No one in Athens had in fact ever heard of Jesus and especially of his resurrection, a concept entirely alien to Greek culture, which understood the concept of immortality instead, thanks to Platonism, and in some cases even the concept of reincarnation, thanks to Pythagorism. The introduction of foreign gods, for a religion like the Greek one — which was largely a civil religion, one founded on the worship of the gods of the polis — was almost a crime. We should not forget that this was what Socrates had been accused of and sentenced to death.
So they led Paul to the Areopagus, the hill that was the headquarters of the supreme court of Athens, and invited him to explain his doctrine clearly. The strategy adopted by Paul emerges clearly from the beginning of his speech. There is no reason to doubt the historicity of this statement, which reveals a very natural concern in those practicing a polytheistic religion, namely the fear of unknown gods and the fact of not wanting to antagonize them.
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This is not a simple captatio benevolentiae , as is often said, but a strategic choice made by the Apostle in order to begin with an approach shared by his listeners themselves, in this case with polytheistic, i. Straight after this first move, however, Paul completely changes his reference point, because he states: Moreover, in the Letter to the Romans , as you know, Paul says that the visible things made by God, that is, precisely the cosmic order, show His invisible perfections and thus make Him somewhat knowable to men, regardless of their faith.
They had to point as well to natural knowledge of God and to the voice of conscience in every human being. In his speech to the Athenians, the debate against idolatry appears immediately after Paul quotes Aratus, when he says: The implication of this argument is that we humans are not matter but spirit, that is — as the Greek philosophers said — intelligence nous. In fact, both Plato and Aristotle repeatedly declared that man is intelligence nous , that intelligence is the divine element theion present in man and that God is essentially intelligence.
The author of the Acts refers to the second part more briefly but there is no reason to assume that it was less important. At this point he explicitly presents the Christian message, i. It is the whole Christian message, revealed to all men, but acceptable only through faith. The first path of evangelization, which went from reason to faith, now follows the second path, from faith to reason. But a careful reading shows that the text does not say that. The text speaks of a division among the listeners, produced by the announcement of the resurrection, that is, the divinity of Jesus.
In fact, the concept of resurrection, as we said earlier, was totally alien to Greek culture, and as such was met by some with derision. The believers include a member of the Areopagus, Dionysius, that is, an important figure, presumably of great learning and authority, and a woman named Damaris, i. The author probably makes these remarks to indicate the variety of those who believed, and therefore the universality of the accession to faith. Indeed, it brings together two complementary and alternative ways of presenting religion, one that goes from reason to faith and one that goes from faith to reason.
The first, as St. Thomas says, must precede the second: Resurrection, for example, would be absurd without a God who, having created the world, is omnipotent and therefore can also raise people from the dead. The path that starts from reason, therefore, does not compel us to believe, as proven by the fact that some did not believe Paul, although they presumably shared his appeals to the god of philosophers, who was their god, the god of the Greek philosophers.
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This path, however, allows one to believe, clears the field of any possible obstacle to faith and opens, as it were, a space for faith, as evidenced by the fact that some others, after hearing the specifically Christian message, the appeal to faith, believed. Everything becomes clearer for those who adhere to faith: Thus, as St Thomas always says: Since the first route is based on reason, which is possessed by everyone, it is in a way binding for everyone, even if not everyone is then willing to use reason or knows how to use it properly.
Proof of this is the fact that the Greek philosophers managed to attain it without the help of any revelation. The Greek philosophers, in fact, came to conceive of a God, creator and lord of heaven and earth, and a man who is intelligence, i. Today this path consists in showing that reason, constituted mainly by science, does not deem absurd, i. Since the second path is based on faith, it logically presupposes the first — not necessarily in chronological order — since faith would not be possible unless one had the concept of an absolute, transcendent and omnipotent God.
But this path is the result of free choice, because faith is an act of freedom. It is not required by reason, because after admitting the existence of an absolute and transcendent God — as many in fact admit today — one might not believe that He has saved men through His Son — as many today do not believe.
