Saint John Paul II spoke about the New Evangelization for the first time in 1983 while addressing a group of South American Bishops. He exhorted the Church, every baptized member not just Pastoral leaders, to embrace a radical missionary dynamism characterized by a new ardour, new methods and new expressions.

It has been 37 years and there are things to celebrate. For example, the growth of ecclesial movements and apostolates dedicated to evangelization. Some that come to mind include Word on Fire, Augustine Institute, Divine Renovation, Amazing Parish, Catholic Christian Outreach, Jesus Youth, the Neo Catechumenal Way, and NET Ministries. Also, dynamic religious orders and societies of apostolic life are making a significant impact. Consider the Sisters of Life, Companions of the Cross, Missionaries of God’s Love, Opus Dei, Franciscan Sisters of the Holy Eucharist, Dominican Sisters of Nashville, to name a few.

While there are pockets of new life, new ardour, new expression and new vigour, much of the Institutional Church has not been so positively impacted. Yes, there are examples of missionary vitality in parishes, some of them are located right here in Vancouver and others throughout Canada. But, we who work and minister in parishes, dioceses, and decades-old institutions of education, health care and social service, need to ask ourselves a few important questions:

  • Are we satisfied with the progress we have made implementing the New Evangelization?
  • Has the New Evangelization shaped a new missionary culture within our institutions, parishes and dioceses?
  • Are we transforming our systems to make them more capable of announcing the Good News to the modern world rather than self-preservation?
  • Have we witnessed what Pope Francis has prayed for, “a new missionary impulse capable of transforming everything”?
  • Most importantly, are we seeing significant numbers of conversions, people being baptized?

If we are not on the trajectory toward missionary zeal and vitality, the most important question is this: what is holding us back?

One factor limiting our efficacy is a lack of common language. There are several terms bantered around but the meaning of the words are not universally understood in the same way.

Ask one parishioner to define evangelization and you get one meaning, ask another parishioner and you will get a totally different answer. What one Catechist understands of the “kerygma” may not be the same meaning held by another Catechist, even in the same parish. How one pastor defines missionary discipleship in his parish, may not be how another pastor would. We use consistent terms, within the Diocese and around the globe, but the meaning of the words is where things break down.

Unless we develop a common meaning of the words we use within the language of the New Evangelization, common terms will serve very little purpose. Common terms without common understanding are linguistic mechanisms without a soul. Common terms without common understanding provide only masks of communion rather than an expression of profoundly held core values and passionately shared mission. The New Evangelization requires something substantive, unitive and directive from its common language.

I’d like to attempt to unpack the meaning of two terms within the common language of the New Evangelization: Intentional Disciple and Missionary Disciple.

These two terms are used a lot in Catholic circles but I have wondered if everyone in the room (zoom call!) shares the same understanding of their meaning. If we don’t share the same understanding, we can’t possibly begin to make progress. It would be as though we are on a journey to London and half of us are driving to Ontario and the other half is jumping on a plane to England.

Intentional Disciple

Sherry Weddell popularized the term Intentional Disciple with the release, Forming Intentional Disciples (2012). In a sense, the word “intentional” is superfluous. To be a disciple requires intentionality, you can’t be a disciple without it. Nevertheless, Weddell’s terminology has confirmed that you can be a Catholic your entire life and never make the decision to become a disciple of Jesus.

Saint Pope John Paul II said it this way, “Sometimes even Catholics have lost or never had the chance to experience Christ personally: not Christ as a mere ‘paradigm’ or ‘value’, but as the living Lord, ‘the way, and the truth, and the life’ (Jn 14:6).”

A priest friend once said to me, “I became a Disciple five years after I was ordained.” Given the fact that you can be ordained without being a disciple, there is something necessary (substantive, unitive and directive) with the term intentional disciple.

According to Weddell, becoming a disciple requires a “drop the net” decision. Like the disciples who followed Jesus when He walked the earth, being a disciple means leaving the old life behind to embrace a new way of life in following the living Lord. JPII spoke of conversion as the drop the net decision. He wrote, “conversion means accepting, by a personal decision, the saving sovereignty of Jesus Christ and becoming His disciple” (Redemptoris Missio, #46).

Dr. Peter Kreeft is a former professor of philosophy at Boston College. He asked the same question to thousands of university students over the years, “If you were to die tonight and God was to ask you, ‘Why should I let you into heaven?’ what would you say?” Regardless of how long or short is the answer, if we fail to mention the name of Jesus in response to the question about how to get to heaven, it’s likely that we have not made the personal decision to accept His saving sovereignty.

Missionary Disciple

This term has been around for some time but Pope Francis has taken it to a whole new level of understanding and proliferation. The Holy Father preaches a clear message that those who are true disciples will be missionary disciples and missionary disciples are characterized by the contagious joy of the faith.

A missionary disciple is someone who feels a genuine, even intense personal responsibility to share the Good News with others. Missionary disciples identify with the words of St. Paul, “Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel.” But more than this, they consider this imperative a true joy and privilege.

A missionary disciple goes forth. They take the first step, they go out to others, they seek those who have fallen away, they stand at the crossroads and welcome the outcast. Like Jesus with the Samaritan woman at the well, missionary disciples gently meet people, build trust, and offer friendship – especially to the parts of their heart where they feel the most shame. They provide a sense of belonging in their friendship. Above all, a missionary disciple desires to show mercy, the fruit of his or her own experience of the power of the Father’s love in their life.

A missionary disciple gets involved by word and deed in the lives of others. Missionary disciples take on the “smell of the sheep” and the sheep are willing to hear their voice. A missionary disciple is supportive, standing by people at every step of the way, no matter how difficult or lengthy this may prove to be. A missionary disciple is familiar with patient expectation and apostolic endurance.

The missionary disciple is ready to share the kerygma at any time. The kerygma is the four-point message of the Gospel that helps someone understand how to be reconciled with God. One, know that God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life including a personal relationship with Him. Two, you have sinned (because all have sinned) and your sin has strained or severed your relationship with God. Three, Jesus Christ has come to reconcile you with God the Father by His passion, death and resurrection. Four, you can receive the gift of salvation by putting your faith and trust in the saving work of Jesus Christ.

Missionary disciples believe in the power of this saving message. They put their trust in its efficacy because they know it to be true, having been transformed by it themselves.

The New Evangelization needs to turn a new chapter. This chapter is all about the infiltration of new ardour, new zeal, new methods and new expression taking root and flourishing within the Institutional Church – every parish, every school, every institution and every diocese in the world. Decades-old structures and systems could use new life, learn lessons from the new movements and associations and walk boldly into the future full of faith and the Spirit.