NEW EVANGELIZATION - Part V

Let us put together the first part of Pope Benedict's schema on the New Evangelization, i.e. the structure and method of Evangelization, referring to the preacher or the priest..... with the first content (i.e. taken from the second part of the schema) i.e. conversion. The preacher must be a converted soul. The correct definition of a converted soul referring to the mind and free will as given by St. Augustine would disqualify most priests.

There is the active life and the contemplative life as represented by Martha and Mary. Most think that these are two ways of life from which one may choose. So I had companions in the Benedictine Order of monks who left because they wanted to be missionaries. And most Diocesan priests think they belong to the active life and are not destined for the contemplative life. This idea is erroneous. The active life leads to the contemplative life and only upon reaching the contemplative live can a person evangelize. The active life is a life of works of mercy but does not include evangelization, a superior supernatural work.  Contemplative life is when a soul is infused with the knowledge of all the teachings of Christ that enables one to evangelize. Today, even our canonical contemplative orders are not contemplative.  Most are active shown by their activities. Few are truly contemplatives, maybe a few Carthusian or monks of St. Romuald.

We are also faced with the ridiculous courses on contemplative prayer experience sprouting everywhere mainly run by layman and held for 3 to five days. Contemplation in five days!!! It smells like pure pelagian heresy.

And to add to this requirement that the evangelizer must be contemplative is the fact that he must preach with a community who are themselves equally contemplatives. Isn't one enough? St. Paul says it is not enough and so he always waited for a contemplative companion.

Fulfilling this requirement today is made impossible by the whole worldly environment of relativism.  Having lived in this environment for almost 200 years it would be pure luck if we find a handful of contemplatives. Though we had a St. Therese 200 yrs ago whose parents had to transfer to the province to escape the industrialization of their town and who was even prohibited to read the newspapers,  today with the giant supermalls, televisions and computers and cell phones, no one could reach contemplation. 

Contemplation is a gift by which a soul receives infused knowledge of the complete teachings of Divine Revelation. This is in effect Faith. And sharing this knowledge of contemplation with others is the necessary fruit, St. Thomas states, and this is Charity. New Evangelization is sharing one's grace received through Faith with others in an act of perfect Charity.

Contemplatives have a knowledge of the complete teachings of Christ. Few priests or even bishops show this quality. Even religions orders and ecclesial communities do not show this complete knowledge. Some may speak well of two or three topics splendidly but they do not show perfect knowledge of complete Catholic doctrines. To lead souls to God which is evangelization needs explanation of the complete teachings of the Catholic Church, a gift of the Holy Spirit.

In the different crises that befell the Church in the past we saw saints raised by God to help the Popes prop up the Church. Today we only see the Popes propping up the Church. I am sure there are saints raised by God hidden somewhere maybe in Pietrelcina or a little town in France or even a Diocese in Switzerland. But how can we find a Padre Pio, a John Vianney or a Francis de Sales. A handful  of soul maybe can find them and learn how to make an act of Faith. How about the rests? Will there be only  a handful who will be saved? Christ said something to that effect but does it have to be that few?

Pope Benedict described the Evangelizer as one who is holy, a contemplative, who has a zeal in his love for God, in whom the theology of grace is of primary importance and who is knowledgeable in Scriptures. He mentioned this in his talk in New York as Cardinal, he repeated it in his talk during the 'Year of the Priests,' he mentioned it in his address to the Pontifical commission of New Evangelization, he mentioned it in his address to the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, he said it in his address on Mission Sunday, also in his address instituting the 'Year of Faith,' and he included it as part of the schema for the Bishop's Synod this year. With the above short phrase the Holy Father said everything, a complete exegesis of the Apostolic Commission given by Christ to His apostles. Nothing else had to be said.

In short, the Pope is saying that the preacher in the New Evangelization should be a St. Athanasius, or a St. Odo, or a St. Thomas of Aquinas, or at least a St. Francis de Sales or he would settle for a St. Alphonsus Liguori. We cannot find these saints around.  Instead each bishop and priest should ask why they do not qualify.

All those characteristics mentioned above by the Holy Father mean exactly the same thing. A contemplative is one who have a perfect knowledge of Scriptures. While the same would be the best preacher of the Word of God because preaching is the expression of his lively Faith expressed in Charity. A contemplative preacher is the best Evangelizer of the New Evangelization. The New Evangelization is the teaching of the New Commandment of Christ which only Christ can teach and to which He teaches only to contemplatives.  Someone less than a contemplative cannot do it.

Let us further look on those few descriptions: the preacher must be a contemplative, he must be a contemplative who preaches the fruit of his contemplation. And let us add what the Holy Father wrote: and he must be a missionary disciple (i.e. he must preach in community) emphasizing in all things the primacy of grace. That is asking too much.... but the illness of the Church is terminal, and the Pope is applying the last resort. Blessed John Cardinal Newman, a favorite of the Holy Father had discussed this need of the Church during his time but was rejected by Church men. Newman who was faced by a church in turmoil was already voicing a remedy for this our times. And the description of the preacher for the New Evangelization, given by the Pope is a quotation from Newman.

Newman lived in a tumultuous time in the history of the Church. He found Catholic Churchmen contradicting him. Well verse in the writings of the Fathers of the Church and in a special way to St. Benedict, upon whom he based his Idea of a University, he saw the importance of having a handful of contemplatives to aid the Church. He even tried it in his Birmingham community. It was pure Benedictine monasticism minus the few aids provided for for beginners. Pope Benedict, himself, mentioned this spirituality at the beginning of his pontificate as the only saviour of Europe. This is the Pope's New Evangelization. It was known by the Church for all these centuries but never explained as John Newman did it. Again, it is pure Benedictine monasticism without the appendages and, therefore, will be unrecognizable to most that is why we have to study in detail what the Holy Father is saying. By now he has said everything about it and is still explaining it further. We should keep in pace with his explanations.

NEW EVANGELIZATION - Part IV

Months had passed when the Holy Father introduced the 'New Evangelization.' And many think that the 'new' here means new ways of Evangelizing. We are indeed encouraged to find new ways of Evangelizing but that had been the practice since time immemorial. The "New" is not the presentation of the content of the message. The 'new' is the Evangelizer, the priest. He must be different from most of those Evangelizing for the last 400 years.

Pope Benedict XVI gave the schema for the New Evangelization. He gave two general topics: first the structure or method, and secondly the contents. The first deals with the Evangelizer or the preacher or the priests. The second deals with the contents of his preaching. We have partially dealt with the second, the contents which are a.) conversion, which is the life of repentance or metanoia, b.) the kingdom of God, which is how to enter the Catholic Church, c.) union with Jesus Christ, the created soul of the Church, d.) union with the Holy Spirit, the uncreated soul of the Church and finally, e.) Eternal life. In the last article we had presented 'conversion' only. Before proceeding with the next 'content' of the New Evangelization let us go back to the structure, i.e. the preacher or the priest.

In the 'New Evangelization,' the priest, himself, must have finished his own conversion, his metanoia. How can he teach others how to repent when he, himself, have not repented? When the Holy Father stated during the year of the priests that priests should be contemplatives, he meant one who have completely finished his repentance and is already in the realm of supernatural Faith. Using the words of the Apostolic Commission Christ gave His disciples, the priest must have been baptized and knows all the commandments of Christ and how to obey them. This is only possible if he has the Theological virtue of Faith which in essence is the contemplative life. It is only when the priest knows all the commandments of Christ and how to obey them can he really preach. This can only occur if he has made an act of natural faith, like St. Thomas on Easter evening, he has made an act of supernatural faith, like St. Thomas when he saw the Resurrected Christ, and only after Christ has enlightened his mind by making him understand Scriptures as what Christ did to Thomas at the end of the same Gospel narrative. The problem is most priests have not finished their life of repentance and, therefore, do not have supernatural faith. Now, that is quite an accusation. Cardinal Ratzinger mentioned that in his 'Ratzinger Report.' That the Church is undergoing a crisis of Faith. What does that mean? That the Bishops and priest have no faith and as a consequence the lay people has no faith. They are all unable to enter the Catholic Church and save their souls.

But this is nothing new in the Church. There had been eras in the history of the Church that this had occurred. Montanus, a priest, messed up the early Church during his time by introducing the first Protestant version of the Charismatic movement long before the Pentecostals were born. And this is the version followed by most Charismatics in the Catholic Church today.

At the time of St. Jerome, he woke up one day and the world was Arian. And this included the monks, the priests and Bishops. St. Athanasius had to fight monks, priests and bishops who had no faith. And this state did not only last for a month. It lasted for years.

Around the 10th century, this happened again. The light of Faith was barely flickering in the Church because the monks, priests and bishops had no Faith. Of course, the Popes always led the reform and they were helped by a small group of chosen souls raised by God, Himself. During this time the small Benedictine monastery of Cluny aided the Pope.

Again this occurred around the 12th century. Fortunately St. Thomas of Aquinas was around. After the Council of Trent, this lost of Faith again occurred. But we had the communities of the Theatines whom God raised to aid the Church. After Trent, it was too difficult to restore the former resplendent light of the Church. It became darker in the 18th century. As usual, the Popes were at the forefront of the renewal. Pope Pius IX up to Pius XII. It was an uphill battle.

The problems the Church is now experiencing with the priests and even some Bishops are due to the absence of Faith and even the absence of repentance. When Mary called for Repentance three times in Fatima the Bishops and priest could not answer the call because they themselves did not know how to repent. Courses in Seminaries do not teach the detailed step on repentance.

So the problem in the New Evangelization is that the preachers, themselves cannot teach the first content of Evangelization - conversion or repentance. And yet the Popes had reminded us how it is done. From 'Veritatis Splendor,' to the 'Year of St. Paul,' to the 'Year of the Priests,' to 'Instrumentum Laboris' and now to 'Porta Fidei,' declaring the Year of Faith.

Faith is a gift of God to those who have repented. The emphasis must be on repentance, not on Faith. So in the New Evangelization, the Pope is describing the priest-preacher as one who is a contemplative who must preach in community......that is a priest who have finished his conversion and has entered into the life of supernatural Faith. He is practically describing those whom God raised during those eras of crisis in the Church...... if we study the Pope's description. Well, he was actually describing the first apostles, he was describing the Fathers of the Church and as we see in the history of Church during those critical times, he was describing the instruments God used to prop up His Church. The New Evangelization is the Pope's call for a 'Repeat Performance' from the lessons of history.

