Summary of the Concepts

175 disposal what is important to their audience, must give the news that is quick, complete and comprehensive. “Those who have to keep the public informed must give the news quickly if it is to appear fresh and interesting.”³⁶⁶ In so doing, they are fulfilling the obligation to inform and communicate, which can be rightly called freedom of communication. This exchange of ideas and interchange of information builds up the society. But at the same time, they must not give way to the temptation of making the news sensational and thereby distorting the facts and confusing the recipients. But recipients also have the right and duty to reject information when and if they feel the news content has been compromised in the course of passing on the information. Thus;

The recipients of information…should protest whenever omissions or distortions occur.

They are to protest whenever events have been reported out of context or in a biased manner. They are to protest whenever the significance of events has been wildly exaggerated or underplayed.³⁶⁷

The right, however, to information is not limitless. It has to be reconciled with other existing rights. There is right of privacy which guarantees private life for individuals and families.

There is also right of secrecy, which obtains if necessity or professional duty or even the common good itself requires it. Whenever public good is at stake, discretion and careful judgement becomes invaluable.

176 2. To what extent and in what way is that evangelical force capable of really transforming

the people of this century?

3. What methods should be followed in order that the power of the Gospel may have its effects? In other words, does the church find itself better equipped to proclaim the Gospel and to put it into people’s hearts with conviction, freedom of spirit and effectiveness?

a. THE PRESENT STATE OF THE PROCLAMATION OF THE GOOD NEWS

The presentation or proclamation of the Gospel message is not an optional contribution for the Church. It is a duty incumbent on her by the command of our Lord Jesus Christ, so that people can believe and be saved. This message is indeed necessary, it is unique, it cannot be replaced, it merits that the apostles consecrate to it all his time and energies, and to sacrifice for it, if necessary, his own life.³⁷⁰ Through the mission of Jesus Christ, especially his special ministry to the poor, the church discovers her mandate. He communicated the Good News, not only by word of mouth but also by his lived example. His emphasis was proclamation of the Kingdom that eventually subjected everything else as “rest”. In this proclamation, he stressed the need for salvation by way of liberation from everything and anything that oppresses man, in this case sin and the Evil One. Christ carried out this task faithfully and committedly until his death. This salvation envisaged is eventually realised through a process called metanoia, a radical conversion and complete change of mind and heart. And this kingdom and salvation is open to everyone. Furthermore, this teaching of Christ was carried out first by word of mouth, such that the people exclaimed “there has never been anybody who has spoken like him (Jn 7:46). He also accompanied his preaching by signs and wonders which not only amazes the crowds but also drew them closer to him in order to see him, listen to him and be transformed by him.³⁷¹

Just like the command given to the twelve to go out and make disciples, the Church has received the mandate from Christ though the apostles and must communicate and spread it.

Thus the task of evangelising the whole word is the core mission of the church. Indeed,

“evangelising is the grace and vocation proper to the church, her deepest identity. She exists in

370 Paul VI, 1975, Evangelii Nuntiandi, op.cit.

371 Ibid.

177 order to evangelise.”³⁷² Therefore, the fathers in this document describe the church as born of the evangelising activity of Jesus Christ and the twelve; that the church is an evangelizer, but it begins by being evangelized herself; that the church is the depository of the Good News to be proclaimed; that the church having been sent and evangelised must herself send out evangelizers.

b. THE TRANSFORMING POWER OF THE GOOD NEWS

Evangelisation must and always has a relationship with the concrete realities in which man lives today, both personal and social. Thus evangelisation is explicitly aimed and adapted to the different situations in life; about the rights and duties of every human being; about family life without which personal growth and development is impossible; about life in society; about international life, peace, justice and development, which today is concentrated towards liberation in all its human forms. Particularly in the African continent, where famine, chronic diseases such as AIDS, Malaria, Tuberculosis, Infant mortality, illiteracy, poverty, injustices in international relations and especially in political colonialism still ravage the peoples, the church has the duty to proclaim the liberation and assisting in the birth of this liberation, of giving witness to it and ensure that it is complete. As the Synodal Fathers echo, such dimension of the work and mission of the church “is not foreign to evangelisation.”

