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Communications and Proactive Evangelisation

22 Monday Jul 2013

Posted by Fr James Bradley in Evangelisation, Media

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Tags

communications, evangelisation, media, new evangelisation, new media, social communications, social media

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Photo: © Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk

In the coming weeks, with my move to DC imminent, I will be stepping down from my current role as Communications Officer for the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. I began this job almost two years ago now, with no prior experience and no expertise; simply with an enthusiasm for the project and a passion for evangelisation, especially through new means, such as social media. And I certainly don’t claim to be anything like an expert now. I have had no formal training. I learned to write press releases from the gentle criticisms sent me by friendly journalists, and I have tried to present our work and mission in a positive light, sometimes in the face of negative or unthinking rebuke, even from Catholic sources. I don’t think we’ve done a bad job, and the Ordinariate is still in most of the Church press most weeks, and in the national press on a regular basis too.

At some level, though, it isn’t the press work that I think has been the greatest success, nor the primary focus of our work, because I do not believe that this is where the Church should be focussing her energies in the field of communications. Too often we are on the back-foot; responding to criticisms or situations, or buffeting the wires with information of limited interest to the public. Too often we are responsive, rather than pro-active; often failing to make real use of the opportunities presented to us to speak explicitly and articulately about the central precepts of the faith. Too often we have become experts in media work at the cost of becoming weak practitioners in the task of evangelisation.

This is seen particularly in two places. First, in social and new media we find large numbers of Catholic journalists, organisations, active lay faithful, and priests (and one English bishop, so far) making use of Twitter and Facebook. This is a seriously positive step forward, essential for raising awareness of the life of the Church, and also for reaching beyond our own flocks and friends. It is a tool of communication and of evangelisation. The problem comes, though, when an imbalance – usually communication over evangelisation – creeps in, either be poor individual judgement or a lack of prudence (i.e. engaging in polemical arguments or point-scoring against others), or – and this is perhaps more easily solved – because an organisation or individual adopts a ‘mediacentric’ view (i.e. seeking to promote news to journalists, rather than Christ to the world). If we fail to make use of the ‘digital continent’ as – in Pope Benedict’s words – ‘portals of truth and faith; new spaces for evangelisation’, then we are simply wasting our time out there, and engaging in what Pope Francis might call a ‘self-referential’ exercise, that does little to truly promote the gospel.

Secondly, it is a cause of some real concern that there is growing number of ‘professional Catholic’ journalists and commentators – lay and clerical. These are people who make use of their Catholic ‘credentials’ as a means of giving a particular view or outlook on a story – often in a secular sphere – but who do not make use of their chosen outlet (and increased portfolio) for pure, raw evangelisation. Be it Catholic newspapers or Twitter feeds, the church of the New Evangelisation has little time for those who simply wish to comment on the life of the Church, without themselves engaging actively in the central reason for the incarnation: bringing the light of Christ to the darkness of the world. Anyone who seeks to work for the Church – in whatever capacity – needs to speak regularly and clearly about the transformative love of Christ in their lives and the life of the Church, if they are to avoid painting a picture of a mere institution rather than the Mystical Body of Christ.

My call, then, is for a renewal in Catholic communications, for them to really become exactly that. It is a call to move away from ‘Catholics doing media’, and towards Catholics communicating the person and teachings of Jesus Christ, more explicitly and more comprehensively than ever before. We need a renewal that will see evangelisation, and the person of Jesus Christ, put at the centre of all that we do and say, so that every interview given, every press release issued, every message tweeted, will speak of Jesus Christ, and will explicitly seek to draw others to him.

If that means a story isn’t published, or our comment isn’t sought – fine. A content-light article or a painfully balanced piece isn’t going to bring the world to Christ. What might, is our own courageous witness to the joy and delight that comes from knowing the Lord Jesus in his holy Church, and that can’t be hidden under a bushel for the sake of journalistic credibility, press protocol, or an impressive scoop.

Priest in a secular culture

05 Wednesday Jun 2013

Posted by Fr James Bradley in Evangelisation

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adoration, bishop egan, evangelisation, new evangelisation, priesthood, secularisation

Adoration at St Patrick's, Soho Square

Adoration at St Patrick’s, Soho Square

This morning and this afternoon I was at the meeting of the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy at St Patrick’s, Soho Square. These meetings are always excellent chances to spend time with fellow priests, and to engage in the three aims of the Confraternity: fidelity, formation, and fraternity. We were treated to an excellent talk by Bishop Philip Egan (tick one and two), and an excellent lunch in the crypt of St Patrick’s (tick three). I walked there and back from Chelsea in the beautiful June sunshine, taking in the Mall – still decked in the Union Flags from the celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the Coronation this weekend.