And this is what many are missing in the "New Evangelization." I have to still hear someone describe this effort of the Pope in the right way. 'Improve everything except ME,' is the cry we hear. No, it is the ME that needs complete renewal. As in the past crises in the history of the Church, the cause was the ME who was so imbued with the 'Spirit of the World.' Note that those who help the Church believed in "fuga mundo," a fleeing away from the spirit of the world. And the Holy Father mentioned this as the characteristic of the Evangelizer. 'He must have a pure love for Christ.' What else that does mean, except one who loves God above all things.... a perfect Catholic. And the Pope repeated that ' the priest must be perfect as the Heavenly Father is perfect.' In the next article let me describe the Evangelizer, the priest or bishop, as the Holy Father would want him to look like in the 'New Evangelization,' an image we drew from his many talks on the 'New Evangelization.'

NEW EVANGELIZATION - Part III

The second part of Cardinal Ratzinger's speech on the New Evangelization is a correction of what was lacking in the contents of former Evangelizations. What should be preached? He mentions four general topics what should be taught and the correct order in teaching them. The first is "conversion." The second is "entrance into the Catholic Church. The third is "union with the created soul of the Church, Jesus Christ. Added to the third is "union with the uncreated soul of the Church, the Holy Spirit. And the fourth, is "Life Everlasting."

These are the classical complete and right order of teaching Catholic doctrines even before Vatican II. We can find these in all books of spirituality like in the books of Garrigou-Lagrange. It makes us wonder how the mistakes came in.

Let us take each topic. The first is conversion, often referred to as Metanoia or popularly described as 'repentance.' When Our Lady appeared at Fatima, she called for 'Repentance' three times. Though we had thousands of Bishops and priests at that time with all the treasures of the writings of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church the world was not able to repent thus we were chastised two times and the third seems to be coming. Was the teaching of the Catholic Church on repentance so unclear that the world was not able to respond to Mary's call? Unfortunately that could only be the reason. Thus the Holy Father is clarifying it.

Let us look first at the concept of sin using St. Augustine's aversion from God and conversion towards the world. Man was created with a mind that has an innate tendency to know God and a free will with an innate desire to love God. When this potency becomes active wherewith the mind begins to try to know God and the will begins to love God ....we have a saint. And since this innate tendency can be activated in childhood, then Pope Benedict was right to declare that children who die without Baptism, precisely because of this God given innate tendency are highly probably saints in heaven.

Now sin is when a soul, due to lack of faith turns his mind away from the quest of knowing God because his mind is now more interested in the things of the world, like a car.....and when his free will turns away from loving God because it follows the mind and now loves a car. The sin is not in thinking and loving the car but in turning one's mind and free away from God.

When this happens the soul begins to walk away from God, just like the Prodigal Son. When the soul stops sinning or walking away from God, he stops dead on his track but he does not necessarily return back to God. Most Catholics believe that when they go to confession and receive absolution they have necessarily returned to God after going away from God. Of course, that is possible just like in the case of St. Peter when he denied Christ. But for most of us when we take ten steps away from God by our sins, we stop dead in our tracks but we remain ten steps away from God. We do not know that we have to turn around and begin to retrace our steps back to God, which the Prodigal Son did. This is achieved through the four moral virtues of Prudence, Justice, Temperance and Fortitude, which are not taught in most seminaries and are not taught by priests to the faithful. The absence of the four moral virtues prevents any soul from repenting well and reaching the theological virtue of Faith, Hope and Charity.

In the act of conversion we need to know all our sins as Psalm 50 states. But a soul cannot know his sins as long as he is still committing them. An adulterer cannot know his sin is adultery unless he first stops that sin. A thief will not know he is stealing unless he first stops stealing. And since everyone in the world due to their exposure to sin are constantly committing sin thus remaining ignorant of their sins, they are unable to repent because they are ignorant of most of their sins that they are still committing. In such a situation repentance becomes impossible....unless we tell the whole world to come into complete stop in committing sins so they can examine their conscience....which is not a bad idea.

Another problem is that confessions are done based on the Old Testament spirituality based on the 10 commandments given to Moses. We are in the New Testament. Confessions must be based on the spirituality of the New Testament Beatitudes.

In the act of conversion most do not follow the complete steps enumerated in Psalm 50 or in the parable of the Prodigal son. The sign that one is unrepentant is when he is still enjoying the world as shown by the prodigal son when he went to a far country to enjoy. This is in accord with the definition St. Augustine gave on conversion towards the world. The first sign of repentance is when suddenly all worldly things become worthless (which is the beginning of aversion from the world and conversion towards God). This step is what enabled the saints to leave all things. Thus St. Peter and Andrew left boats and nets, while James and John left boats, nets and their father. Without this step no one will be willing to leave anything.

The second step which is the result of the first realization is that the soul begins to see all his sins and is able to label them properly. While before he labelled them as good works, acts of kindness and acts of understanding now, he sees them for what they really are, act of vices, acts pride and acts of superiority. This is a very unnerving experience for all. A few are brave enough to continue to the third step, most are filled with fear on what is coming and retreat back to the life of unrepentance thinking "Oh, maybe, I don't have to go through this."