However, faith is made possible by reason, that is, it is shown as not impossible, not absurd, not irrational, as it would be if reason were to demonstrate that there is no transcendent God and that the world can be explained entirely by itself. Ratzinger, Introduction to Christianity , Communio Books, , Academia de Medicina San Lucas — Chile. Le style missionnaire est devenu plus direct.
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MC et internationale F. Comme le disait Jean-Paul II: Comme le dit Saint Jean: Elle est acte de foi. Comprendre cette nouvelle approche. Paris, Le Sarment, pp. La documentation catholique , no. Lettre apostolique Novo milleniio ineunte 6 janvier , in La documentation catholique , no. Discours scientifique et parole de foi. La sanctification du travail. Et, pour ce faire, chacun dispose de quatre atouts: We have no employees but have lots of volunteers. But anybody can deposit or withdraw, if not instantly for the latter, just a couple of days notice will do.
The start was rather providential. In September , an oncologist friend, Dr. Carlos Dy asked for help to collect rosaries for a big activity for cancer patients, survivors, and families of living as well as demised.
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We called up relatives, friends, even our patients. In about 2 weeks, I personally delivered to his clinic rosaries of various materials, sizes, and colors. So we thought everything was through. But we still received calls and deliveries of rosaries to our home and clinic. By December, piles of grocery bagfuls eased out space in our bedroom. Teachers were so appreciative and asked for regular supplies for catechetical purposes as well.
We advised our donors not only to give, but to ask from us when they see a need in public grade or high schools in their area. From this idea the word Rosary Bank was coined. I talked on the Rosary Bank. At the end of my talk, I announced over the air my contact numbers and clinic address as pick-up and delivery points of rosaries and leaflets. Before leaving, I approached Ms. Arias and asked if it was possible to ask for back issues of their books and magazines. It was a big YES! All for free, on a pick-up basis. Were we overwhelmed with initial haul of 3 vans full of catholic reading materials!
These now come on a regular basis. We are now continually deluged with requests for rosaries, many times over than donations. We never turn down requests- they are always by the hundreds, biggest single- Some public schools, poor parishes, by the thousands, but on staggered dates as they hold first communions and catechetical activities by batches. They are offered optionally, but are always consumed as some patients would ask for extras for a family member or two. They pick up materials from me and bring in completed products in continuous cycle.
Secretaries of doctors in the hospitals volunteered too. We make them nonstop as time permits. Sky blue chalk beads rosaries are our trademark. As of this writing, we have distributed not less than 50, rosaries. We learned that time and finances are not ultimate factors in spreading the faith. But managing them is the essence. Ours is a very minute contribution in evangelization and re-evangelization, but we have vowed to take this apostolate unto our deathbeds. Su valor resulta de su existencia. Somos custodios y servidores de la vida humana en su totalidad y testimonios de la esperanza en el mundo.
La familia natural es anterior al Estado. La cultura de la muerte, en vigor en una gran parte de nuestro mundo, ha desintegrado el sentido de nuestra existencia. The term New Evangelisation needs to be understood clearly before it becomes possible for this evangelisation to become a reality. There are definitive moments and words in time which bring to mind, without effort, the author of those words. However, New Evangelisation in the thought of Blessed John Paul II is his response for the urgent need to evangelise but to evangelise within the new realities of this time..
This New Evangelisation preaches the Gospel in the milieu, language and signs of the modern era and reiterates the Truth so that it is understood by the listeners of this day. The first two millennia saw the preaching of Gospel both in suffering and persecution but also in joy.
And thus the New Evangelisation. The evangelical nature of the church is its raison d etre and could be said that this impetus finds its genesis in God Himself Who reveals and speaks about Himself through all of creation and definitively through His beloved Son Jesus. Evangelisation does this; it speaks concretely about God, life, creation, sin, redemption, and these He continues to speak about through the Holy Spirit via the Church whose work is to bring a change to a disordered world.
To change the culture from profane to divine. The New Evangelisation takes as its role model the incarnation. Jesus entered a culture and began the change. The New Evangelisation needs to do the same. With this vision, the conscience of society can be galvanised towards sharing anew the message of the Gospel. The family, life, love, can renew each generation and with each generation God speaks again a language of confidence and continuation. The Church remains in the world as a visible sign of the Holy Spirit who speaks of Jesus through the Gospel to address the prevailing anti God anti Life ideologies of the modern era.
