronano a “condividere l’amore unico di Gesù per il mondo intero”. I nuovi evangelizzatori in Asia, prosegue il messaggio, non devono poi perdere mai di vista il Regno di Dio, che va visto non come realtà “separata dal mondo”, “poiché l’annuncio di Gesù tocca ogni aspetto della vita e luogo della società”. Per essere efficaci essi devono poi impegnarsi ad essere “testimoni e promotori della comunione con Dio, con l’altro e con il Creato”: in un continente afflitto da crescenti tensioni e conflitti che aspira all’armonia, “tutti i membri della Chiesa – clero, laici, uomini donne, giovani e bambini – sono chiamati ad essere evangelizzatori, costruttori di pace e di comunione”. In questo senso il dialogo, inteso come “capacità di percepire la presenza nascosta di Dio nei poveri, nella ricchezza delle culture, nella varietà delle religioni, nella profondità di ogni cuore umano” deve diventare “il nostro modo di vita”. Inoltre, nella grande missione evangelizzatrice in Asia, “la silenziosa, ma eloquente testimonianza di un’autentica vita cristiana richiede una presenza umile, un approccio dialogico che comprenda una vita contemplativa e di preghiera”. Ma il nuovo evangelizzatore in Asia non deve perdere di vista la dimensione profetica della sua missione: “Essere profetico – spiega il messaggio – significa essere consapevoli, con la guida dello Spirito Santo, delle contraddizioni del mondo asiatico e denunciare ciò che degrada e spoglia i figli di Dio della loro dignità”. Egli è quindi chiamato a proteggere “la dignità umana di tutti, soprattutto delle donne e dei bambini e di coloro che sono ridotti a vivere come non persone”. Da ciò discende la solidarietà con le vittime della globalizzazione, dell’ingiustizia, dei disastri naturali e nucleari, del terrorismo e del fondamentalismo. Collegato alla spiritualità di comunione è poi la difesa dell’ambiente: l’assemblea condanna l’abuso “egoistico e miope” del Creato finalizzato solo al profitto e che ha contribuito al surriscaldamento globale e ai cambiamenti climatici. Resta, infine, per il nuovo evangelizzatore la fermezza della fede fino all’estremo sacrificio sull’esempio dei martiri cristiani che anche l’Asia ha dato sin dagli arbori del cristianesimo. In conclusione, i vescovi asiatici esortano il “piccolo gregge di Gesù” presente in Asia a non avere paura e ad annunciare con coraggio il Vangelo ai miliardi di abitanti del continente che costituiscono il 60% della popolazione mondiale. “Dalla nostra - affermano - abbiamo la straordinaria ricchezza della nostra fede, Gesù Cristo, dono unico di Dio all’umanità”. (A cura di Lisa Zengarini)
* * *
Di seguito il testo del Messaggio.

Renewed Evangelizers for New Evangelization in Asia
Message of X FABC Plenary Assembly
“We declare to you what we have seen and heard” (1 John 1:3).
We, the Bishops representing member-Episcopal Conferences and Associate Members of the 
Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences  gathered  in Xuan Loc and Ho Chi Minh City, 
Vietnam, from 10 to 16 December 2012, for the Tenth Plenary Assembly of the Federation of 
the Asian Bishops’ Conferences. With us were: the Holy Father’s Special Envoy, Gaudencio 
Cardinal Rosales; the Secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, 
Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai SDB; the non-resident Pontifical representative to Vietnam, 
Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli; fraternal delegates of the continental Federations of Episcopal 
Conferences of Oceania, Latin America and Europe; representatives of a few funding and 
donor partners; the Bishops and Secretaries of the FABC Offices; and invited guests. There 
were a total of 111 participants (7 Cardinals, 69 Bishops, 35 priests, religious and laity).
We thank the Lord for the historic approval of the Statutes of the FABC 40 years ago. What 
extraordinary blessing it is for us that four important events converge with the FABC ruby 
anniversary: the Year of Faith, the 50
th
anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican 
Council, the 20
th
anniversary of the publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and 
the just concluded XIII Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the New 
Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith.
All these events awaken us to our deepest identity – we are a community of faith called by 
the Lord to  a  mission  of evangelization in the world. We thank the Lord for blessing the 
FABC in its ongoing work of renewing the mission of love and service in Asia.
We are deeply grateful for the exceedingly warm welcome and hospitality extended to us by
the Church in Vietnam, particularly  in  Xuan Loc and Ho Chi Minh City. We thank  the 
Government of Vietnam for its openness to, and support for, our gathering in this country 
blessed with rich cultures and traditions. We wish God’s special blessings upon the Church in 
Vietnam and all the people of Vietnam.
We also express our communion and solidarity with, and encouragement for, the Catholic 
Church in China. We missed the presence  of its representatives in  our Assembly and we 
dearly hope that one day we would have a wider fellowship with their active participation in 
the FABC. We are united with them in prayer that the peace, joy and hope that Christ came to 
bring may reach all in that great country.
