Evangelisation the focus for upcoming webinar
Carly Mulqueen, Bishop John Adams and Dr John Evangelista will be the presenters for the upcoming webinar
A webinar in early December will explore how the lessons of a document St Paul VI wrote 50 years ago still offer a blueprint for evangelisation today.
Te Kupenga – Catholic Theological College and the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference are hosting the online event on Tuesday, December 2 to mark the 50th anniversary of Evangelii Nuntiandi.
The apostolic exhortation identified evangelisation as the task of all Christian people, not just clergy and religious, and noted that it required both word and authentic witness.
The webinar will feature three speakers providing their own reflections on the document and its ongoing relevance for the Church in 2025 and beyond.
Catholic Theological College director and pastoral theology lecturer John Evangelista will set the scene for participants, helping them to understand the context within which the document was written and received.
Bishop John Adams of Palmerston North and Catholic Enquiry Centre director Carly Mulqueen will draw on particular themes of the document and how they can inspire the work of evangelisation.
Dr Evangelista said the webinar’s panel offers its own insight into one of the key themes of Evangelii Nuntiandi.
“When we see the ways in which clergy, laity and religious work together on God’s mission today, it can be difficult to understand how different things were as recently as the 1970s,” he said.
“While the Second Vatican Council was an obvious catalyst for change, documents like Evangelii Nuntiandi helped galvanise the call for people to take on their Christian duty to spread the Gospel.”
Mrs Mulqueen said she is seeing great examples of people sharing faith in their local contexts. She sees the webinar as a way to strengthen and support these efforts.
“Our Church holds a deep treasury of wisdom that shapes the way we think, believe and live,” she said.
“Returning to the teaching of St Paul VI, and grounding it in the present moment, helps us rediscover what evangelisation looks like today. It nourishes us as disciples and strengthens our ability to accompany others with warmth, integrity and hope, becoming authentic witnesses to Jesus.”
The webinar on December 2 will run from 7-8.30pm.