John Allen on Evangelii Gaudium

ImageI'll share my favorite excerpts from Pope Francis' new exhortation to proclaim the Joy of the Gospel soon, but John Allen's as-always trenchant interpretation bears sharing:

"Francis is once again trying to do the same thing, uniting two bodies of reflection and energy usually associated with very different constituencies. In his case, they're "New Evangelization," meaning the effort launched under John Paul II to relight the church's missionary fires, and "Social Gospel," referring to Catholicism's engagement on behalf of the poor, immigrants and the environment, as well as its opposition to war, the arms trade, the death penalty and so on...




"From personal experience, I can say that one can spend a lot of time at conferences and symposia on the new evangelization without hearing much about, say, the war in Syria, the human costs of the Eurozone crisis, or the impact of global warming. Similarly, one can attend a truckload of "social ministry" gatherings without getting much on the sacraments, the life of prayer, Marian devotions or growth in personal holiness.
"That's an overgeneralization, but anybody who's been around the block in the Catholic church will recognize the scent of truth."

But don't take my - or his - word for it. No matter where you get your news from, the power of the message is being dulled and distorted in the re-telling. As Rocco Palmo said yesterday: "If you're looking for a "primer," it's fairly simple: don't insult your intelligence – just take the time to actually read it." 

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