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Dear brothers and sisters in the Risen Christ,
During my ministry I have been facing pastoral challenges which affect us in many ways in our mission as evangelizers and catechists of the People of God. One of them is the rising number of Religious Groups (sects) that are affecting our Catholic population in the world Unfortunately, each Catholic family has members that are not Catholic, thus causing sad divisions. Each day Catholics leave to belong to the ranks of the fundamentalist evangelicals, Jehovah´s Witnesses, Mormons, Pentecostals, Christians, etc.
We can adopt either one of two attitudes against this phenomenon: The one many adopt where they say: There is nothing I can do about it; we must leave them alone; there will always be divisions; I am not interested; I and my Mass¦ This attitude is called "indifference".
The other attitude is the one many priests and bishops have
adopted in their parishes and dioceses when they become aware of this
pastoral challenge. With a great apostolic zeal for their flock,
seeking that not one single sheep the Lord has entrusted to them be
lost, they are making the Catholic people aware so they can be strong
in their faith, and know how to respond on what they believe and
proclaim (defending the faith). To accomplish this, we, priests and bishops, must know our
people, pray, and walk in the faith with them so that as good shepherds
we know how to take care of the flock that has been entrusted to us,
and realise how much families are suffering because of the divisions.
I am convinced that those books, videos and cds,
will help us to face this challenge in our families, parishes and dioceses.
This one will help us
to be convinced of the great treasure that we have in our Catholic
Church, and at the same time, to have the biblical basis to face and
respond based on our faith when we are questioned; not to fight, but to
know how to have a dialogue.
Let us not leave for tomorrow what
needs to be done today. John Paul II reminds us in his messages of this
idea, "It is time to evangelize"; the today of Christianity is lived if
we, lay people, priests and bishops, live the TODAY of evangelization.
Let us make of our parishes and dioceses places where a New
Evangelization is lived.
Martin Zavala
Mision 2000
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