Bishop Egan’s talk focussed on two aspects of secularisation. First, what secularisation is – including what language we might use to describe it; second, how the Priest can respond to the advent of secularisation and engage a nominally secular culture with the truth of the Catholic faith in the person of Jesus Christ.

Three points from each section remain with me as I write this. What is secularisation? First, we can say that secularisation is a Christian heresy, because it relies on Christian ideals and patrimony. It does not have an independent philosophical base, and so it is essentially a reductionist or relativist view of the Christian religion. Secondly, we can say that secularisation is a negative force in society (and we need not view this from a religious perspective to make this judgement) because, as the Bishop said, ‘it ring-fences religion from public discourse’. Secularisation refuses to allow the foundational aspects of Western society and civilisation to contribute to contemporary discourse about the state, future, and development of Western society and civilisation. Thirdly, secularisation does not create a utopian multi-cultural, multi-faith society, but a culture (and, I would argue, not a civilisation) based on increasing levels of polarisation between those of faith and the secularist agenda.

As a response to secularisation, these three ideas were put forward by the Bishop. First, that in a society where Christian practice has declined, but where (arguably) some Christian belief remains – something seen in public displays of religious sentiment – the response of the New Evangelisation is essential. We are not dealing with convinced atheists (despite the claims often made), but with people taken in by secularism, which we can understand as a Christian heresy. Secondly, the response must not simply be a programme of evangelisation, but a representation of the person of Jesus Christ. We must re-present Christ as the source and purpose of all human activity, and enable others to enter into a personal relationship with him, through the Church and through the sacraments as the vessels of God’s grace to the world. Thirdly, we must allow those who already have faith to build that experience of the person of Jesus Christ into a real and living relationship that draws others to God. Bishop Egan commended finding better ways to engage those who are already committed to the faith, and enabling them to become active practitioners and evangelists in their own particular place of work or environment.

We ended with these four practical suggestions, which can be easily adopted by the Priest and lay faithful alike:

  1. Daily adoration as a means of developing a relationship with Christ.
  2. Spiritual reading and study of contemporary culture and society.
  3. Fraternity as a means of aiding each other in deepening our faith.
  4. An attitude which reflects more visibly the joy and love of knowing Christ.

Let us pray that many will come to know Christ, and that we can be faithful to the work of evangelisation entrusted to each of us by virtue of our incorporation into Christ through baptism.

You can read a similar talk by Bishop Egan on this topic here.

Recovering the Gifts

17 Friday May 2013

Posted by Fr James Bradley in Evangelisation

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alpha, catechesis, catholicism, evangelicalism, evangelisation, kerygmatics, new evangelisation

Yesterday I was able to attend a meeting of priests at Holy Trinity, Brompton. Really. This week the HTB Leadership Conference was held at the Royal Albert Hall, and a number of Catholics who have had some experience of using the Alpha Course were in attendance. Chief amongst these was (as widely publicised) Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, who gave a lengthy interview to Nicky Gumbel. I watched some of this via the excellent video link from the RAH on Tuesday, and I was pleased to hear it being so widely acclaimed by many who were present in the hall and tweeting.

Last year, at the prompting of a few friends, I attended (somewhat reluctantly) a full day of the conference, and I must admit that many of my prejudices and concerns were compounded. Whilst I was encouraged to hear Rick Warren speak about the need all Christians have of the Church – which he warmly described as ‘the bride of Christ’ – I  got an overwhelming sense that these were people with a very young faith. One friend said it is was like hearing new Christians talk – very enthusiastic, but without much depth. Warren’s exciting ecclesial rhetoric was not met with an ecclesiology that Catholics would really recognise.

Yesterday was a little different. Talking to other priests I was impressed to hear that Alpha had been used with some success in a number of parishes. Most spoke about the course in terms of pre-evangelisation (which would tie in with the comment above), and as a means of simply welcoming people through the doors of a church building, in order to introduce them to Christ for the first time. Nobody can doubt the numerical success of Alpha, and if something of that can be given a place in a Catholic context, then I am open to it. Those we heard from spoke from within a strong (do I even need to say, orthodox?) Catholic context, and with a keen sense of how methods such as Alpha can be complementary to – and even become a way of expressing – a valid part of kerygmatic catechesis, leading later to in-depth and didactic sacramental preparation.

That, though, is the point I want to make. If Catholics are going to look to Protestant Evangelicals for help in methods of, and ideas for, evangelisation, then we have to look at how these methods can be moulded for a Catholic context, and not alter the Catholic pedagogical and catechetical method to fit the material, however tempting or successful the material might seem.

