Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization, will present the Annual Pope Benedict XVI Lecture at Saint Vincent at 3 p.m. Tuesday, February 18 in the Fred M. Rogers Center. He is a specialist in the theology of Hans Urs von Balthasar, and has taught fundamental theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University and the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome. He is the author of The New Evangelization: Responding to the Challenge of Indifference.
Archbishop Fisichella is a former Rector of the Pontifical Lateran University and auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Rome. He has also served as the President of the Pontifical Academy for Life. He is currently a member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Pontifical Council for Culture, the Pontifical Council for Social Communications and the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses.
The thrust for a new evangelization has been one of the most important actions of the Pontificate of Benedict XVI. Rooted in the Second Vatican Council, the expression was used for the first time by Pope John Paul II in 1979 to signify the desire to announce the Christian message with greater impact and freshness. The Archbishop’s book identifies the challenges and the great task to which the Church is called.
“To be an evangelizer is a vocation so that all people may be able to hear the Gospel of Jesus,” Archbishop Fisichella has said.“That vocation is born on the very day of our baptism and it is a vocation to every believer in Christ to make of himself or herself a credible bearer of the good news encapsulated in his teaching. To be sent, then, is intrinsic to the baptismal vocation: this implies for all Christians that they assume this responsibility, each one in their own person, without any possibility of delegating it to others. The proclamation of the Gospel cannot be delegated to others; rather, it requires the awareness specific to the believer that he or she is to be a bearer of Christ wherever they go.”
For reservations call 724-805-2177.