There is definitely a link between evangelisation and human advancement. This is derivable from the fact that “the man who is to be evangelised is not an abstract being but is subject to social and economic questions. And then the natural question that follows is: “How can one proclaim the new commandment without promoting in justice and in peace the true and authentic development of man.”³⁷³ Thus, it is almost impossible to accept or even talk about evangelisation without touching on issues bordering on justice, liberation, development and peace in the world.

d. THE METHOD OF EFFECTIVELY PROCLAIMING THE POWER OF THE GOSPEL

The Synodal Father re-emphasized the importance attached to the modern means of social communication and that “they are capable of increasing almost indefinitely the area in which the Word of God is heard…they enable the Good News to reach millions of people.”³⁷⁴ Thus,

372 Ibid.

373 Ibid.

374 Ibid.

178 the Church can but make use of this ‘powerful’ and invaluable means of spreading the word of God to every nook and cranny of the earth, a task she received from Christ Himself because in them “she finds a modern and effective version of the pulpit.”

However, the fathers noted a challenge. How does this method penetrate the innermost conscience of the person which, in most cases, only the interpersonal contact can achieve? Can these modern means of mass communication supply this? Herein lies the need to ever appreciate the interpersonal contact in the communication or proclamation of the Good News.

Evangeli Nuntiandi within the context of Auchi Diocese reveals a lot. Within the ramification of the sacraments viz-a-viz evangelisation, the diocese has made tremendous applications of the fruits of the synod. The diocese of Auchi, originally a part of the older archdiocese of Benin, with the help of the principles of Inculturation, has since bore fruits especially with the lively celebration of the sacraments. Evangelisation, as envisaged and reflected in Evangeli Nuntiandi goes much more beyond just the preaching of the word, but encompasses even more in the lived experiences. There are increasing efforts to implement the thoughts as follows:

i. In the pious societies in the parishes, such as the Charismatic Renewal groups, Legion of Mary, Block Rosary crusade groups, St. Jude society and the likes, there are deliberate efforts to include in its activities some form of outreach³⁷⁵, some form of establishing contacts with backsliding Christians and non-Christian believers in search of ways of entering into dialogue. These have born fruits in many such parishes where such groups do exist. In such communities there is an observable growth of the number of faithful. A practical example is Assumption parish church, Udaba-Ekperi, where within the space of 10 years after its creation as a parish evangelisation activities there by the Catholic Charismatic renewal has shot up the number of parishioners from initial 2,500 to over 5,000 Catholics, a growth rate of 100%. This is remarkable considering the fact that about 50% of the 20,000 inhabitants of this particular community are Muslims and non-believers.

ii. The Basic Christian Community (BCC) or Small Christian Community (SCC), which shall be elaborated upon in chapter eight of this work, is a fruit of Evangelii Nuntiandi. In such communities, a small number of Christians,

375 Outreach is a word coined by some church pious societies to mean the deliberate activity created to establish contacts with non-Christians with a view to talking to them about Christ and the Good News. And in most cases, the end result of such programmes is the conversion of non-Christians into the Christian faith.

179 usually from a specific geographical location within the parish are constituted into a small Christian community. Such groups meet regularly to share the word of God and some even undertake outreach programmes as well. In the process, backsliding Christians who are supposed to be members of such community are won back. This kind of personal interest in members has led to not just a steady growth in the number of the faithful but also a deepening of the faith among members in the realisation that the sharing of the word of God should not end at the Sunday worship. In most parts of Auchi Diocese, such groups meet weekly. And in most cases, they end the day’s gathering and sharing with a Eucharistic celebration of the Mass, which usually adds a symbolic meaning to the group as a small but important part of the universal body of Christ.

iii. The document stressed on the effect and impact the person of the evangeliser has on how the Good News is perceived and received. It states: “The witness of life has become more than ever an essential condition for real effectiveness in preaching and precisely because of this, human beings are, to a certain extent, responsible for the progress of the Gospel that we proclaim.”³⁷⁶

Thus, the person involved in evangelisation and how it aids the efforts of evangelisation is unambiguous: The evangelisers must be the first reflection of the Good News they preach and produce the first fruits as witnesses. Within this context, emphasis on the quality of the training of pastoral agents, particularly priests and catechists has been redesigned in order to produce men and women high in knowledge and character. In Africa especially, the character of the person of the evangeliser has a much higher impact than possibly elsewhere. In Africa, one’s character is even more important that the words that emanate from his mouth. Thus, in order to have sufficient time to build the personality and character of priests and deacons, the period spent in formation has been increased from 7 to 9 years, while that of catechists (usually married) is increased from 2 to 3 years now.