The Catholic Church's "new evangelization" effort is not an attempt to present the Gospel again to people who did not understand it the first time, but to present the Gospel in a way that makes sense and gives hope to modern men and women, said the general secretary of the Synod of Bishops.
The synod outline defines "new evangelization" as "the courage to forge new paths in responding to the changing circumstances and conditions facing the church in her call to proclaim and live the Gospel today."
The document said bringing people back to Christ will be impossible unless there are efforts to evangelize increasingly secular cultures, to evangelize increasingly diverse societies and to evangelize the media, the economy, politics, science and the church itself.
By calling for a "new evangelization," the church is not criticizing the way the faith was initially transmitted, the document said, but rather it is recognizing that it needs to find new ways of proclaiming the Gospel that respond to the needs of people who are living in modern societies where anything involving God or faith is considered naive or too private for polite conversation.
The document emphasized the importance of giving the baptized a solid education in the basics of the faith and in helping nourish their faith with the Eucharist and the Bible, especially through good preaching at Masses.
While the synod outline said Christians must always act in a way that witnesses to the faith and cannot be afraid to tell others about Christ, it also said dialogue with members of other religions can help Christians learn more about the shared human yearning for God and for meaning; the more Christians understand the desires of the human heart and how they are expressed today, the more easily they can respond, it said.