The third step is an experience of the real presence of a God demanding atonement. This is the first time that a soul experience the presence of a God outside of himself. God is not showing mercy but demanding atonement. The Prodigal son wants to go back to his father but he is afraid of what his father will demand. Maybe, I will say do not treat me as your son but as one of your paid servant. That was the lowest position he could think of at that time. If he knew of a lower place he would have asked for it.

The fourth does not sound well to one's ears. But this is what it really is: that the soul goes into despair because he knows there is nothing he can do to atone to an offended eternal God. Ok, see if that can be said in any nicer way. That is the truth. There is absolutely nothing a creature can do to atone offending an eternal God. And the Prodigal son knew that and we should realize that.

But that is no reason for despair because we know the mercy of God. We just have to bring our despair to God and let Him show what He had always wanted to show, His mercy. So the Prodigal son walked half of the way towards the father in despair and stops half way because he knows there is nothing he can do to be worthy to go closer. While remaining in despair, that is the time the Father approaches him making up for what the son could not do. And the son remain in great sorrow both for having sin against the father and not being able to atone for those sins. Ok. Stay there don't celebrate too soon. The conversion is not complete.

Then the father offers the son new robes and a ring. The son had left through his sins (aversion from God) and now he has returned (conversion towards God). Now it is time to celebrate.
Pope Benedict's critique of the former Evangelization is that we are celebrating too soon.

THE NEW EVANGELIZATION - Part II

1. The Holy Father had been repetitious about the importance of Faith, a theological virtue we cannot attain with our natural efforts, a virtue that can come from God alone. And his 'New Evangelization' is the way to learn to be worthy of it.
The treatise of Cardinal Ratzinger is divided into two parts enumerating the two defects of current Evangelizations; the first defect is in the structure and method of teaching and he gives the corrections. The second defect is in the contents of what is taught. And he also gives the correct contents.

Let us see the first defect and Ratzinger's solution. In the next article we shall see the second defect and Ratzinger's solution.

With regard with the first defect: The Holy Father had mentioned that a crisis had entered the Church around the 17th century as a result of the many catechisms of different nationalities that preached their own nationalistic, culturistic interpretations of Catholic Doctrines. Prompted by Nominalism and later on by Modernism, the training of all priests were corrupted so that the Doctrines taught were influenced by nationalistic cultures subjective in nature. Certain doctrines were actually eliminated like the theology of grace (which he said should be the first foundation of Evangelization,) the proper order of doctrines to be taught where changed....and with this jambalaya of Catholic doctrines, we are suddenly faced with a morality and asceticism that cannot bring us to heaven....an engine that does not work.

This state of affairs was evident in the 17th century and vocally discussed during Vatican II specially during the discussion of 'Dei Verbum'. Archbishop Ganner during the discussion insisted on the OATH against modernism imposed on all priest during "Pascendi." The Oath that all seminarians were supposed to make before ordination. This was no longer observed during Vatican II. While the Council Fathers insisted that it should be revived....nobody seems to have done it. The Oath is an act of natural faith in which, hopefully, the supernatural virtue of Faith that makes us Catholics and guarantees our salvation may be built on. Remember, it is only a natural Faith that is required of all candidates for ordination. Is that too much to ask? The Popes were not even requiring supernatural faith because only God can give that.

Pope Benedict, in his 'Porta Fidei" wants us to check if we have supernatural Faith which we cannot have without natural faith. And during the Year of the Priests and several times afterwards, he insisted that priests, to be effective Evangelizers had to be contemplatives.....which means having not only Faith but also Hope and Charity.


The goal for this year is to encourage all Catholics to check if they have the one, true Catholic Faith. And the Holy Father is directing this to 'former Catholics' rather than to the missio ad gentes, for Charity begins at home. The success of missio ad gentes is completely depended on whether those preaching have the theological virtue of Faith. But the focus of the New Evangelization is directed towards Catholics who have lost their faith or had never made the act of Faith. And for the priest Evangelizers to have true Faith.

2. A truth we often forget is that the teachings of Christ are supernatural truths that can only be learned by souls who have received sanctifying grace, had received the gift of Faith from God and through the gifts of the Holy Spirit have learned the teachings of Christ.

3. The dynamics on how to reach Faith had not been taught in the seminaries. So there is the great possibility that many seminarians had been ordained faithless. The Pope mentioned that priests should be contemplatives. The words Faith and contemplative are the same.

There are two kinds of contemplatives. The theological contemplative and the infused contemplative that is the result of grace. The Holy Father is only insisting on being a theological contemplative because no one can become a contemplative by grace except by the work of God. And the theological contemplative is one who have seriously studied Dogma, Morals and Ascetical theology something the Pope required all priests to do during the "Year of the Priests'. If they study these in the proper way they could easily be worthy to receive infuse contemplation which, of course, is superior.

4. To deserve to receive the gift of Faith, a soul must have finished his repentance, developed the four moral virtues and received the gift of Faith that makes him a contemplative. A contemplative is often described as a prophet in the classical way. St. Thomas of Aquinas describes a prophet as one who had first undergone an interior experience of what he is to reveal. So the prophet leaves the secrecy of his contemplation to preach to the outside. The preacher must draw from contemplation what he should then preach to others. This is an act of Charity on his part. St. Thomas describes this as an act of friendship that is active and generous.

