ASIA/INDIA - The kerygma in India: the work of the "National Centre for New Evangelization"

Tuesday, 10 March 2020 evangelization   missionary animation   formation   mission  

Pachmarhi (Agenzia Fides) – Its name is "Suvarta Kendra" ("Centre of the Good News") and it is the "National Center for New Evangelization" initiated by the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (C.C.B.I.), which has been working for 20 years to “form priests, nuns and lay people to bring the Gospel of love and mercy to people’s hearts” as Rev. Fr. S. Panneer Selvam Selvaraj - Executive Secretary of the Commission for Proclamation – says to Agenzia Fides.
All those that have been formed at the "Suvarta Kendra" become, in turn, “trainers of new ‘missionary disciples’ in their own communities, associations, parishes” - Rev. Fr. S. Selvaraj explains, director of the "National Center for New Evangelization" based in Pachmarhi, in the State of Madhya Pradesh, in Central India.
"Suvarta Kendra" was approved and initiated in 2001 by the Bishops as a way to “animate the Church in India in light of a New Evangelization” and for being a place that promotes specific programs of training or awareness raising about the missionary nature of every baptized.
Today the Centre has a flourishing activity and organises a month during which a training activity in English about the New Evangelization is dedicated “to priests, religious, lay catechists, and another month of training for catechists is in Hindi, the Indian national language.
“All those who attend these programs become people able to promote evangelization contributing to the missionary work and motivating other faithful in their own communities”, Rev. Fr. S. Selvaraj explains.
Quoting John Paul II, the Director reminds that: “The New Evangelization is the only true hope for a better world and a brighter future” (Ecclesia in Asia n. 29). For these reasons, the proposed courses focus on new methods and new expressions for the proclamation of the Gospel.
“We try to rediscover the kerygmatic mindset that is essential to evangelization. The Kerygma is taught in a very clear way, relying on Sacred Scripture and the Church's Magisterium. Kerygma is the first, starting proclamation that is the ‘Good News’, the Gospel: God’s love for men and the promise of eternal life with everything that is contained in the Christian faith and summarized in the Creed”, Rev. Fr. S. Selvaraj affirms.
The Centre, the priest adds, “promotes innovations emerging from experiences, knowledge, abilities and charisms for the growth of a new kerygmatic spirituality within the Church”.
Among the courses and programs organised, there are the ones entitled: “Star of the New Evangelisation”, about the kerygmatic spirituality of the Virgin Mary; the “Good Samaritan” about the mercy of God, at the heart of the Gospel; "Cana" about missionary families; “Apocalypse” about the renewal of the Church in contact with the Holy Spirit; "Kerygma" on the clarity in preaching. Participants are formed so that they can present these themes to other faithful in their respective dioceses or religious congregations.
(SD-PA) (Agenzia Fides 10/3/2020)


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