Diacovensia (Jan 2014)
A Church which goes forth. The actuality of Pope Francis' Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium
Abstract
The Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Francis Evangellii Gaudium is surely one of the documents that will mark the pontificate of the present Pope, but also mark this period in the life of the Church in which we live and work. The document reflects the needs and challenges of the Church today. It views the entire scope of Church activities through the prism of evangelization. It outlines all essential elements of Church's life and activities, the elements for which there are given clear guidelines with respect to the transformation of some existing models of pastoral care, as well as to meet the challenges and problems that are clearly identified and called by their proper name. In the paper, we try to identify the essential points that reflect the actuality of this document with respect to the situation in our domestic Church. We approach the subject with the intention of theological-pastoral discernment of concrete pastoral in the light of the guidelines of this document. Here we refer to those elements of the existing pastoral care where the Church 'goes forth' to the peripheries of human lives that are in this respect particularly present. To this end, three areas are studied in particular: the parish, the family and the homily. Besides the exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, this paper finds its theological-pastoral foothold in the works of some bishops and theologians, especially those who are familiar with Pope's actions from the time before he became Pope, and some of them monitor his activities more closely even today.
