Building on faith

Published: 15 January 2012

Guiding hand: Pope Benedict XVI walks in the Sistine Chapel last Sunday. He wants the Year of Faith, which runs from October 11 this year to November 24, 2013, to help the church focus its attention on "Jesus Christ and the beauty of having faith in him"
Photo: AAP/AP

VATICAN CITY (CNS): In an effort to help Catholics have a better and correct understanding of their faith and become authentic witnesses to Christ, the Holy See has issued a list of pastoral recommendations for celebrating the upcoming Year of Faith.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith released a "note" on January 7 outlining the aims of the special year and ways bishops, dioceses, parishes and communities can promote "the truth of the faith," the congregation said.

It also announced that within the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelisation, a secretariat would be set up to suggest and coordinate different initiatives.

Among highlights of the year will be the XIII General Assembly of the Ordinary Synod of Bishops, convoked by Pope Benedict XVI in October 2012, dedicated to The New Evangelisation for the Transmission of the Christian Faith.

Pilgrimages of the faithful to the See of Peter have also been encouraged.

Pope Benedict XVI wanted the Year of Faith, which runs from October 11 this year to November 24, 2013, to help the church focus its attention on "Jesus Christ and the beauty of having faith in him," the note also said.

"The Church is well aware of the problems facing the faith" and recognises that without a revitalisation of faith rooted in a personal encounter with Jesus, "then all other reforms will remain ineffective," it said, citing Pope Benedict's December 22 address to the Roman Curia.

The year is meant to "contribute to a renewed conversion to the Lord Jesus and to the rediscovery of faith, so that the members of the Church will be credible and joy-filled witnesses to the risen Lord, capable of leading those many people who are seeking it to the door of faith," the note said.

Critical to renewing one's faith and being a credible witness is having a firm and correct understanding of Church teaching, it said.

Because the year's start in October coincides with the anniversaries of the opening of the Second Vatican Council in 1962 and the promulgation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church in 1992, it would be an auspicious occasion to make the work of the council and the catechism "more widely and deeply known," it said.

Some recommendations for bishops, dioceses and parishes include ensuring there be better quality catechetical materials that conform to Church teaching; promoting Catholic principles and the significance of Vatican II in the mass media; hosting events that bring artists, academics and others together to renew dialogue between faith and reason; offering penitential celebrations and putting a focus on liturgy, especially the Eucharist, it said.

Other initiatives during the Year of Faith include:
- An invitation for the faithful to turn with particular devotion to Mary, model of the Church, who "shines forth to the whole community of the elect as the model of virtues".

- The organising of many symposia, conferences and large gatherings through to the international level to encourage encounters with authentic witness to the faith and to promote understanding of the contents of Catholic doctrine.

- In preparation for the Year of Faith, all of the faithful are invited to read closely and meditate upon Pope Benedict XVI's Apostolic Letter, Porta fidei.

- Educators in centres of theological studies, seminaries and Catholic universities should be encouraged in their teaching to demonstrate the relevance within their various disciplines of the contents of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and of the implications derived from them.

- It is hoped there will be a renewed commitment in parishes to the distribution of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and of other resources appropriate for families, which are true domestic churches and the primary setting for the transmission of the faith.