Dear
Friends,
This month, the Catholic Church will
celebrate a special new year, not with fireworks or
noisemakers, but with prayer, study and a firm intention to
renew and deepen our faith so as to be better prepared to
share it with others.
The goal of both the Year of Faith and
the Synod for the New Evangelization is to reawaken
the faith in Catholics, so we can be better witnesses to
the love of Christ and his Church in our homes, workplaces and
communities. With hearts transformed by Christ and his Gospel,
we can change our own lives, and change the
world.
In light of these events, and as we
prepare for our own archdiocesan
synod in 2014 to mark the Archdiocese of Washington’s 75th
anniversary, it seems appropriate to reflect on the Church as
the continuing presence of Jesus Christ in the world and the
role of clergy, religious and laity in carrying out his
ministry. Recently, I wrote a pastoral
letter, The Church, Our Spiritual Home, which is
an attempt to do just that.
As this period of renewal and
revitalization begins, it is important for us to remember what
exactly the Church is, what it means to the world, and what
our role in it is. The Church is the family of God.
Its members, those baptized into the Church, you and I,
form a body with Christ as its head. In order to truly
know Christ, we must know him in his Body, the
Church.
As we continue to carry out the New
Evangelization and prepare to hold our own archdiocesan
synod, we must be very clear about what the frame of reference
is. The Church is the home of God’s word. It is
the presence of Christ, sacramentally. We can only move
forward if we fully understand who we are as members of the
Church.
Our increasingly secular and
materialistic culture has many misconceptions about the Church
that Jesus founded. The Church is not a man-made organization,
it is not a club of like-minded people, it is not politically
partisan, nor is it a special interest group. Rather, the
Catholic Church is the enduring, visible yet spiritual,
structured yet Spirit-led, human yet divine presence of Christ
in the world today.
Since the Church is the presence of
Christ in our world, we who are members of the Church are
called to be Jesus’ witnesses in our daily lives, in all that
we say and do. The great commission that Jesus gave his
disciples before he ascended into heaven is the Lord’s call to
us today, to be his witnesses, to shine the light and love of
his Gospel to the ends of the earth.
Baptized as members of God’s family,
his Church, we have an incredible gift that guides us in this
life and leads us to eternal life with our Father in heaven.
In this world, we are called to manifest God’s kingdom. This
is not just the work of our Holy Father, our bishops, our
priests, our deacons and our religious. Our laity
have a special call to renew the “temporal order”. The lay
faithful are commissioned to take the Gospel and apply it to
every aspect of life through the defense of human life,
marriage and family; care of the sick and those in need, and
the development of a more just distribution of the goods of
the earth and care for all of creation. This is what we mean
by the transformation
of the temporal order.
In our Archdiocese of Washington, I
invite all Catholics to participate in the upcoming parish and
regional listening sessions in preparation for the
archdiocesan synod, so people can share their ideas about what
we are doing well and how we can improve in the key areas of
worship, education, community, service and administration/
stewardship. We
can help build up a better Church for the future and play a
part in helping our family of faith be the best Church that
Christ calls us to be.
In a previous letter, I mentioned that
future e-letters during the Year of Faith would include
suggested resources for learning more about the Church so as
to deepen your own faith. Two of the best reference
materials to begin with are the Holy Scriptures – I recommend
the New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE)
- and the Catechism
of the Catholic Church.
Regular reading and study of God’s
Word, even if only for several minutes a day, is a sure way to
grow closer to Christ. Studying the Catechism
then builds on that firm foundation, enabling one to grow in
knowledge of the Catholic faith – what we believe and
why. The United
States Catholic Catechism for Adults is another
helpful resource in this area.
Also, I invite all Catholics of the
Archdiocese of Washington to participate in the new Living
Catholic formation program. This adult education
program developed by the archdiocese, includes opening and
closing sessions at parishes, with four weeks of online
learning based on the Four Pillars of the Catechism of the
Catholic Church. Living Catholic is a
great way to grow in knowledge and love of the faith, and
then, with confidence, share it with others. That is what the
New Evangelization is all about.
Finally, in order to gain a better
understanding of the importance of charitable works and
community engagement in the practice of our faith, I encourage
you to read Catholic
Impact 2012. This compilation of information
about the many ways the Church serves our particular community
– through education, health care and charitable and social
services – may surprise you.
In this special month and year for the
Catholic Church, I urge you to take the opportunity to learn
more about what it means to be Catholic, and how our faith is
a great gift from God that we are called to share with
others.
The events happening in Rome this
month, as the Synod
for the New Evangelization and the Year of Faith begin,
might seem far away, but in our own community, we too must be
engaged in this great call from Jesus, to be his witnesses and
to walk with him as his disciples in today’s world, sharing
his love and hope in our daily lives. As a family of faith, as
members of the Catholic Church founded by Jesus that endures
as a living sign of his love and presence, let us celebrate
this special new year together!
Faithfully in
Christ,
Donald Cardinal
Wuerl
Archbishop of
Washington
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