The saving work of Christ needs to be heard again with vigour and hope, most especially by a humanity of multi millions who have abandoned the laws written on the human heart Jer In the context of this society, the most vital need is to hear that Jesus has loved life so much that He took on human life to be in solidarity with the human being and because of this He has engaged with the culture, and desires to change it from one of death to one of life.
In conclusion, a new need has arisen in our day, a need for a New Evangelisation most especially to the marginalised by the anti God lie anti life lie. To those who are consciously and determinedly attempting to determine end of life because of eugenic mentality. To those who have ceased listening to the voice of hope because the culture of death has deafened their hearing.
St Paul Publications, Dwyer Australia Pty Ltd. Dwyer, Australia Pty Ltd. Dwyer Australia Pty Ltd The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents. Et pour nous sauver! Mais, alors que pouvons-nous faire? Evangelization is the first task of the Church and a basic duty for every Christian. From the Great Commission that Jesus gives at the end of each of the synoptic Gospels, to the call for a new evangelization, issued by Pope Paul VI in his encyclical Evangelii nuntiandi , and renewed by Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI, evangelization — the public sharing of and witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ — is indispensable for the life of each individual Christian and for the Church.
The laity, in particular, must also work to earn a living, take care of their family members, and serve the common good.
Still, all of these many activities are parts of a human life, the overall purpose of which is to receive and then reflect the grace of God. People who work in the Catholic health care ministry have both the opportunity and the duty to evangelize. Patients who are injured, ill, or dying, as well as their family members, need to have the burdens of pain, sorrow, and mortality lifted with an authentic expression of service and love.
To draw attention to the centrality of evangelization for physicians and health care professionals, the Catholic Medical Association is dedicating its 81 st Annual Educational Conference, to be held in St. Paul, Minnesota from September , to the theme: A Witness to Hope: Medicine and the New Evangelization. Speakers will address a series of important topics, including the thought of Pope John Paul II, the role of priests and religious, new ways to use the media, natural family planning, and renewing Catholic universities.
Mothers and their babies are among the poorest of the poor and are the most vulnerable physically. Hundreds of thousands of mothers die in developing countries giving birth to new life. They suffer the most in times of economic crisis. In rich countries mothers suffer spiritually, physically, emotionally see no other solution than to destroy their unborn babies.
And he is called by grace to a covenant with his Creator, to offer him a response of faith and love that no other creature can give. A basic principle is that each human life is therefore sacred and is the starting point for a moral vision for society. Human beings are meant to live together freely giving of themselves and entering into communion with other persons. Thus an emphasis must be placed on the fundamental rights of every person; the right to life, to marry and found a family, to religious liberty, to work and to associate; all necessary for human flourishing.
These imply access to food, clean water, shelter, health care, and education. Motherhood has special significance in every culture as it the most complete expression of the special vocation of women. In some developing countries motherhood is taken very seriously and mothers are revered and considered to be a central part of the family. The woman as mother is entrusted with the responsibility of bearing and bringing to birth human beings.
The woman has her own way of existing for others, of making a gift of self to others, and she is obliged to resist domination by men; she does not lose her original femininity in doing that. Motherhood implies a special openness to the new person. She is entrusted with human beings and has received love in order to give love n. Women are more capable than men of paying attention to another person, and motherhood develops this predisposition in them even more n.
Motherhood is therefore the gift to humanity of such fundamental importance that it must be cherished and served in special ways appreciating its dignity as the key is to healthy families and societies. It is estimated that million women conceive world-wide each year and the UN estimates the number of pregnancies artificially aborted annually to be 30 — 50 millions.
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The difference in the risk of dying during pregnancy and childbirth, between rich and poor countries is stark e. No other development indicators show such disparity between rich and poor countries and the gap is not closing. This neglect is not due to lack of funding but rather its wrong allocation, which is to reduce the number of children mothers bear rather, than making pregnancy and childbirth safer. The causes of maternal deaths are well known, are readily preventable and can be successfully treated at comparable low cost. Proper measures, availability of skilled personnel at the time of birth and prompt emergency obstetrical care if things go wrong, may save the lives of 90 per cent of the mothers.
