Australians to celebrate Congress for the New Evangelization

Sydney, Australia, Jun 6, 2009 / 00:12 am

The Archdiocese of Sydney will celebrate the its Congress for the New Evangelization July 18-26 as part of the first anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Australia for World Youth Day last July.

According to Fides, the event will take place at the Cathedral of St. Mary and will help the faithful “to experience anew the call of the Gospel and to show to all the abundance of the gifts that Christ has given to the Church.”

During the week, there will also be a special “Christ in the City” mission, especially designed for youth to get involved in evangelizing in the area.

The archdiocese described the congress in a statement as “a coming together of people from all parts of the Catholic Church in order to focus upon the great movement which is happening in the Church in our era - that which John Paul II and Benedict XVI have called 'the New Evangelization' - a movement in which the Church is being renewed upon the basis of the great Commission which she received from her Lord ... .”
 
The idea for the Congress came from the words of Pope Benedict XVI in Sydney last year: “Empowered by the Spirit, and drawing upon faith's rich vision, a new generation of Christians is being called to help build a world in which God's gift of life is welcomed, respected and cherished - not rejected, feared as a threat and destroyed...the Lord is asking you to be prophets of this new age, messengers of his love, drawing people to the Father and building a future of hope for all humanity.”