We believe that at the essence of the Christian life is communion with the Church; that Catholic faith and practice, that communion with the successor of St Peter, is not the cherry on the cake, but a fundamental part of life in Christ. As such, we believe that the fullness of life in Jesus Christ is fully and entirely present in the Catholic Church, and thus all that we need to fulfil the apostolic mission of evangelisation is given us already. We need to view how methods such as this can prompt us, not to create something new, but to recover the gifts of our tradition which have fallen into disuse.

How we do this, and to what extent the material we begin with needs to be altered or reformed, is a matter for further and wider discussion. There is nothing wrong with adopting things wholesale that are good, even if they have developed outside the fullness of communion with the Church. The experience of the Ordinariates tells us that ‘a spiritual richness exists in the different Christian denominations which is an expression of the one faith and a gift to share and to seek together in the Tradition of the Church’ (BXVI to CDF Plenary, January 2012).

The new evangelisation calls us to seek a new ardour and new methods in the proclamation of the unchanging truths of the gospel. This will obviously lead us to examine the ardour and methods of others, but it should also mean a radical rediscovery of the riches and beauty of the undiluted Catholic faith, and the traditions we have of proclaiming it.

The convert in me means I wants to state over and over again that most Catholics are seemingly unaware of these great gifts that our faith has to offer, not least to this wider Christian conversation about evangelisation. If we can recover these things, then it will be possible to help others to see how they can deepen their life with Christ through communion with the Church; it will draw others to see how their good and logical conclusions are, in fact, things that the Catholic Church has been doing consistently since the earth was still warm with the blood of Christ.

We should seek out new methods, then, and draw on others’ energy for a new ardour, but we should also rediscover the treasures already in our store, not simply as a means of our evangelisation of the world, but of our evangelisation of the Church, of ourselves, and of all those who call themselves Christian but (as yet) have not found the joy of the Church.

For more information about Alpha in a Catholic context, click here.

Homily for Lent V

17 Sunday Mar 2013

Posted by Fr James Bradley in Homily

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cross, eucharist, evangelisation, homily, lent, mass, pope francis

Given at St Mary’s, Cadogan Street, on the fifth Sunday of Lent:

When we journey without the Cross, when we build without the Cross, when we profess Christ without the Cross, we are not disciples of the Lord, we are worldly: we may be bishops, priests, cardinals, popes, but not disciples of the Lord.

Speaking to the Cardinals who elected him as the 265th Successor of Saint Peter, these were the words of our new Holy Father, Pope Francis, in the Sistine Chapel on Thursday evening. Amidst the excitement of the past few days, even weeks, in these first words, our Holy Father reminds us not simply of the primary purpose of this season of Lent – which now enters a more intensive final phase – but of the Christian life more broadly. Without the Cross, we cannot hope for the resurrection; without the Cross, our sins are not taken away.

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Reform or Renewal

16 Saturday Mar 2013

Posted by Fr James Bradley in Evangelisation

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evangelisation, faith, media, new evangelisation, reform, renewal, youth

This article first appeared in the Catholic Herald and can be found online here.

Anybody following coverage of the events of the last month or so could be forgiven for having a rather pessimistic view of the current state of the Church. With a tone of infallibility that would be denied the successor of Peter, certain elements have given the impression that the Church is failing, rotten to the very core. Not only, we are told, is the Church rife with administrative and financial problems, but the very message we purport to promote is at best ineffectual, and at worst damaging, even dangerous.

The medicine prescribed for this terminal decline is, apparently, reform: by which is meant, bringing the Church into line with the liberal secular consensus found in contemporary politics and society. Failure to do so, it seems, will mean that the Church ceases to be a vehicle of moral authority and a source of good in the world.

I am not naïve about the situation we find ourselves in, but this is not the answer. What such calls for reform fail to recognise is that what the Church presents is not simply one path among many – a moral option for those who like that kind of thing – but, rather, the revelation of the truth of the person of Jesus Christ. Thus, the sins of those proclaiming that truth, and the institutional failures which they perform, do not affect the Church’s objective moral authority, merely her credibility. That, I would suggest, is something that we can and must change.

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Attractive & Persuasive

15 Friday Mar 2013

Posted by Fr James Bradley in Pope Francis

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evangelisation, faith, Francis, new evangelisation, pope, reason

Our Holy Father, Pope Francis, spoke these words to the College of Cardinals following his election as the 265th Successor of Saint Peter, Bishop of Rome, and Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church:

Let us never give in to pessimism, to that bitterness that the devil offers us every day. Do not give in to pessimism and discouragement. We have the firm certainty that the Holy Spirit gives the Church with His mighty breath, the courage to persevere and also to seek new methods of evangelization, to bring the Gospel to the ends of the earth. The Christian truth is attractive and persuasive because it responds to the deep needs of human existence, convincingly announcing that Chirst is the only Saviour of the whole person and of all persons. This announcement is as valid today as it was at the beginning of Christianity when there was a great missionary expansion of the Gospel.

