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Evangelii Nuntiandi, Chapter VI
The Agents of Evangelization
No. 59, The Whole Church is Missionary
This number is the beginning of Chapter VI, the agents of evangelization. It makes the point that the Church as a whole has the mission of evangelizing. She has received the command of the Lord to go out to all the world and preach the Good News. It was to Peter and the apostles, who were the whole Church at that time, that Jesus gave the command, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the good news to all creation” (Mk 16:15, cf. Mt 28:18-20). This mission every member of the Church has received in some form and every member of the Church must do his part in that mission.
Although the Church is not the whole of the kingdom of God, she is its sign and its instrument. When she preaches and wins new members, she is sinking deep roots in the world and adding new peoples to herself and to God’s kingdom.
We all have the mission of evangelization because we are all part of the Church. We are all called to evangelize by our baptism. The whole Church is missionary. Whenever a Catholic does any kind of evangelizing he is acting as a member of the Church. It is never just a private matter between the evangelizing agent and the recipient of his evangelizing efforts. The evangelizer has the duty of evangelizing in line with what the Church teaches. His teaching should be in line with that of the Church and of Jesus himself. He is never to speak on his own or to act on his own, using his own ideas about the message or thinking that only he has the truth in its fullness.
The Church gives a special mission to evangelize to some individuals to do more than what they would do in their ordinary walk of life. She gives them a special mandate to teach. No one takes this on himself. This can be in many fields. There is, for example, the field of catechesis in parishes. It is the pastor who gives the mandate here. He has the authority to do so from his bishop. The bishop, as a successor of the apostles, is one of those who have the authority from his ordination. There is the commission to preach connected with Holy Orders. Here again it is the bishop who gives this mandate to the newly ordained by ordaining him to share in the priesthood that the bishop has in its fullness. There is the teaching profession, especially in Catholic schools. The teachers receive their mandate from the school, which has it from the local bishop if it is a diocesan school, or from the religious order to whom the school belongs. The religious order receives it ultimately from the pope if it is pontifical order, or from the local bishop if it is a diocesan community.
All these person carry out their part in the evangelization of the Church. Mary, mother of the Church, guide her in her reaching out to those who do not belong to her and open men’s minds to her message of salvation.
The Agents of Evangelization
No. 59, The Whole Church is Missionary
This number is the beginning of Chapter VI, the agents of evangelization. It makes the point that the Church as a whole has the mission of evangelizing. She has received the command of the Lord to go out to all the world and preach the Good News. It was to Peter and the apostles, who were the whole Church at that time, that Jesus gave the command, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the good news to all creation” (Mk 16:15, cf. Mt 28:18-20). This mission every member of the Church has received in some form and every member of the Church must do his part in that mission.
Although the Church is not the whole of the kingdom of God, she is its sign and its instrument. When she preaches and wins new members, she is sinking deep roots in the world and adding new peoples to herself and to God’s kingdom.
We all have the mission of evangelization because we are all part of the Church. We are all called to evangelize by our baptism. The whole Church is missionary. Whenever a Catholic does any kind of evangelizing he is acting as a member of the Church. It is never just a private matter between the evangelizing agent and the recipient of his evangelizing efforts. The evangelizer has the duty of evangelizing in line with what the Church teaches. His teaching should be in line with that of the Church and of Jesus himself. He is never to speak on his own or to act on his own, using his own ideas about the message or thinking that only he has the truth in its fullness.
The Church gives a special mission to evangelize to some individuals to do more than what they would do in their ordinary walk of life. She gives them a special mandate to teach. No one takes this on himself. This can be in many fields. There is, for example, the field of catechesis in parishes. It is the pastor who gives the mandate here. He has the authority to do so from his bishop. The bishop, as a successor of the apostles, is one of those who have the authority from his ordination. There is the commission to preach connected with Holy Orders. Here again it is the bishop who gives this mandate to the newly ordained by ordaining him to share in the priesthood that the bishop has in its fullness. There is the teaching profession, especially in Catholic schools. The teachers receive their mandate from the school, which has it from the local bishop if it is a diocesan school, or from the religious order to whom the school belongs. The religious order receives it ultimately from the pope if it is pontifical order, or from the local bishop if it is a diocesan community.
All these person carry out their part in the evangelization of the Church. Mary, mother of the Church, guide her in her reaching out to those who do not belong to her and open men’s minds to her message of salvation.