AN ERA OF EVANGELICAL CATHOLICS ?.............

George Weigel, a theologian and bestselling author, has written a new book, "Evangelical Catholicism : Deep Reform in the 21st Century",  in which he declares that practicing Catholicism can no longer be a, "weekend hobby", but instead - "requires bold Christian witness".  Weigel, a leading biographer of Pope John Paul II, has authored eighteen books.  Weigel writes that that the period of Counter Reformation Catholicism that has influenced Catholics fifty years of age and younger is ending, and a new age of Evangelical Catholicism is emerging that will be Gospel focused in the Third Millennium and will drop the curtain on the institutionally focused Catholicism that has been and building on the the reforms of the last century, and accepting Pope John Paul's invitation, "to put out into the deep", to extend and forge friendships with Jesus Christ to the post modern world.  The reason for this Evangelical Catholicism is argued to be two-fold :  1.)  "An evolution impelled by the Church's need to make Herself a more transparent Witness to the Lord";  2.)  An essential response to an increasingly Hostile environment".  George Weigel writes, "To live an integral Catholic life today is to be a sign of contradiction.  The Catholicism that has a future can't be a weekend recreational activity, a lifestyle choice.  The Catholicism of the future must be a life changing, life forming embrace of Jesus Christ, his Truth, his authority; a radical commitment that shapes all of life".   The author goes on to write that this emerging Evangelical Catholicism is, " full time, full throttle, Catholicism"; and is not "sectarian or remnant" Catholicism; rather than a Catholicism on the "offense" in "enclaves" and "bunkers" of "21st century catacombs", is on the "defense" in going into the daily world and interacting with it and to it, in presentiing the person and teachings of Jesus Christ.  Weigel states this Evangelical Catholicism will be, "culture forming"; and, "countercultural".   The Second Vatican Council, whose Golden Jubilee in this "Year Of Faith", we are commemorating by declaration of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, is hopefully seen by George Weigel, presently working as a Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center think tank in Washington, D.C.; as having an instrumental part in bringing about the reforms and renewal of the Catholic Church in the past century he refers to in this book.  As the most current Ecumenical Council, Vatican II's 16 Documents promulgated by the Bishops of the World during its four sessions between October 11, 1962 and December 8, 1965, are the grounding for the teachings and governance of the Catholic Church in the contemporary post conciliar, and 3rd Millennium World in which we live and interact as Catholic-Christian Disciples.............Fr.  Troy