Scottish Catholic Observer

The forthcoming Year of Faith could be the ‘remedy’ to the current ‘crisis of faith’ in Europe, according to the president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelisation.

The Italian Archbishop Rino Fisichella made the comments while unveiling details of the Vatican’s initial calendar of events for the Year of Faith last week, confirming the programme will begin with a Mass on October 11 in St Peter’s Square and will also include a Mass for the New Evangelisation.

A senior Scottish priest in the Vatican has also spoken on the drive behind the initiative. Mgr Graham Bell, one of Archbishop Fisichella’s assistants, said: “The Holy Father has called this Year of Faith so that anyone in the Church can renew their personal relationship with Jesus Christ.”

Reaching out

Archbishop Fisichella said Pope Benedict XVI called the Year of Faith to strengthen Catholics who go to church, reach out to those who have left but still yearn for God in their lives, offer a response to those who are searching for meaning and help those who think they do not need God.

“We are not hiding the fact that there is a crisis of Faith,” he said. “But it is only when one becomes completely aware of a crisis that one can find ways to remedy it.”

To that end, he distributed the first copies of the official Year of Faith logo and prayer card last week, which features a mosaic image of Christ from the cathedral in Cefalu, Italy.

The Nicene Creed is printed on the back of the cards, with the idea that the profession of faith would become ‘a daily prayer, learned by heart, as it was in the first centuries of Christianity,’ the archbishop said.

Mass for New Evangelisation

Archbishop Fisichella also announced that the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments had just approved prayer texts in Latin and Italian for a special ‘Mass for New Evangelisation.’

The archbishop’s office is translating the Latin text into English, Spanish and other languages and hopes to have the congregation’s approval of the translations by the time the Year of Faith opens, he said.

Archbishop Fisichella also unveiled the sheet music for the official hymn for the Year of Faith, Credo, Domine, Adauge Nobis Fidem (I believe, Lord, increase our faith).

He said the Pope decided it was right to mark the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council and the 20th anniversary of the publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church with a year dedicated to encouraging Catholics to study, profess and demonstrate their Faith.

Archbishop Fisichella said the Holy Father had invited as concelebrants bishops and theologians who, like the Pope, served as members or experts at the 1962-65 Second Vatican Council and that it was hoped around 35 ‘council fathers’ would be able to join the presidents of national bishops’ conferences and bishops participating in the world Synod of Bishops in concelebrating the opening Mass.

Scottish insight

Mgr Bell, under secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelisation, who is originally from Paisley Diocese, said that part of the reason for the Year of Faith was the ‘change in circumstances’ which now confronted Catholics who wished to preach the Gospel.

“When we speak about New Evangelisation, we have to clarify what we mean by the adjective new,” he said.

“Obviously it is not new to the extent that it adds anything to the Gospel because we receive the Gospel from Jesus Christ through the Apostles and it will be the same Gospel until the end of time, the Gospel does not change.”

The Year of Faith will clearly have a focus on the New Evangelisation. It begins during the October 7-28 Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops focusing on that issue and Mgr Bell went on to say that the changing nature of the world did mean the Church had to adapt its strategies for the preaching of the Lord’s Word.

“What does change are the circumstances in which the Church announces the Gospel and in the world of today we have to be very careful about a number of factors which intervene in our preaching of the Gospel,” he said. “We have to be very careful about the cultural context in which men and women live. We have to be very aware of the new technologies in announcing the Gospel.

“We also have to be very aware of those situations in which it can be very difficult to believe: we live in a society which is under the domination of science and technology and those two things can make it very difficult to believe. And so the Church is called today to face up to new situations and to give new answers to the perennial question which every man and woman has as they seek after the sense of their own personal existence.”

Key event

Mgr Bell also drew attention to one event in particular as being key to the Year of Faith.

“On Corpus Christi 2013 the Holy Father will preside over an hour of Eucharistic Adoration in the Vatican,” he said. “What we are asking for throughout all the world is that in the cathedrals and parish churches wherever possible there should be an hour of adoration in communion with the Holy Father.”

This is not the first Year of Faith announced by a Pope. The last such event was launched by Paul VI almost half a century ago to commemorate the martyrdom of Ss Peter and Paul on the 19th centenary of their deaths.

— The Vatican launched a website, www.annusfidei.va, containing information about the Year of Faith and the calendar of special events Pope Benedict XVI will celebrate during the year.

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Pic: The Year of Faith logo and Archbishop Rino Fisichella (right), president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelisation