Title

New Evangelization, New Families, and New Singles

Author(s)

Jana Marguerite Bennett, University of DaytonFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2016

Publication Source

Journal of Moral Theology

Abstract

When Pope Francis issued his calls for a synod in 2013, he stated that he wanted bishops to discuss the “pastoral challenges of the family in the context of evangelization,” surely also a link to the recent calls for a “New Evangelization.” Evangelization has long been tied to Catholic understandings of family. Parents are deemed the original source of Christian evangelization and witness for their children, and thus the family is assumed to be at the center of any kind of broader evangelization that happens. It makes sense, then, that family becomes a central topic of conversation for bishops in relation to what it means to be church in the contemporary world. That said, in this brief discussion, I raise a tension in the 2015 Synod of Bishops on the Family. On the one hand, it seems to raise up the nuclear family as a kind of idol. On the other hand, it discusses several forms of singleness that present a more expanded and open view of the family.

Inclusive pages

15-23

ISBN/ISSN

2166-2851

Document Version

Published Version

Comments

This document has been made available for download by permission of the publisher.

Permission documentation on file.

Copyright

Copyright © 2016, Mount St. Mary's University

Publisher

Mount St. Mary's University

Volume

5

Issue

2

Place of Publication

Emmitsburg, MD

Peer Reviewed

yes

eCommons Citation

Bennett, Jana Marguerite, "New Evangelization, New Families, and New Singles" (2016). Religious Studies Faculty Publications. 122.
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/rel_fac_pub/122