The prevalence of maternal deaths is larger in rural areas, small villages, during the last trimester of pregnancy, during childbirth and, most of all, in the first week following delivery. Not only are the lives of these women abruptly ended but also those of their newborn babies, and the chance of survival of their young children decreases dramatically. Every year about one million children are left motherless and vulnerable because of maternal deaths.
Maternal morbidity following delivery is extensive and under recognized.
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It is estimated that for every maternal death, 30 more mothers suffer long-term damage to their health, severe and long — lasting illnesses or disabilities caused by complications during pregnancy or childbirth, e. World-wide estimates are that 2 million young and forgotten mothers are living with this problem, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa, suffering also from depression and social rejection.
These injuries are readily preventable by ensuring access to essential obstetrical care. Fistulae are treatable with specialised surgery and nursing care. Many other mothers are equally victims of serious harm caused by Omission as in the case of neglect during pregnancy and childbirth. The poor, of whom mothers and their babies are among the most vulnerable, have a claim upon our consciences and upon the resources and services of national governments and of the world generally.
John Paul II, Sollicitudo rei socialis, n. On this basis civil governments, as well as other public and private institutions, should consider their policies and their efforts, or the lack of these, to meet the health-care needs of these very marginalized persons. Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. Halfdan Mahler, commented in Nairobi in ;. Present policies of governments and of other public and private institutions to meet these needs of the most marginalised are inadequate.
It has been recognised by the United Nations and by the international community generally that, of the eight Millennium Development Goals, the fifth, pertaining to maternal health, has been the most neglected. This failure has been due both to a lack of political will to attend to these matters as such and to the diversion of resources into abortion and birth control under the aegis of maternity health programmes, including those of the United Nations, which has been at the expense of essential obstetrical care.
The Catholic Church has a long history of providing maternity care, but its continuation in that ministry is threatened by elements of internal dissent and by governments and health and population agencies which are dismissive of its teaching on human life, procreation and motherhood.
Discriminatory policies, including funding, by governments and other agencies, violate the right of Catholic and other health professionals to practise in accordance with their consciences and undermine Catholic hospitals and non-governmental organisations in their provision of faith-based and morally upright maternity services. Every mother must be allowed and enabled to welcome the gift of her child. Every mother has a right to respect for her dignity, religious, moral, social, and cultural values, and the right to be free from every form of unjust discrimination or coercion, during pregnancy, childbirth and afterwards.
Every mother and every child has the right to the treatment and care needed to try to ensure the survival of each of them during pregnancy and childbirth; nothing must ever be done deliberately and directly which causes or which is intended to cause the death or either of them, nor must anything morally upright be deliberately omitted in order to provoke the death of either; essential obstetrical care must always be provided during pregnancy, in childbirth and afterwards.
Every mother has the right to comprehensive prenatal care, including effective health education in preparation for safe delivery. Every mother has the right to refuse prenatal diagnosis which is not intended and directed to ensuring the survival and well-being of the child she is carrying in her womb at the time and she has the right, in all circumstances to reject coercion and other pressure to procure an abortion.
Every mother has the right to safe, clean, adequately equipped facilities in which to deliver her child. Every mother has the right to skilled midwifery care during delivery. Every mother has the right to specialist obstetrical care when complications occur. Every mother has the right to post-partum care, including counseling and support for breast feeding, morally upright, natural family planning information and advice.
Every mother has the right to retain her fertility and not to be subjected to coercion to be medically or surgically sterilisation. To appreciate the importance of motherhood in our contemporary world those in whose professional expertise this responsibility lies must envisage four complementary approaches. This is what the law, society and the Church rightly expect of them. Motherhood is foundational for the flourishing of every society, and for every individual community, which is a constituent part of that society.
This involves compassion for all mothers and their families, believers or not, who suffer to beget and bring up their children. To apply the Charter additional themes of Right to Life, Subsidiarity, Solidarity, and the Common Good must be addressed in order to make it a reality.
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