Vatican feels the heat of secularism; calls for ‘new evangelism’

Vatican feels the heat of secularism; calls for ‘new evangelism’

Source: VSK-ENG      Date: 10/11/2012 1:27:32 PM

By Virag PachporeNewsbharati: 10 Oct 2012: Worried over the dangerous threat posed by the concept of secularism for Christianity, Pope Benedict XVI convened a meeting of Roman Catholic Church leaders from around the world to deliberate on how to counter this rising secularism and ‘reinvigorate the faith’ coinciding the 50^th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council.
Pope Benedict’s call to the world’s bishops to try to bring back the “Catholics who have left the Church” underlines this potent threat the concept of secularism, ironically floated by the Christians themselves, to their own religion and faith.  
The Pope gave a call to the synod of 262 cardinals, archbishops and bishops for what he termed as “new evangelism” for the Catholic Church, which is fast losing followers in Europe and the Americas thanks to the concept of secularism which has its roots embroiled very much in the western philosophy.
That this three-week conference of Catholic Church’s top brains coincides with the October 11 announcement of a “Year of Faith” to mark the 50^th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) which changed the faith of Catholicism.
The Pope Benedict XVI was an expert of that Council known as “Vatican II”. The Pope, who shot to fame during the Vatican II for being one of its most “reformist voices”, was forced by the rising trend of secularism to declare “New Evangelism” as centre piece of his papacy since he was elected to this top most post in 2005.
The previous such conference was convened by his predecessor Pope John Paul VI in 1974. However, the crisis of faith among the followers was not as serious as it is being experienced now.
Feeling the heat of rising secularism the Pope has long lamente4d that in Europe and the Americas, Catholics no longer practice their faith or pass it on to their children. This decline in faith coupled with rapid spread of secularism has caused the Pope to accelerate the efforts to re-evangelize parts of the world where Catholicism has fallen by the wayside.
Confirming about the meeting a very senior functionary of the Catholic Church said that the Pope was more worried over the de-Christianization of the Catholic faithful because of this rising trend of secularism. Not adhering to principles and practices of Catholicism, these Christians are turning towards other religions in search of peace and spiritual happiness.
The concept of secularism has also detonated the very moral values and ethos which formed the strong edifice Catholic Christianity. The institution of marriage was almost destroyed with the ever increasing number of divorces, families are breaking, number of single parents increasing, and all values that held the families together are falling apart.
The three-week synod of the Catholic clergy would be discussing and debating over these issues to find out possible solutions to tide over this deluge of secularism which is not checked now would completely devour the faith.