Conclave 2.0

12 Tuesday Mar 2013

Posted by Fr James Bradley in Uncategorized

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communications, conclave, evangelisation, fr robert barron, media, new evangelisation, social communications, social media

As the College of Cardinals gather to celebrate the Mass pro eligendo Papa in the basilica of Saint Peter, this morning, faithful from across the world will be tuning in to join them in prayer and in curiosity. Since the announcement of Pope Benedict’s resignation in early February, the Holy See Press Office, together with the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, Vatican Radio, CTV – the Vatican TV service, and other communications agencies for the Catholic Church, have been servicing a massive worldwide audience, keen to know every conceivable detail of the conclave process.

What is new, even since the election of Pope Benedict XVI in 2005, is that this is being done more and more through electronic media. Social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter are providing regular updates from the sources, as well as information from journalists. Most importantly, though, a new dialogue has formed between the Catholic faithful and the media, as snippets of information are gathered together from across the Twittersphere and from comment pieces on blogs and websites.

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WYD 2013 and Social Media

18 Sunday Nov 2012

Posted by Fr James Bradley in Uncategorized

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Benedict XVI, communications, evangelisation, media, new evangelisation, new media, social communications, social media, young people

Pope Benedict addresses young people ahead of World Youth Day in Rio next year:

I would like to emphasize two areas where your missionary commitment is all the more necessary. Dear young people, the first is the field of social communications, particularly the world of the internet. As I mentioned to you on another occasion: “I ask you to introduce into the culture of this new environment of communications and information technology the values on which you have built your lives. […] It falls, in particular, to young people, who have an almost spontaneous affinity for the new means of communication, to take on the responsibility for the evangelization of this ‘digital continent’” (Message for the 43rd World Communications Day, 24 May 2009). Learn how to use these media wisely. Be aware of the hidden dangers they contain, especially the risk of addiction, of confusing the real world with the virtual, and of replacing direct and personal encounters and dialogue with internet contacts.

Full text here.

Pope Benedict on liturgical beauty and evangelisation

17 Saturday Nov 2012

Posted by Fr James Bradley in Uncategorized

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ars celebranda, Benedict XVI, eucharist, evangelisation, liturgy, reform of the reform

In his address to a group of French bishops during their Ad Limina visit today, Pope Benedict made the following remarks regarding the Sacred Liturgy (Original French here):

As the Council recalls, the liturgical action of the Church is also a part of her contribution to the civilizing task (cf. Gaudium et spes n. 58, 4). The liturgy is indeed the celebration of the central event of human history, the redemptive Sacrifice of Christ. By this, it testifies to the love with which God loves mankind, it testifies that human life has a meaning and that [man] is called by vocation to take part in the glorious life of the Trinity. Mankind needs this testimony. It needs to perceive, by way of the liturgical celebrations, that the Church is conscious of the Lordship of God and of the dignity of man. It has the right to be able to discern, beyond the limitations that will always characterize her rites and ceremonies, that Christ “is present in the sacrifice of the Mass, and in the person of the minister” (cf. Sacrosanctum Concilium, n. 7). Aware of the concern which you have surrounding your liturgical celebrations, I encourage you to cultivate the art of celebration, to help your priests in this sense, and to work ceaselessly in the liturgical formation of seminarians and faithful. Respect for the establishes norms expresses love and fidelity to the Church’s faith, to the treasure of grace that she protects and passes on; the beauty of the celebrations, much more than innovations and subjective adaptations, is what makes the work of evangelization durable and efficacious.

(h/t Rorate Caeli for the translation)

The most powerful expression of the new evangelization

27 Saturday Oct 2012

Posted by Fr James Bradley in Uncategorized

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Benedict XVI, catholicism, evangelisation, liturgy, new evangelisation, synod of bishops

From the thirty-eight propositions of the XIIIth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in Rome, October 2012:

The worthy celebration of the Sacred Liturgy, God’s most treasured gift to us, is the source of the highest expression of our life in Christ (cf. Sacrosanctum concilium, 10). It is, therefore, the primary and most powerful expression of the new evangelization. God desires to manifest the incomparable beauty of his immeasurable and unceasing love for us through the Sacred Liturgy, and we, for our part, desire to employ what is most beautiful in our worship of God in response to his gift. In the marvelous exchange of the Sacred Liturgy, by which heaven descends to earth, salvation is at hand, calling forth repentance and conversion of heart (cf. Mt 4:17; Mk 1:15).

Evangelization in the Church calls for a liturgy that lifts the hearts of men and women to God. The liturgy is not just a human action but an encounter with God which leads to contemplation and deepening friendship with God. In this sense, the liturgy of the Church is the best school of the faith.

Read them all here.

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