We convey our deep gratitude to all the Laity, men and women in Consecrated Life, Priests 
and Bishops who carry out the mission of evangelization in the most difficult situations even 
at the risk  of  their lives. Their courage for the Lord’s Gospel and their  dedication greatly 
edify and inspire us.
This has been truly a Week of Faith. Our faith in the Lord has been stirred into flame by the 
deep and lively faith of the people in the Church in Vietnam and by the story of their martyrs. 
Through the supreme witnessing of martyrs, the power of faith and hope shines forth.


In the light of the Word, our Plenary Assembly discerned the paths of mission to which the 
Spirit of God is beckoning us. Guided by the Spirit we read the signs of the times, the social 
mega-trends in Asia and our own ecclesial realities, and analyzed the unfolding  challenges 
and opportunities so that we might respond to them from the depths of our faith. We have the 
daunting mission of proclaiming Jesus as the Lord and Savior amid rapid changes in Asia.
For this reason we are ever more aware that we need to be  a more Christ-experiencing and 
Christ-witnessing community. At the core of the  New Evangelization initiated by Blessed 
Pope John Paul II and reiterated by Pope Benedict XVI is the clarion call to be authentic and 
credible witnesses of Jesus the Lord and Savior.
The same Spirit who animated Vatican II now summons us to become renewed evangelizers 
for a New Evangelization. It is the Spirit who can fashion this newness in our Church and in 
each one of us. It is the Spirit who enables us to respond credibly and effectively to the social 
mega-trends and ecclesial realities that our Assembly has discerned.
To be renewed  as evangelizers we have to respond to the Spirit active in the world, in the 
depths of our being, in the signs of the times and in all that is authentically human. We need 
to live a spirituality of New Evangelization.
For such spirituality, we offer you some fundamental dimensions:
1. Personal encounter with Jesus Christ.  New evangelizers need first and foremost  a 
living faith that is grounded in a deep, personal, and transforming encounter with the living 
person of Jesus Christ, an encounter resulting in personal conversion and discipleship of 
Jesus in word and deed. In the final analysis, we proclaim the one whom we have seen, whom 
we have heard and touched (see 1 John 1:1-3). This personal encounter  and discipleship is
indispensable. Without it none will be able to touch the soul of Asia.
2. Passion for mission. If we exist for mission, we need to have a passion for mission. 
The story of the Church in Asia is intertwined with the story of missionaries  and martyrs –
laymen and women,  consecrated persons  and clergy – who dared to risk their lives for the 
sake of Christ. Their story inspires and emboldens us. They epitomize the passion for mission 
in a manner that is impossible for human beings, but possible for God (cf.  Luke 18:27).  
Blessed Pope John Paul II affirmed,  “A fire can only be  lit by something that is itself on 
fire… (we) have to be on fire with the love of Christ and burning with zeal to make him 
known more widely, loved more deeply, and followed more closely” (Ecclesia in Asia, 23). 
The words of St. Paul move our hearts: “the charity of Christ urges us” (2 Corinthians 5:14) 
to share the unique love of Jesus with the whole world. For we firmly believe that the 
aspirations of Asian peoples find their ultimate fulfillment in Jesus, who is Life.
3. Focus on the Kingdom of God. The proclamation of Jesus affects every aspect of life 
and stratum of society – the whole of  human  life. Hence the spirituality of the new 
evangelizer does not separate our world from God’s Reign. It does not separate the material 
from the religious, nor does  it divorce faith-life from the task of transforming the 
socioeconomic and political life. Above all, the spirituality of the new evangelizer does not 
separate Jesus Christ from the Kingdom, nor detach the values of the Kingdom from the 
Person of Jesus. To focus on the Kingdom of God is to commit oneself to Jesus and His 
vision of a new humanity patterned after Him.
4. Commitment to communion. Jesus prayed for us that we might be in communion with 
the Father, with him and with one another (cf. John 17:20-22). Through his Passion, Death,


and Resurrection, he restored all things to himself and brought humanity and all creation to 
communion with the Father and the Spirit. Like Jesus, new evangelizers should be men and 
women who live and promote communion. The spirituality of communion is, in truth, the 
spirituality of the New Evangelization. Blessed  Pope  John Paul II  reminds us that 
“communion and mission are inseparably connected.” Communion with the Triune God is 
“both the source and fruit of mission: communion gives rise to mission and mission is 
accomplished in communion” (Ecclesia in Asia, 24, citing Christifideles laici, 32). This then 
should be our motto: “communion for mission” and the “mission of communion” (Ecclesia in 
Asia, 25). Evangelizers will be effective to the extent that they live a deep contemplative 
communion with Jesus and commit themselves generously to being witnesses and promoters 
of communion with God, with one another, and with creation.
In the Asian quest for harmony amid increasing tensions and conflicts, all members of the 
Church  – clergy and laity, men and women, youth and children  – are called to be 
evangelizers, heralds of the Word,  peacemakers, and builders of communion. Such a 
communion expresses itself in a vibrant communion of communities in our parishes and 
dioceses.
