CARDINAL TO VISIT DIOCESE TO LAUNCH THIRD YEAR OF DISCIPLES IN MISSION

aUGUST 10, 2008

Next Saturday, August 16, our Archbishop, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo will visit our diocese.  During the celebration of the Eucharist at the Basilica of Nuestra Señora de San Juan del Valle, he will encourage our Disciples in Mission and the various Ecclesial Movements in the diocese to continue their implementation of the call to a new evangelization made by Popes Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict XVI.  They were echoing the call made by Christ, himself, when he entrusted the message of God’s love to the Church, for proclamation to all humanity.

“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations,” Jesus said, “baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age." (Matthew 28:19-20). This missionary mandate of Jesus Christ gave the Church its reason for being. After the Lord’s Ascension, the Holy Spirit propelled those who knew Jesus to go out, to teach, to baptize, to make disciples: in essence, to spread the Good News of Salvation to the ends of the earth.  

In his Apostolic Exhortation on Evangelization, Pope Paul VI reminded us that “The task of evangelizing all people constitutes the essential mission of the Church. It is a task and mission which the vast and profound changes of present-day society make all the more urgent. Evangelizing is in fact the grace and vocation proper to the Church, her deepest identity. She exists in order to evangelize” (EN, 14). Evangelization is not the task of a few persons, called to a specific ministry of evangelization; it is the responsibility of the whole Church. It is a dynamic reality; the work of all the baptized. It is, notes the Second Vatican Council, a “process by which the Church, moved by the Spirit, proclaims and spreads the Gospel throughout the entire world” (GDC, 48).           

In my pastoral letter following the first diocesan synod I called for the diocese, through the office of Pastoral Life & Planning, to begin a three year evangelization initiative: Disciples in Mission. By means of this initiative, we strive to invigorate a recommitment to the New Evangelization in the Rio Grande Valley. All the parishes as well as the diocesan offices and Lay Ecclesial Movements have been involved in this important task. We build on the good already happening in  our parishes, by inserting a missionary consciousness into the liturgies, the religious education programs and all other activities currently in place, making Evangelization the number one priority.

There are hundreds of colonias in our diocese whose residents beckon us to bring the Good News to them. Through the efforts of Disciples in Mission we now begin parish home visitations so that we may identify and meet the spiritual needs of our brothers and sisters.  Our goal is to familiarize them with the richness of the word of God or to help prepare them for the reception of the Sacraments. Let us all commit ourselves in every parish to heed the call of Jesus to go into every town and place and “make this proclamation: ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand’” (Mat 10:7).

Let us tell others how God is acting in our own lives. Let us share the Gospel with those who have no church community as well as with those who have distanced themselves from the Catholic community. Let us extend a hand of welcome to those seeking full communion with the Catholic Church in a spirit of dialogue, with respect and concern for others. Let us listen and let us pray, allowing God to touch the other person’s life with his love and mercy. Let us not proselytize, manipulate or pressure anyone. Let us simply share the Good News that we have experienced and invite others to join us.  This is evangelization!

As we begin the third year of Disciples in Mission, let us keep in mind that the goal of Catholic Evangelization is to invite others to believe in Jesus Christ, to enfold the believers in the sacramental and communal life of the Church and to enable, inspire and support a lifetime of full discipleship.

I am pleased and honored to invite all our Catholic faithful to participate in the Holy Mass that will launch our third year of Disciples in Mission and celebrate the good work that we have accomplished through our diocesan evangelization initiative. Please join Cardinal Daniel DiNardo and me in the Eucharistic celebration, on Saturday, August 16, 2008, at 10:30 a.m. in the Basilica in San Juan, Texas. Let us come together on this day, as a diocesan family, in a symbol of unity, and let us recommit ourselves to be faithful disciples fulfilling the essential mission of the Church.

+Bishop Raymundo J. Peña

last updated 11-Jan-2010 8:22 sitemap