5. In the early times, the monks were the best missionaries, like St. Boniface, St. Augustine and St. Patrick. Essentially they were laymen who entered the monasteries to acquire the saving virtue of Faith by way of contemplation. So there is nothing new about the New Evangelization. Contemplation, however, is no longer emphasized in the training for the priesthood, neither in the diocesan nor in the religious. And so the complete ineffectiveness of former Evangelizations.

6. This is why the Holy Father through the New Evangelization had been exhorting us to pray. The prayer he is advancing is contemplation. Earlier the Pope described prayer as a friendly conversation with God in order to know Him. How can we preach Christ to others if we have not known him through prayer.

7. The New Evangelization is New because it is a secret that God would like to share with His friends, not His servants. So we have to receive the words of Christ "Now I call you friends" before we can share the secrets of the Father and the Holy Spirit which is the contents of the New Evangelization. These secrets are not found anywhere except through the personal revelation of God through Christ. And this is shared by God with friends only, i.e. with contemplatives.

The Pope added that in the "New Evengelization" the Evangelizer must be two or more united in Christ i.e. a community united in Charity. And the object of Evangelization must be one, not a thousand. That is two to one ratio; two evangelizer to one evangelized. The disciples were sent by Christ two by two, St. Paul always had a partner in preaching. But when Christ begun to lead each of his disciples into the life of Faith, He led them one by one. This was taught by Pope Benedict in Puebla, Mexico where he reminded the Bishops that Evangelization is a personal approach. A one to one basis. We should not be impatient, he said, in trying to bring in souls by the hundreds or thousands. That is not God's way. Though the one approached is one, the one approaching, the Evangelizer, must be two or more or a community.

The 'New Evangelization" requires this of the Evangelizer. He must be a soul who have reached Faith, Hope and Charity and, therefore, he loves God, himself and his neighbor. Since he had to preach the same message of love of God and neighbor, when he speaks he must show how to love his neighbor who must be around. The community whom the preacher loves and who in turn loves the preacher must be around to show how to love one's neighbor. Something the preacher cannot show if he preaches alone. Without this loved neighbor and the preacher who loves the Evangelization will be completely ineffective. St. Thomas of Aquinas demands at least the presence of benevolent or love of friendship, both of which are natural love, to exist between evangelizer and companion or community. When Christ preached, He had His Apostolic community whom HE loved and who loved Him so they could preach the love of God and neighbor....which many preachers today cannot show. "Two or three gathered in the name of Christ" must be the description of the preacher and his companion or community, and Christ promised He will be in their midst to accomplish the work of conversion.

This is the method and structure which Pope Benedict described as lacking into today's Evangelization rendering it useless and ineffective. And this is the first thing that must be observed in the New Evangelization.

THE NEW EVANGELIZATION - Part I

1. Evangelization
The Bishop's conference for this month had just ended and a few of them were my guests for a picnic. And they were talking about their meetings. No secrets were, of course, divulged. During the course of the conversation, I asked them about "Porta Fidei" and what plans do they have in the Diocesan level. When someone blurted out : what is the difference between the "New Evangelization" that everybody is talking about and the Old Evangelization. And they agreed: "We don't know the difference." Of course, I also did not know. In fact nobody should know the difference because there should be no difference between the Old and the New Evangelization. What we really have is the "new Evangelization" of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI and the WRONG Evangelization which was the result of the bad implementation of the decrees of the Council of Trent,... exactly what is happening now after Vatican II....there are so many bad post interpretation of the documents that Pope Benedict had to reform the reform.

2. Moral Theology after Trent
After the Council of Trent, one of the great Church councils, the fathers, like all other councils, made very good documents correcting errors or explaining truths for further clarification. After the Council, Commissions were assigned to interpret and implement the documents. But in the Council of Trent, though all the documents were orthodox, something went wrong in the implementation of the degrees on Moral theology, in which the catechisms are based. The suspect is the heresy of Nominalism that plagued the Church before the Council and which eventually influenced Moral theology. This corrupted all manuals of Moral theology during the implementation of the decrees of the Council. And since catechisms are based on Moral Theology, the error entered into the Catechisms of the Catholic Church.

The three branches of Theology, namely Dogmatic, Moral and Ascetical should be integrated as one whole, one greatly influencing the other. After Trent, the three branches were divorced from each other. Without one the other two would collapse. While each branch would not be able to attain its goal. Without Dogma Morals do not know why acts were immoral, without Morals Ascetical becomes meaningless and irrelevant. Without Morals and Ascetical one cannot believe the Dogmas. Without Ascetical and Moral Theology, a soul cannot believe in the Dogmas like that there is a God. And as Bishop Gasser said, explaining the importance in being able to believe in God, without this primal truth man becomes a moral pervert. Virtually the Catholic Church disappeared from the face of the earth. But this is impossible because in such situation God always intervenes in a direct way and teaches chosen souls personally and directly Dogma, Morals and Ascetical theology. And so we see saints raised by God whose incredible knowledge we don't know where it came from. This is how God maintains the existence of the Church in such situation. But with most of the bishops and priests part of this collapse, the faithful would be in the same situation. And this is, indeed, a very sad situation.

3. Cardinal Ratzinger points at the defect.
All the subsequent Popes noticed something was bugging the Church since that time but could not pinpoint it. And so all of them gave the right solution, as their office made them competent to do, without exposing the virus that was plaguing the Church. It was providential, only in preparing for Vatican II that a Commission of international brilliant theologians were gathered as advisers to the Council that they discovered the virus. One of the periti was Joseph Ratzinger. In 2001, addressing Religion teachers and catechists in New York, he first coined the word "New Evangelization". It was used before but Ratzinger popularized it. He pointed out there was a need for a "New Evangelization" because there was a defect with the way catechism was being taught. The defect was in the method and in the contents. Now wait a minute. If I had a recipe for 'Mexican tamales' which contains both the procedure or method of making it and a list of the ingredients.... and suddenly someone changes the method of cooking it and the ingredients it should contain, I'll be having a peanut butter sandwich rather than a 'tamales.' To modify both the method of teaching religion and its contents would produce a Protestant sect not a Catholic Religion. This was what Cardinal Ratzinger was saying.


4. True Evangelization based on the Apostolic Commission
The Catholic Church knows very well the way to Evangelize. It is found in the Apostolic Commission, the instruction Christ gave to the Apostles at the end of St. Matthew's Gospel. If we read the commentary St. Augustine and St. Thomas of Aquinas gave to that text, it is exactly the "New Evangelization" of Pope Benedict XVI. There is no difference. So why is there a "New Evangelization?" Because what had been used before and still found in Manuals of Moral Theology and Catechisms today is WRONG Evangelization. It is different from the Apostolic Commission that Christ gave the apostles.

5. The Traditional, Classical Evangelization.
In fact Cardinal Ratzinger, in his speech, mentioned the fact that this "New Evangelization" is nothing else than the classical or traditional Evangelization Christ taught the first apostles.
Before we discuss the schema Pope Benedict enumerated let us look at the three general points that he mentioned regarding the New Evangelization that is no different from a treatise of St. Thomas of Aquinas on Evangelization. Firstly, the Evangelizer should review his Dogma, Morals and Ascetical theology. Secondly, the Evangelizer must be a contemplative. Thirdly, the Evangelizer must have a 'new heart.' In the early times, these three always went together. But not now so the 'New Evangelization.'

First, Pope Benedict during the Year of the priests told all priest to go back to the seminary and review their Moral Theology. If something went wrong with the way priests learned how to Evangelize, it is but natural that they return to the seminary and relearn how to do it. "Veritatis Splendor" enumerated the right way and the wrong way of Evangelizing. A study of the Compendium of the Catholic Catechism by Pope Benedict would be a perfect text for study, the Pope reminds us. Moral Theology had to be relearned because Ascetical theology and the catechism are based on Moral Theology. An error in Morals will corrupt the ascetical life and the catechism used for strenthening the Faith. I wonder how many priest returned to the seminary during the 'Year of the Priests.' Dogma and Morals should be learned as roads that lead to Asceticism. The Evangelizing priest must be a Theologian and a Saint.

6. What is "New?"
Not the Evangelization but the Evangelizer must be new. He must have a "new heart", Pope Benedict states. All Evangelizers, should renew their minds so they can renew their hearts. If something went wrong in the curriculum the mind must be renewed. This is required of all laymen who love to preach. Acquired knowledge should be a minimum requirement. This includes learning the Theology of History ( just like the Pope's Thesis.) Though this is still very inferior compared to infused knowledge.

7. Only contemplatives should preach.
The third point Pope Benedict raised as necessary for the "New Evangelization" is that the Evangelizer should be a contemplative. His natural knowledge of the truth (this time correctly learned by integrating Dogma, Morals and Ascetical theology) must be consented to by his free will. This transforms his acquired knowledge into infused knowledge which comes along with infused Faith. The Pope mentioned this in the "Year of the Priests". "Contemplata, aliis tradere." It is based on the doctrine that the teachings of the Catholic Church are supernatural in nature and nobody can know, understand nor teach them unless they are in the supernatural level, that is in the level of Faith....at least. That is the stage of contemplation where knowledge is infused and not learned from seminaries. And only after receiving the theological virtue of Faith can we share the Faith with others. Only contemplatives can share the Faith because they have it. The Dominicans had made this teaching of St. Augustine and St. Thomas as their motto. But most seminarians had never heard that they have to be contemplatives to Evangelize. They have not even heard how one can become a contemplative. The Pope is insistent the Evangelizer must be a contemplative. This had been the teaching of the Church from the time of Christ up to.......well, until it just dissapeared..... until the then Cardinal Ratzinger mentioned it. The Virtue of Faith and the contemplative life are synonymous. There goes the excuse of the Diocesan clergy that contemplation is not part of their training. Now it should be.

This is the heart of Evangelization and described by the Holy Father using the words of St. Augustine. What is New? The heart of the one who proclaims. He must be one who is totally in love with the Lord, one who has satiated his thirst in the Word of God. He must be acquainted with the One he is preaching about. And that acquaintance can only be attained by unceasing prayer. An Evangelizer has to be like a St. Thomas of 'Aquinas combining perfect knowledge of Dogma and Morals and putting both into practice into asceticism.....the result is holiness. In the New Evangelization, it is the Evangelizer who should be NEW.

