"The Christianity of history is not Protestantism. If ever there were a safe truth it is this, and Protestantism has ever felt it so; to be deep in history is to cease to be a Protestant." (-John Henry Newman, An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine).

"Where the bishop is, there let the people gather; just as where ever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church". -St. Ignatius of Antioch (ca 110 AD)a martyr later thrown to the lions, wrote to a church in Asia Minor. Antioch was also where the term "Christian" was first used.

“But if I should be delayed, you should know how to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of truth.” 1 Timothy 3:15

"This is the sole Church of Christ, which in the Creed we profess to be one, holy, catholic and apostolic." -CCC 811

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Patriarch of Jerusalem: New Evangelisation must be open to others (Vatican News)

Patriarch of Jerusalem Church Faoud Twal
News.va - The Thirteenth General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops continues Saturday, with interventions from Bishops from around the world.

Covering the Synod for Vatican Radio, Philippa Hitchen spoke with Patriarch Faoud Twal about his message for the assembled Bishops. He said that, in a certain way, the New Evangelisation must return to its roots in the Church of Jerusalem: “I mention in my intervention that the whole thing started in Jerusalem, from Jerusalem, and really to be a good and genuine and efficient new evangelisation we must go back to the first community. Any big event in the Church must go back to Jerusalem, start with Jerusalem, and really start again with Jerusalem to be a genuine and a good one.”

Patriarch Twal says that he would encourage his fellow Bishops to visit the Holy Land with their seminarians, their priests and their communities. “Come to see what we call the living stones, and encourage us, share with us our fears, our joys, our aspiration. Share with us the prayer, we need the prayer, to come back to prayer.”

He said that, despite the difficulties for Christians in the Middle East, it was important for the community to move beyond its own boundaries. “Any good faith and evangelism must be open to others with more bridges and less walls.”

Patriarch Twal said, “Now in the Middle East, when we see all the problems that we are living, I can see other Christians, and we Pastors with them, we are a little bit afraid.” But that cannot be an excuse for Christians to be closed within themselves. “That’s why our attention, our care is how to get around our small flock, how to keep it, how to protect it. It is something, just gathering our people instead to have the courage to get outside, to preach outside.”

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