It is Christ crucified who present attracts fresh people to the Church in France – says Bishop Matthieu Rouge, the average of the Diocese of Nanterre in Paris. In La Croix's journal, it refers to the unprecedented achievements of the Church over the Seine: a fast increase in the number of adult baptisms, crowds on the liturgy of Ash Wednesday and Palm Sunday, the evidence share of Paris advanced school students in the pilgrimage to Lourdes.
“I will draw everyone to me”
Bishop Rougé believes that these achievements are not so much a consequence of the apostolic initiatives of priests and faithful, but of God himself, simply by grace. What Jesus himself foretold is fulfilled: “And erstwhile I am exalted above the earth, I will draw all of them to myself.”
Neophyte Testimony: The Mystery of the Cross
This is evidenced by letters that neophytes send to their bishops, asking to be admitted to the Church. "These are frequently testimonies of people who have been hurt in their lives, sometimes very badly, but have besides found light in Jesus' torture and compassion," writes Bishop Rougé. He admits that he is impressed by how much these people who discover religion or return to it experienced evangelization, not by demagoguery or convincing arguments, but by the mystery of the Cross.
These testimonies are our call to conversion
According to the French bishop, we request to perceive to these testimonies in order to realize God’s gift, the call to conversion, which those who ask for baptism are baptized for us. In the planet of wars, among so many wounded people, Christians will be "pilgrimages of hope" only erstwhile we hold our sight in Jesus, who on the cross reveals the fact of sin to deliver us from it, and with his glorious wounds transforms the wounds of our mutilated humanity," writes the French bishop.
The Church Needs Catechumenity
Bishop Matthieu Rougé considers the Church present to be called upon to become increasingly “catechumenical”. This means that his local communities are to be the places that they accept and introduce into the essence of faith, into the Passover mystery, in order to proclaim the Gospel of salvation to the world.
A fresh Face of Catholicism in France
According to Bishop of Nanterre, France, a fresh face of the Church is emerging today. The majority Catholicism is disappearing, which, with all its advantages, was sometimes Catholicism by habit, and fresh Catholicism of belonging, little numerous, but significant, powerfully rooted and creative. Bishop Rougé notes that this fresh Catholicism includes different environments and sensitivities, both traditionalist and Christian, who are keenly committed to mediocre or integral ecology.
Source: Krzysztof Bronk, Vatican News PL /KAI
