In the Catholic Church over recent years there has been much talk of evangelisation, the New Evangelisation and, more recently, of Evangelical Catholicism. These phrases are often used as slogans, but the questions to which they are answers are important beyond the Catholic Church.
The question is how to hand on a tradition, whether that be of a church or a nation. In the Catholic Churches of the West it has long been recognised as an acute challenge. When societies were Catholic, or Catholics formed a cohesive cultural group, the ascription of young Catholics to the Catholic Church could be taken for granted. It was part of communal identity.
In Western societies today communal allegiances are weak. They are not automatically handed on but need to be chosen. Comparatively few young people born into Catholic families choose to commit to their church.
That is why preaching the gospel (evangelisation), a phrase previously used mainly of missionaries going into non-Christian societies, came to name a task for Catholics in nominally Christian societies. If people were to choose to be or stay Catholic, faith had to be commended as a personal choice.
Towards the beginning of the new millennium Pope John Paul II spoke of a new evangelisation. He emphasised the importance of a personal commitment and relationship with Christ within the Church. Out of the happiness found in that commitment would follow the desire to share faith with others. A church whose members had such a strong commitment, too, would be a vibrant body that could contribute effectively to building a better society.
Evangelical Catholicism is a more recent description of that deep personal faith in Christ, nourished by prayer and the scriptures and lived faithfully in the Catholic Church. It is an attractive personal ideal.
Many Catholics have had reservations about the boosting of New Evangelisation and its variants. It often functioned as a slogan, avoiding reflection on the reasons why the Church was unattractive to young people.
By many of its advocates, among them George Weigel, it has also been presented in sharp opposition to other forms of Catholic membership, particularly to liberal Catholicism and cultural Catholicism. These were seen as only marginally or selectively Catholic and as unable to encourage a personal commitment to Christ.
Central to some presentations of Evangelical Catholicism, too, was a strong and narrow focus on Catholic teaching on issues of life and sexuality. Commitment to the poor, to peace, to social