Culture Is the Way of the New Evangelization

Building a civilization of love as a source of freedom and truth was St. John Paul II’s goal for engaging culture in the New Evangelization.

John Paul II made a specific disclosure regarding his frame of reference in his book Memory and Identity, namely his Polish identity: “I am the son of a nation which has lived the greatest experiences of history, which its neighbors have condemned to death several times, but which has survived and remained itself. It has kept its identity, and it has kept, in spite of partitions and foreign occupations, its national sovereignty, not by relaying on the resources of physical power but solely by relaying on its culture. This culture turned out, under the circumstances, to be more powerful than all other forces.”

The Holy Father learned the universal significance of culture in human life as well as the function of culture in national life from his unique background and his experiences in Poland.

Man lives in accordance with a culture that is uniquely his own, according to John Paul II, who defined culture as “the specific way of human existence.” It establishes the social and human nature of human life. Man is different from other beings in the world in this sense because of culture. John Paul II quoted St. Thomas Aquinas in his speech at UNESCO on June 2, 1980: “The essential meaning of culture consists, in the fact that it is a characteristic of human life as such. Man lives a really human life thanks to culture. Human life is culture in this sense too that, through it, man is distinguished and differentiated from everything that exists elsewhere in the visible world: man cannot do without culture.”

He further affirmed: “Culture is that through which man as man, becomes more man, ‘is’ more, has more access to ‘being.’”

On June 3, 1979, the Pope gave a homily to the youth of Gniezno. He said: “Culture is an expression of man, a confirmation of humanity. Man creates culture and through culture creates himself. He creates himself with the inward effort of the spirit, of thought, will and heart. At the same time, he creates culture in communion with others. Culture is an expression of communication, of shared thought and collaboration by human beings. It is born of service of the common good and becomes an essential good of human communities.”

For the Holy Father, culture evolved into the New Evangelization’s method. John Paul II recognized the essential significance of culture and made it the focal point of the Church’s reinvigorated missionary campaign. “The Church of Christ strives to bring the Good News to every sector of humanity so as to be able to convert the consciences of human beings, both individually and collectively, and to fill with the light of the Gospel their works and understandings, their entire lives, and, indeed, the whole of the social environment in which they are engaged. In this way the Church carries out her mission of evangelizing also by advancing human culture.”

Building a civilization of love as a source of freedom and truth was John Paul II’s vision for using culture in the New Evangelization. He gave the following explanation of his concept for a civilization of love: “The Church respects all culture and imposes on no one her faith in Jesus Christ, but she invites all people of good will to promote a true civilization of love, founded on the evangelical values of brotherhood, justice and dignity for all.” These values are appealing to all individuals and encourage them to contribute to building such a civilization.

In Evangelium Vitae, the Pope explained about constructing a new culture of life. “New, because it will be able to confront and solve today’s unprecedented problems affecting human life; new, because it will be adopted with deeper and more dynamic conviction by all Christians; new, because it will be capable of bringing about a serious and courageous cultural dialogue among all parties. While the urgent need for such a cultural transformation is linked to the present historical situation, it is also rooted in the Church’s mission of evangelization. The purpose of the Gospel, in fact, is “to transform humanity from within and to make it new” (Paul VI, Evangelii Nuntiandi, n. 18).

At the same time, as the future of man and the world is threatened, St. John Paul II warned about the destructive nature of “the culture of death” which aggressively targets humanity in the world. In his 1995 Evangelium Vitae (“The Gospel of Life”), he warned about “the culture of death.”

The Polish pope urged his countrymen to defend their culture in order to fight for the truth, from the general to the specific. Poland is a perfect example of how Christian culture, the distinctiveness of the commitment of the Polish people to God, and the strong Polish Catholic Church can change the course of history in an unexpected way. John Paul II helped Poland “to rediscover their God-given freedom and to work toward the renewal of culture in their homeland.”

By banding together, Christians may now “give this our new signs of hope, and struggle to ensure that justice and solidarity will increase, and that a new culture of human life will be proclaimed, for the construction of a genuine civilization of truth and love.” (Bro. Ignatius Gonzales, CFA)