In keeping with the Church’s theme – The New Evangelisation – the archbishop charged the new members to find out why so many Catholics had stopped practising their faith and find ways to bring them back.

A similar call is contained in the paper “Catholic Family; become what you are”, produced by Monsignor Robert Llanos, who wrote, “Evangelisation was addressed to everyone, ‘Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News to all creation’” (Mk 16:5).

He added, “Whilst the first proclamation is addressed especially to those who have never heard the Good News of Jesus and to children in catechesis, it is now imperative in a world that has become increasingly de-Christianised and secular, to proclaim the Good News again to those who have already been baptised, but live outside or on the margin of their Christian faith.”

Archbishop Gilbert told the neophytes family life was a “basic unit of Church and state” and the breakdown in family life has seriously affected our society. He again challenged the Church’s newest members to rebuild family life while urging them to become Christian witnesses by being outstanding examples of Christian living.

So while the traditional method of evangelisation is regarded as spreading the Good News to people, the New Evangelisation is ensuring that every aspect of life must represent evangelisation and something that has to be practised at all levels of the society if true evangelisation is to be successful.

The Archbishop’s exhortation for greater evangelisation is in keeping with the call by Pope Paul VI in his Evangelii Nuntiandi when he wrote that in the Church’s history various methods have been used to evangelise – preaching, liturgy of the word, Catechetics, technology and mass media, the sacraments of the Church and popular piety – there remained one method of fundamental importance and that is the personal witness of an authentically Christian life, given over to God in a communion that nothing should destroy…and given to one’s neighbour with limitless zeal.

It has also been established that persons listen more willingly to witness and it is therefore by her conduct and by her life that the Church evangelises the world. This requires all Catholics to be living witnesses of fidelity to the Lord Jesus Christ.