5. Dialogue, a mode of life and mission. The New Evangelization calls for a spirit of 
dialogue that animates daily living and opts for a unifying, rather than adversarial, 
relationship. Dialogue has to be a hallmark of all forms of ministry and service in Asia. It is 
characterized  by humble sensitivity to the hidden presence of God in the struggles of the 
poor, in the riches of people’s cultures,  in  the  varieties of religious traditions, and  in the 
depths of every human heart. Such dialogue is our mode of life and our mode of mission. It is 
fundamental to a spirituality of communion for the renewed evangelizer.
6. Humble presence. We believe that everyone in Asia is a partner and co-pilgrim in the 
journey to God’s Reign, that the fields of mission are grounds of the mysterious presence and 
action of God’s Spirit.  In the vast mission in Asia the silent but eloquent witness of  an 
authentic Christian life requires a humble presence, a mode of dialogical living that includes
a prayerful and “contemplative” way of life. This is imperative for renewed evangelizers 
amid cultures that value self-effacement and prayer. Humble presence must be matched by 
simplicity of life and communion with the poor.
7. Prophetic evangelizer. To be prophetic is to be aware in the light of the Holy Spirit of 
the contradictions of our Asian world and to  denounce whatever diminishes, degrades and 
divests God’s children of their dignity. The renewed evangelizer has to protect the  human 
dignity of all, especially of women and children and  of those reduced to the condition of 
living almost as non-persons in our Asian society. By so denouncing injustice, the renewed 
evangelizer announces the love of God, “the weightier matters of the law” which are justice, 
mercy and faith (Matthew 23:23), and Jesus’ preferential love of the poor.
8. Solidarity with victims. We have noted in our Assembly that the number of victims of 
globalization, injustice, natural and nuclear disasters,  and of attacks by fundamentalists  and 
terrorists, is growing by the day. Jesus took the side of victims of disasters and injustices. He 
was in solidarity with those cast out of the social mainstream. Solidarity with and compassion 
for victims and the marginalized has to be an essential dimension of  the  spirituality for
renewed evangelizers.
9. Care of creation. Our Assembly has likewise noted the unabated abuse of creation due 
to selfish and shortsighted economic gains. Human causes contribute significantly to global 


warming and climate change, the impact of which affects the poor and the deprived more 
disastrously. The  ecological concern, the  care for the integrity of creation, including intergenerational justice and compassion, is fundamental to a spirituality of communion.
10. Boldness of  faith and  martyrdom.  From the beginning of Christianity until now
Asia’s soil is marked by the blood of martyrs. If today we are called to give witness to our 
faith by supreme sacrifice, we are not to recoil. Jesus has forewarned us that such a sacrifice
is the ultimate sign of total fidelity to him and his mission. Let the martyrs of our lands, many 
of whom are celebrated at our altars, inspire us by their example and empower us with their 
intercession. We are grateful  to Blessed Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI for 
proclaiming many Asian witnesses to Christ as martyrs of the Church. Indeed, “the blood of 
martyrs is the seed of Christianity.”
Conclusion
In this Year of Faith, in the second decade of the new millennium, and on the occasion of the 
40
th
anniversary of the FABC, we appeal to all in the Church in Asia to nurture a special 
passion for New Evangelization.
We should not be led into lethargy or pessimism by Asian social mega-trends which threaten 
the fabric of our society, the stability of the family and the faith-vision of the Christian 
community itself.  Hidden in them might be the inner resources of the Spirit veiled within 
Asian values, the seeds of a new humanity hungering for fullness of life in Jesus.
The mission of new evangelization,  new in its ardor, its methods and its expressions, is 
urgent.  It calls for renewed evangelizers with a renewed spirituality, the spirituality of 
communion, of mission, of new evangelization. Every parish, every community, every family 
should be a school of this spirituality.  It  requires the new evangelizer to experience  deep 
conversion, a change of vision as well as conformity with the attitude and the mind of Christ, 
and communion with God. It requires a living faith in the Lord, the entrustment of oneself to 
God, a following of Jesus in mind, heart, and deed.
The “small flock” of Jesus should not be timid or fearful among Asia’s billions, more than 
60% of the world’s population. For we have the singular resource of our faith, Jesus Christ
himself, the unique gift of God to humanity. He journeys with us just as he did with his 
disciples on the way to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-32). At every Eucharistic celebration, he keeps 
opening our eyes and warming our hearts with the fire of love for a New Evangelization in 
Asia.
May Mary, the Mother of Jesus and our Mother, accompany us as we walk the roads of Asia, 
to “tell the story of Jesus.” We are not to fear. We have the Lord’s assurance, “Take heart, it is 
I; do not be afraid” (Matthew 14: 27). And we have his guarantee, “remember, I am with you 
always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).
Xuan Loc and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
16 December 2012