The New Evangelization (cont.)

We were there at the Tomb of St. Peter! Gen. Stan Brown, Veda Brown, Darlene Barrett, Dena Steinshouer, Cora Sy, Fr. Jonathan, Angeles Derecho and I met up with Auxiliary Bishop Rutilio del Riego, the student-priest doing Canon Law Fr. Erik Esparza and the missionary priest among the native Americans in our Diocese, Fr. Earl “the Pearl” Henley, MSC with his companions Henry and Michael from Soboba Indian tribes. We celebrated the mass at the altar of the tomb of Peter. Darlene read the first reading, as she and her mom, Barbara, were birthday celebrants for the month of October. I read the responsorial psalm, remembering I was 33 years priest last October 17! Fr. Jonathan, in the spirit of ecumenism, proclaimed the Gospel. And the marvelous Bp. Rutilio gave a most heart-warming and profoundly meaningful homily on being there, being Catholic, on celebrating our Faith! Of course, our prayers reached out to you, at Riverside, to our Diocese in San Bernardino and to all, for unity, justice and peace, for the witness of faith. Fr. Jim Gibson, of the Resurrectionist Fathers and cousin of Mel Gibson, was supposed to be with us. But he had to fly home due to the death of his mom. We prayed for her too.

After the mass, we visited the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. At the Vatican Museum, I tried to highlight the history of civilization, from ancient Egypt and Rome. Earlier, I had accompanied Stan and Veda, citizens of the 21st century, to Ancient Rome, with the legendary Romulus and Remus, through the stages of the growth of the Roman Empire and its emperor-gods. At the Sistine Chapel, we viewed the history of our faith and of the Church: the parallel figure of Moses and the events of the Old Testament, on the one hand, and of Jesus and the New Testament events in and around his person that fulfilled the Old, on the other. At the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling, we beheld the unfolding story from Creation to the Last Judgment, from material space and time to transcendence and eternity. Now you can ask them: why is Rome the Eternal City?

And concretely now, how do we celebrate the Year of Faith in the context of the New Evangelization? Pope Benedict XVI himself has proposed three instruments for the celebration, namely: (a) re-visit the Creed, (b) re-read the documents of the Second Vatican Council, and, finally, (c) reflect very deeply on our Christian life through study of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

I suggest that we do the prescriptions above, in the context of the US Church. As the US bishops suggested, we need “to examine the U.S. prevailing culture in light of the New Evangelization” and “explore key ethnic and cultural groups in the Church as well as the opportunities and challenges these present for the New Evangelization.” To “localize” this celebration, I propose that we re-visit the Impact Statement of our Diocese and our Parish Vision-Mission and Plan of Action. How do we do this journey of faith? – Fr. Ben Alforque, MSC

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In line with the Year of Faith in the context of the Church’s Call for New Evangelization, here is a proposal.

The Theme: Re-Proposing the Catholic Faith in a New Pentecost Experience.

The Audience: Identify key ethnic and cultural faith-groups in our parish, especially where “adherence to the Gospel has already taken root but is now in decline” (second and later generations of immigrants, their children, their youth and young adults [“Although first-generation immigrants often experience an increase in religiosity upon coming to the United States (partly because their faith is a form of continuity with their lives in their homelands), there is significant falloff in the second generation” (from USCCB website on Intercultural Competencies)].

Activities:

(1) Intercultural Festivals as Intercultural Faith Encounters for adults, children, youth and young adults and families. This could be a weekend affair which introduces the cultural identities and faith-expressions of the different cultural communities in the parish. Time frame: Advent.

(2) Celebrating the Faith that Loves and Does Justice. This could be a weekend affair. Visits to the sick in hospitals, hospices, homes, those in prison, the weak and the vulnerable can be organized. Time frame: Christmas Season.

(3) An Intercultural and Inter-generational Weekend with the Creed. This could be a breakout study session on the Creed which may be studied and reflected upon according to the different generational levels. Time frame: Beginning of Lent.

(4) An Intercultural and Inter-generational Re-reading of the Second Vatican Council. This could be a three-weekend activity of study and reflection, by breakout sessions, according to generational levels, on some documents of Vatican II, notably: the Dogmatic Constitution of the Church, the Pastoral Constitution of the Church, on the Liturgy, on the Word of God, on Mission and Ecumenism. Time frame: Lenten Weekends.

(5) Celebrating the Holy Week/Triduum in a New Key: Personal and Social Conversion, Intercultural Dialogue for Reconciliation and Transformation. This could be a time to reflect together the issues of life that confront society, the nation, the world, and to identify common advocacies that ministries can take. Time frame: Holy Week leading to Easter.

(6) Discovering and Re-Discovering Our Christian Living: the Catechism of the Catholic Church. This could be weekends of study and reflection on the demands of moral and ethical life among Catholics. Time Frame: Ordinary Time. (to be concluded) - Fr. Ben Alforque, MSC