Encuentro 2000

by
Wilton D. Gregory
Bishop of Belleville

Los Angeles, California
July 8, 2000


The Church is Catholic because she has been sent out on a mission to the whole of the human race by none other than Jesus Christ Himself [Catechism of the Catholic Church #310]. The sum total of humanity is our mission field.

As the disciples of the Lord, we live in the world as the stewards of God's creation knowing that the entire universe is destined to be transformed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When Jesus commissioned the Apostolic College to "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations," He determined both the standard and the boundaries for the mission of the Church. We are never to overlook nor neglect any culture, any person, or any moment in our proclamation of truth of the Gospel. The Church's mission is to transform individuals and societies through the Light of the Gospel.

Christ's message of salvation is intended for all people and for every age and culture, and those of us who are His disciples living at this moment in human history are obliged to bring the joy of His teaching to our own generation with all of its concerns. But our charge is more than merely to proclaim His teaching. We are to communicate His person – to make Him known. For it is the very person of Christ that is the unique source of redemption for all of creation. Christ is no mere great teacher, nor sublime philosopher, nor simply the proponent of a universally recognized and highly fashionable humanistic approach to morality. Christ is the very Redeemer of a world that would be hopelessly lost without Him.

We bishops of the United States have felt and responded to this obligation to evangelize our society since we were only eight in number and were able comfortably to gather in Provincial Council for the first time in Baltimore:

As our congregations have in a great measure been hitherto an emigrant population, so has our ministry been to a considerable extent composed of adopted citizens. But the children of the former, and the successors of the latter have for some time past assumed more of our native character, and must necessarily become chiefly, if not altogether national, henceforth. Pastoral Letter to the Laity, article 6, 17 October, 1829

Today, the mission of the Church remains always the same, but the diversity of those who are to be evangelized and the circumstances for evangelization are far more complex. We bring the same message of the Hope and Joy that we find in Christ Jesus to all those who currently introduce a great diversity of cultures to this land of freedom and prayerfully also encounter an increasingly hospitable welcome. Yet we must now offer the message and reveal the Person of Jesus Christ under far different circumstances.

The great and expansive territorial distances of our nation that once inhibited the Church's mission have been overcome, if not spatially, then certainly technologically. The frequent hostility of pioneer American society has largely given way to an indifference that in many situations is far more difficult to confront than the open anti-Catholicism that predated it. The cultures that we now seek to evangelize include not only those that have never received the Christian message, but also those that ostensibly have rich and well-established Christian, if not Catholic heritages.

It is the challenge of this latter group of people, those who have a Christian background but who have grown lukewarm [if not indifferent] to Christ that is perhaps our greatest test. Thus our Holy Father has called us to a New Evangelization that does not presume a familiarity with the message of the Gospel but proclaims Christ Jesus anew as though encountered for the first time. [Tertio millennio adveniente, articles 56-57].

The indifference to the message of the Gospel clearly poses a unique challenge to those of us who are disciples in this present generation. We live in an age and within a society that habitually but falsely believes that it already has encountered Christ, and with that erroneous assumption many people now dismiss Him as passe. Perhaps they have been influenced by observing the innumerable and sad failures of those of us who are His disciples that they have ascribed and transferred our disgraceful behavior to reflect and exemplify His Goodness which is the source of Hope itself. And in addition, perhaps our contemporary world has witnessed the nonchalant attitude that too many Catholics now demonstrate that suggests that they have grown indifferent to Christ's unique place in human history.

That is why the Holy Father calls us to a New Evangelization, a new introduction to the Mystery of Christ Jesus. We must rediscover Christ anew. And that rediscovery must first take place within the heart of every believer through a real conversion. The greatest act of mission for the individual Catholic is to be found in the change of heart that allows Christ to become the center of each life. It was, after all, that same type of witness to their unity in Christ that brought the early Christians such success in announcing the message of the Gospel. It was the observable affection and concern for one another that caused the ancient world to wonder what the source of the joy and hope of the Christians might be that first brought many to Faith.

"See how those Christians love one another." Tertullian, Apologeticus, c. 39.

Our unity in the midst of our diversity, our respect for the differences that distinguish us, remain the most powerful and effective witness that we can offer to a world that has grown callous and unimpressed with what they now erroneously consider the stale message of organized religion. That same disinterested world keeps a noticeable hunger for the things of the spirit. The situation in our current world is but another expression of the wisdom of Christ when He reminded His disciples:

"The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few" Matthew 9:37

The Bishops of the United States wholeheartedly express our gratitude to our Hispanic Brothers and Sisters for providing such a wonderful experience of our diversity as a Church and yet our oneness in Christ. The uniqueness of this assembly is a great sign of the enthusiasm and devotion that the Hispanic community provides for so many of our local churches and for our nation as a whole. It is the sense of the profound joy and excitement in your love for Jesus Christ and your deep devotion to the Mother of God that energizes this assembly.

Yet this gathering is also a reminder that we are all, from the many different cultures from which we originate, signs of God's creative power and goodness. We all are encouraged by the opportunity to see ourselves more closely united in Christ and with one another. Encuentro 2000 is a wonderful response to the Church's Mission in so far as it calls us to a deeper awareness of our unity in Christ while simultaneously joyfully celebrating our diversity. We become a living sign of the Catholicity of the Church and the joy that springs from that reality. In a world so often torn asunder with conflict and rampant individuality, Encuentro 2000 is an expression of the greater joy that we find in embracing cultural and racial diversity as expressions of God's design for humanity. Surely that reality is a source of encouragement for all here present and we, in turn, will become a more effective witness to Christ's presence in our world and the transforming impact of that presence in all of our lives.






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Encuentro 2000
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
3211 4th Street, N.E., Washington, DC 20017-1194 (202) 541-3413