FAITH - A priority !!

Have you ever heard a nagging wife? Or worst still a nagging mother in law? Yes, this is common. But a nagging Pope !!! Well, one day it was bound to happen. St. Augustine several times excused himself for nagging too much. And the reasons he gave was that he was explaining so important a topic he had to. And the Holy Father has found himself doing the same thing because of the importance of his topic ... Faith, without which no one can enter heaven. For what reason should the world continue to exist when most of its inhabitants have no Faith. It has no reason to continue.

After Pope Benedict declared that the Church is undergoing a crisis of Faith i.e. that most 'Catholics' are not really able to enter the Catholic Church, after co-authoring with Pope John Paul II "Veritatis Splendor" where they enumerated the errors that are preventing Catholics from entering the Church, after authoring the "Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church" a better concise summary of Catholic Doctrine superior to the thick Catechism of Vatican II, after encouraging the whole Church to review their Faith during the Year of St. Paul, after more precisely reminding priests to go back to the seminary and review their Moral theology and study how to make the Act of Faith, after "Porta Fidei"......then the Holy Father Pope Benedict addresses a Plenary Assembly working with the new Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization. He called on Bishops and priests and religious to make the renewal of Faith as the Priority work of the entire Church. We can do other things but TO MAKE THE ACT OF FAITH AS THE PRIORITY !!! Now, don't tell me that is not nagging.

In his talk the Holy Father said that the flame of Faith in the world is being extinguish like a flame that is no longer fed, a profound crisis of faith, a loss of all sense of the supernatural. Was he speaking about you and me? I haven't had time to check on my Faith as the Pope had instructed us, and probably you, too. And that is the problem and what he is nagging us to do....to check if we have the true Faith. By the mere fact that we still have to check if we have faith means we don't have it, as St. Thomas would say. He who has Faith knows for certain that he has it.

Casting his glance on the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, the Holy Father hints, "how can you convert the Orthodox and the Jews to the Faith if you yourself do not have it. Your Ecumenical dialogues has borne no fruits. While look at the Anglicans flocking into the Catholic Church and we are not holding any dialogues with them. Then he switches his glance at the Congregation for the Missions and hints, "what will you bring to the mission countries if you yourself do not have Faith." Those mission countries are supposed to form truly Christian communities united with one another but instead Catholic Hutus are killing Catholic Tutsis in Uganda.

There is something seriously wrong in the manner Ecclesiology is being transmitted. This must reflect the priority of Faith, the Holy Father states. But it is as important to have a correct interpretation of that order or hierarchy which exists in Catholic doctrine, by bringing out its internal structure, the organic nature of this unique structure.

The steps that must be followed in instilling the Faith goes this way; first present to the listener the God of nature. This is all in the natural level. And with this present the Golden Rule which is natural Moral Theology. Second, present the truths of Divine Revelation as found in the New Testament. Thirdly, these N.T. truths must be interpreted using the Fathers of the Church or Tradition. Fourthly, the Holy Father, the Pope must proposed the doctrine of Christ as taken from Divine Revelation and the Fathers of the Church. When the listener assents to these teachings with his mind and gives his consent with his free will that is an act of Faith the consequence of which is unity. Only when the community exist because there is unity can the Faith now be proclaimed to others who still do not know the Saviour, the Holy Father ended his address.

A Catechetical seminar was just held here in our diocese. There was a lot of speeches on the need of recruiting new catechists, the need to raise money to finance these volunteers but there was no mention on Faith. The same with a meeting sponsored by the Pontifical Council on Family Life, there was a lot of topics on the state of modern families but there was no mention on the lack of faith in most families. The insistence of the Holy Father that Faith should be prioritized is most opportune. Even in retreats held by priests only a brief referral is given to Faith but there is no explanation on what it is and how to dispose oneself to receive it. And this sight is common in that when a group of priests or seminarian listen to a correct explanation of the theological virtue of Faith the look in their faces seems to say: hey, that's the first time I heard that. Sadly, it is the same thing said by a few bishops. Truly a crisis of Faith. But there is nothing to worry because Christ had taught us how to acquire Faith, "Repent, believe." And St. Paul in his letters had gone into detail on how to dispose ourselves to receive it. And St. Augustine and St. Thomas of Aquinas had described in detail the human act entailed in making the Act of Faith. So what are we waiting for. Why are we delaying so much thus endangering our souls? The world had become so attractive and we have come to love it so much to the exclusion of God. The mind of man is so filled, not with the world that God created but with the world that man invented. And St. Thomas said: he whose mind contains worldly things cannot think of divine things. So the Holy Father talks about 'detachment' from worldly things...ouch...before we can listen to the word of God and attain Faith.

IF I WERE THE DEVIL.......

1. If I were the devil what would I do to destroy the Catholic Church and damn the most number of souls in this era, the year 2000 a.d. I would review the external and internal attacks I had done to the Church. In the external attacks I used heads of states like emperors. Today I would still use heads of states of nations, the greater the nation the better. I will not change this strategy. It is good past time for little out- of -work devils. But the internal attacks, i.e. attacks from within the Church, I have greatly improved through the centuries. This will be my work. I Lucifer will initiate a two-prong attack on the Church, first, will consist in keeping seminarians ignorant of the true faith either by blocking a part of Divine Revelation ( by giving them heretical teachings or omitting certain teachings) and by giving them clown Masses which will entertain them rather than inspire them to a life of suffering.

