Spirituality and
Theology for
The Vincentian Family
Part I
Richard Benson, C.M.
Vincentian Spirituality and
Theology
Vincentian Spirituality
• Is there such a thing as a specifically
“Vincentian” spirituality?
– Take 15 minutes and describe the unique
characteristics of Vincentian spirituality.
Four Themes in the Spirituality of
St. John Gabriel Perboyre
• Devotion to
Providence
• Love for the Mission
• Love for the
Community
• Devotion to the
Blessed Virgin Mary
Vincent and Louise
• Persons of:
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–
–
–
–
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Faith incarnate
Prayer
Action
Tradition
The Church
WHAT OTHER IDENTIFIERS CAN WE USE TO
CHARACTERIZE THEIR CHARISM?
The Vincentian Vision
• Vincentian Christ:
– Brings good news to the poor
• Vincentian Anthropology
– Imago Dei
• Vincentian Ecclesiology
– The People of God on pilgrimage
• Vincentian Morality
– “Love covers a multitude of sins” 1 Pt 4: 8
What is Evangelization?
• Take 15 minutes and describe
“Evangelization.”
Evangelization
• Evangelizare: To
bring the Good News
– Jesus Christ has a
Mission
– The Mission of Christ
has a Church, the
Church does not
have a mission.
Two Essential Elements of
Authentic Vincentian Faith
• Gaudium
– JOY
• Spes
– HOPE
Authentic Vincentians
• Are marked with:
– Hope and Joy
Jesus’ Mandate
• Go therefore and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all
that I have commanded you; and Lo, I
am with you always, until the close of the
age.” Mt 28: 19-20
Vatican II
• Having been divinely sent to the nations
that she might be ‘the universal
sacrament of salvation,’ the Church, in
obedience to the command of her
founder and because it is demanded by
her own essential universality, strives to
preach the Gospel to all.” Ad Gentes, 1
Purpose of the Church’s Mission
• The ultimate purpose of evangelization is
none other than to make all people share
in the communion between the Father
and the Son in their Spirit of love.
– John Paul II, Redemptoris Missio, 23
Motivation for Evangelization
• It is from God’s love for all people that
the Church in every age receives both
the obligation and the vigor of her
missionary dynamism, “for the love of
Christ urges us on.”
– Catechism of the Catholic Church, 851
Evangelization through Time
• “This mission continues and, in the course of
history, unfolds the mission of Christ, who was
sent to evangelize the poor; so the Church,
urged on by the Spirit of Christ, must walk the
road Christ himself walked, a way of poverty
and obedience, of service and self-sacrifice
even to death, a death from which he emerged
victorious by his resurrection.” Ad Gentes, 5
Vincentian Evangelization
• To bring the Good
News to the Poor!
Vincentian
Spirituality
Part II
New Evangelization?
• “Today more than ever the Word of God will be
unable to be proclaimed and heard unless it is
accompanied by the witness of the power of
the Holy Spirit, working within the action of
Christians in the service of their brothers and
sisters, at the points in which their existence
and their future are at stake.” Paul VI,
Octogesima Adveniens, 51
The term “the new
Evangelization”
• Coined by Paul VI, 1975: Evangelii
Nuntiandi:
– A renewed emphasis and enthusiasm in
preaching the gospel to non-Christians
– A new response to the new challenges to
the Church’s mission created by
contemporary culture
– E.G. New Responses to New Questions
The New Evangelization and
John Paul II
• Called for “a new evangelization that
would be new in ardor, new in methods,
and new in expression.” Ecclesia in
America, 6, 66
• Under JP II, “evangelization” moves from
“ad gentes” (classical evangelization) to
“completing the mission of Christ”
Classical Evangelization
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•
•
•
•
Making converts
Baptizing non-believers
Teach the catechism
Learn “about” Jesus
Instruction about
“doctrines” and
“devotions”
• “Baptism” completes the
goal of evangelization
The New Evangelization
• “Not a matter of merely passing on
doctrine, but rather of a personal and
profound meeting with the savior.” JP II,
1991
• One cannot be an Evangelizer without a
continuing encounter with Christ. RBcm,
2007
8 Characteristics of the New
Evangelization
• 1. Participates in
completing the mission
of Christ.
• 2. Our own deeper
conversion
• 3. Focus on those who
are marginal members
of the Church.
• 4. Focus on those who
have left the Church
• 5. Re-evangelization of
“Christian” cultures.
• 6. New methods, e.g.
witness, new technology
• 7. Focus on the laity,
evangelization is the
mission of every
baptized Christian.
• 8. Parallel to but distinct
from “classical”
evangelization.
Pope John Paul II:
• The need for a new
evangelization helps the
Church to understand
that today more than
ever the Church’s social
message will gain
credibility more
immediately from the
witness of action than as
a result of its internal
logic and consistency,”
• Centesimus Annus, 57
How is “new evangelization”
new?
• New
– Encounter with
Christ
– Relational
– Begins with self
– Is Church centered
• Old
– Encounter with the
Catechism
– Rule centered
– Begins with others
– Targets unbaptized
The New Evangelization and
the Vincentian Family
• Spend 15 minutes to
develop one strategy
for New
Evangelization and
the Vincentian
Family.