Faith

In his recent letter to his flock, Bishop Estevez in The St. Augustine Catholic magazine entitled “The Year of Faith - A Time for Renewal” writes “On October 11, we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the beginning of Vatican II by beginning a ‘year of faith.”  In a follow-up article entitled “Opening the door of Faith” by Lilla Ross, she states, “In the new year, you’re going to be hearing the term ‘new evangelization’ - a lot.”   This will be the “ focus” of this year of Faith for the Church.  She informs us that this is a term coined by Pope John Paul II.  This new evangelization will be a mission of the Church to help Catholics “renew our confidence in the truth of our faith” according to Ralph Martin who is the president of Renewal Ministries, she reports.

Coincidentally, my study group began a study of a book by Charles Colson and Harold Fickett entitled, “The Faith Given Once, For All - Jude 3."  Colson reports that he asked in a middle of a talk, “What is Christianity anyway?”  He reported that the response was “painful silence” before there was a response.  The corollary in the Year of Faith is for Catholics to answer the question to ourselves and to others “Not only what is Christianity anyway but, also, what is Catholicism?” Of course, we start with the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed.  But, it is much more.  And, do we live that faith?

In a segment of Chapter One entitled “Postmodernism and the Death of Truth, they write “(w)hat’s really at issue here is a dramatic shift in the prevailing belief of Western cultural elites; we have come into a postmodern era that rejects the idea of truth itself.  If there is no such thing as truth, then Christianity’s claims are inherently offensive and even bigoted against others.  Tolerance, falsely defined as putting all propositions on an equal footing - as opposed to giving ideas an equal hearing - has replaced truth.

“Millions acquiesce to the all-beliefs-are-equal doctrine for the sake of bettering their social position in our values-free, offend-no-one culture.  But, to succumb to this indifference is not to accept a tolerant or liberal view of Christianity; it is to embrace another religion, a belief in some supreme value - perhaps, tolerance - but not in the God who is and who has spoken.”

In such a world, we must know our Christian and Catholic faith by continuing to renew our knowledge of it and to teach it and evangelize it to all of our brothers and sisters.  We cannot become victims to those beliefs that are hostile to us by anti-Christians and those modern anti-theists.  In order to better withstand the assaults on our Christian faith and in order to increase and strengthen our faith, we must continue to study and renew our faith daily.  This can be as simple as listening to Catholic television programs and Catholic radio such as Queen of Peace Radio.  After a lifetime of Catholic education, I still learn more about my faith and its richness.  I hope that you will, also.

What are your thoughts about this?

Let the light of our Lord shine upon you!

REM (Ray Makowski) Co-Founder, Director and Secretary-Treasurer