2 I will continue the external attacks .....and I will improve the internal attacks this way. Before, I had to choose several proud individual priests, transform their true knowledge of the truth into heresies and let them spread their errors. They are priests and this will make it easier for the lay to believe them. But this entailed lots of efforts in that I have to deceive several priests before they can deceive many souls.

3. Today, the devil had improved his strategy in that all he had to do is to install a priest as head of the Congregation of Catholic Education where curricula for seminaries and catholic schools are approved. A little modification in a doctrine here and there or the removal of a teaching of Christ from the curriculum and voila!! The innovation or neglect of a doctrine is enough to prevent all Catholics from making the act of Faith.....and prevent them from entering the Church unto the salvation of their souls.

4 Souls can learn the faith from two sources. First from preaching. Secondly from the sacrifice of the Mass. Preaching teaches souls the commandments of Christ and how to obey them. This is the Apostolic commission Christ gave the apostles at the end of St. Matthew's Gospel. The second is Christ's command "to do this in commemoration of Me," which is the Mass which consists of a summary of the life and death of Christ. This also contains all the commands of Christ and how to do them expressed in Liturgical signs. These two sources complement each other. And more often than not the Liturgy helps explain dogmatic truths. Well, the devil will have to control both the curriculum and the Liturgy and prevent them from complementing each other.

5. Through the centuries the devil had already tried to control both branches, the training of priests and the liturgy. Henry VIII tried it but failed. But the devil had learned his lesson well and had worked hard in improving his strategy. And this time his strategy is working well.

6. Let us first look at the destruction of the training of the priests. Heresies, like nominalism, had infiltrated the highest office and these in turn entered into the curriculum of seminaries and catholic schools. Nominalism would later on give birth to Luther, the Reign of terror, period of enlightenment, democracy, communism and modernism. These infiltrated all catholic schools and seminaries that Catholicism was bogged down in the Old Testament in all these places.

7. Then the Liturgy was headed by graduates of these seminaries. It no longer reflected the true dogmas of the Catholic Church. It became the experimental playground of immature souls and became a picnic ground with liturgical video games.

With Nominalism preventing seminarians from learning the spirituality of the New Testament and at the same time distorting the Mass as to be unrecognizable, the products of the seminary which would be future priests and bishops were ignorant of the complete plan of salvation. Many could not even describe the "Life of Repentance" which is Old Testament spirituality which was decried by Our Lady at Fatima. How come the thousands of Bishops, priests and nuns could not answer our Lady's call for repentance? They, themselves did not how to do it. Many do not know that after the life of repentance, we have to live the life of the four Moral virtues as the necessary disposition before we can receive the gift of Faith ...as noted by St. Thomas of Aquinas. Many do not even know how to explain how to make an act of Faith as the Fathers of the Church had described it. In short, because of the two-prong attack of the devil on the Church 200 years ago, most graduates of seminaries do not know how to enter the Catholic Church or how to make an Act of Faith. This is the crisis of Faith Pope Benedict XVI is describing. It could not be caused by anything else but by the ignorance of the clergy.

8. Knowledge of doctrine which is both acquired through studies (like in a seminary) and through the Liturgy of the Mass are the Church's most potent instrument of sanctification and at the same time the most vulnerable areas of attack. And today, they are being attacked both from external sources as from head of governments including former staunch Catholic nations and from internal sources, from bishops and priests who hold important positions in the training of priests and in the Liturgy. One merely has to look at the list of bishops holding positions precisely on the training of seminarians, training of priests and the liturgy and will see that they are of doubtful orthodoxy. They are even well known as contradicting the Holy Father.

9. The Catholic Church is truly like a fort or a camp, St. Thomas comments, but this time besieged from the outside, and experiencing revolts from the inside. We have our backs on the wall!!!

10. It is no wonder that our captain, the Pope had been barking orders. From "Veritatis Splendor," to "Instrumentum laboris," to "Porta Fidei:" from his audiences to lectures, to reminders to Curial offices, he had been calling for Faith. It is one of our defensive gear. Personal Faith acquired within the Church is the only weapon when our backs are on the wall. He repeated it in his address during a plenary session of two congregations "This is your priority," referring to bishops and priest "Faith." It is a lopsided fight with the devil having the upper hand right now. But isn't this the kind of fight wherein God always wins?

11. The Holy Father, Pope Benedict had been encouraging us all to have Faith, to check on our Faith if it is genuine and as of last week reminded Bishops and priests that this is their priority today. He knows that the two ordinary ways by which souls are instructed, preaching and the Mass, are not delivering the Faith souls should have. He blamed the total neglect of God as the reason. Yes, St. Thomas of Aquinas said that neglect of God brings souls to despair and that is what we see today in the world and in our Catholic priests. This is not neglect of God. This is total inability for the soul which is created to think of God to function naturally and think of God. The world had gone unnatural. Thus the need for a new Evangelization!!! Because the devil had become more powerful? No. Because man have become unnatural. He no longer acts like a man. He acts like a beast. St. Thomas states: he who does not progress regresses. Mankind had been regressing for the last two hundred years. It is difficult to find out from where to pick him up.