Two Feet of Love, And Evangelization, In Action by Susan Stevenot Sullivan

7/29/2019 Two Feet of Love, And Evangelization, In Action by Susan Stevenot Sullivan

1/25

Parish Social Ministry Institute

Susan Stevenot Sullivan

Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

9/14/2013

Photos by S.S. Sullivan, all rightsreserved 2012


2/25

The New

Evangelization


3/25

Find one person you dont knowand share an example of how this

kind of aha! moment has

happened to you.(10 minutes total, 5 minutes each?)


4/25

Jesus replied, This is the first: Listen Israel, the

Lord our God is the one Lord, and you must love

t he Lord your Godwith all your heart, with all

your soul, with all your mind and with all your

strength.The second is this: You must l ove your neighbor

as your sel f .

There is no commandment greater than these.

(Mark 12:29-32)


5/25

Pope Francis:

It is from contemplation, from a strongfriendship with the Lord that the

capacity is born in us to live and to bring

the love of God, his mercy, histenderness, to others. And also our work

with brothers in need, our charitable

works of mercy, lead us to the Lord,

because it is in the needy brother andsister that we see the Lord himself.(7/21/13)


6/25

. . . Love of neighbor is a paththat leads to the encounter with

God, and that closing our eyes to

our neighbor also blinds us to

God.(Deus Caritas Est,16)


7/25

Pope Francis:

In this stepping out it is important to be ready for

encounter. For me this word is very important.

Encounter with others. Why?Because f ai t h is an

encount er w it h Jesus, and we must do what Jesus

does: encount er ot her s. . . w i t h our f a i t h we must

cr eat e a cul t ur e of encount er , a culture of

friendship, a culture in which we find brothers andsisters, in which we can also speak with those who

think differently, as well as those who hold other

beliefs, who do not have the same faith. They all

have something in common with us: they are imagesof God, they are children of God. Going out to meet

everyone, without losing sight of our own position.(5/18/13)


8/25

Let me tell you what I hope will be the outcome

of World Youth Day: I hope there will be noise. . . I

want you to make yourselves heard in yourdioceses, I want the noise to go out, I want the

Church to go out onto the streets, I want us to

resist everything worldly, everything static,

everything comfortable, everything to do withclericalism, everything that might make us closed

in on ourselves. The parishes, the schools, the

institutions are made for going out ... if they dont,

they become an NGO, and the Church cannot be an

NGO. May the bishops and priests forgive me if

some of you create a bit of confusion afterwards. .

. . Thanks for whatever you can do.(Popes address to young people of Argentina, 7/25/13)


9/25

This l ove, w it h Jesus own measure of

complet e gi f t of sel f , besides being t he

di st i nguishing f eat ure of each Chri st i an,

cannot but be t he char act er ist ic of his

Chur ch, di sci pl e-communit y of Chri st ,

whose wi t ness of f r a t er na l char i t y wi l l bei t s f i r st and pr imary proclamat ion, t hi s is

how al l w i l l know t hat you are my

di scipl es (John 13: 35).

(Apar eci da, 138)


10/25

The l i nks bet ween j ust i ce andevangel i zat ion are st r ong and vi t a l . We

cannot pr oclaim a Gospel we do not

l i ve, and we cannot car r y out a r ea l

socia l minist r y w i t hout knowing t heLord and hear i ng his cal l t o j ust i ce and

peace. Par i sh communi t i es must show

by t hei r deeds of love and j ust ice t hat

t he Gospel t hey pr ocla im is f ul f i l led in

t hei r act ions.(Communit ies of Salt and Light [ CSL] , p. 5 .)


11/25


12/25

Charity, furthermore, cannot be used as a

means of engaging in what is nowadays

considered proselytism. Love is free; it is

not practiced as a way of achieving other

ends. But this does not mean that charitableactivity must somehow leave God and Christ

aside. For it is always concerned with the

whole man.(Deus Caritas Est [DCE], 31)


13/25

Pope Francis: We ask only one thing:

that you reach out! And that you goand seek out and encounter the most

needy! Does this mean going to

convince someone to become becameCatholic? No, no, no! You are just

reaching out to meet him, he is your

brother! That is enough. You reach out

to help them, the rest is done by

Jesus, by the Holy Spirit.


14/25


15/25

The new evangelization calls every

member of the Church to make his orher life a proclamation of the Good

News of Jesus Christ.(Archbishop Robert Carlson, The Deacon as an Instrument of

Charity, 2001)


16/25

We see the parish dimensions of social ministrynot as an added burden, but as part of what

keeps a parish alive and truly Catholic. Effective

social ministry helps the parish not only do more,

but be more more of a reflection of the Gospel,more of a worshiping and evangelizing people,

more of a faithful community. It is an essential

part of parish life. ..

(CSL Intro)


17/25

. We are called to be the salt of the

earth and light of the world in the

words of the Scriptures (MT 5:13-16)

This task belongs to every believer and

every parish. It cannot be assigned to a

few or simply delegated to diocesan ornational structures. The pursuit of

justice and peace is an essential part of

what makes a parish Catholic.

(CSL Intro)


18/25

Pope Fr ancis: Jesus di d not say : One of yougo , but Al l of you go : w e ar e sent t oget her.

Dear young f r iends, be awar e of t he

companionship of t he whole Chur ch and al so

t he communion of t he sai nt s on t his mi ssi on. .

. . . Jesus did not cal l t he Apost les t o l i ve in

iso la t ion; he cal l ed t hem t o f orm a group, a

community.(7/28/ 13, Worl d Yout h Day)


19/25

Love of neighbor, gr ounded i n t he love of God, i sf i r st and f oremost a r esponsib i l i t y f or each

indiv i dua l member of t he f a i t hf ul , but i t is a lso a

r esponsib i l i t y f or t he ent i r e ecclesia l communi t y at

ever y l evel : f r om t he loca l communi t y t o t he

par t icular Chur ch and t o t he Chur ch universal in i t s

ent i re ty .

As a communit y, t he Chur ch must pr act i ce l ove.

Love t hus needs t o be organized if i t i s t o be an

order ed ser vi ce t o t he communi t y.(DCE, 20)


20/25

Charity is at the heart of the Churchs social

doctrine. . . It gives real substance to the personalrelationship with God and with neighbor; it is the

principle not only of micro-relationships (with

friends, with family members, or within small

groups) but also of macro-relationships (social,economic, and political ones. For the Church,

instructed by the Gospel, charity is everything . .

.everything has its origin in Gods love, everything

is shaped by it, everything is directed towards it.(Caritas In Veritate, 2)


21/25

Handout


22/25


23/25

Pract i ca l act i v i t y w i l l a lways be

i nsuff i ci ent , unless it vi si bl y expr esses alove f or man, a l ove nour ished by an

encount er w i t h Chri st . My deep, per sonal

shar i ng i n t he needs and suff er i ngs of

ot her s becomes a shar i ng of my very selfw i t h t hem: i f my gi f t i s not t o prove a

sour ce of humi l ia t ion, I must give t o ot her s

not only somet hing t hat is my own, but my

very sel f ; I must be per sonal l y p r esent in

my gi f t . (DCE, 34 )


24/25

Take 20 minutes:

1.How can we enhance therelationship mutual transformation

evangelization by witness

framework of our charitable works

and social justice work?

2.Where is a good place to start in

your parish/diocese?

3.How can we get others involved?


25/25

Preach the Gospel

at all times.

If necessary, usewords.

St. Francis of Assisi

Garden of Gethsemane Jerusalem

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Two Feet of Love, And Evangelization, In Action by Susan Stevenot Sullivan

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