A pastoral approach to culture

6. In service to the proclamation of the Good News and thus to man's destiny in God's plan, the pastoral approach to culture emanates from the very mission of the Church in our times, in the renewed awareness of its demands as expressed by the Second Vatican Council and the Synods of Bishops. The awareness of the cultural dimension of human existence brings with it a particular attention for this field of pastoral work. Anchored as it is in Christian anthropology and ethics, this pastoral approach gives rise to a Christian cultural project which gives Christ, the Redeemer of man, centre of the universe and of history (cf. Redemptor hominis, 1) the scope of completely renewing the lives of men «by opening the vast fields of culture to His saving power».(¹¹) In this sphere, the means are practically infinite, for the pastoral approach to culture focuses on real situations so as to open them to the universal message of the Gospel.

In service to evangelization, which constitutes the Church's essential mission, her grace, her very vocation and her deepest identity (cf. Evangelii Nuntiandi, 14), pastoral work, in seeking «the means that are most suitable and effective for communicating the Gospel message to the men and women of our times» (Ibid., 40) uses complementary means: «Evangelization is a complex process made up of varied elements: the renewal of humanity, witness, explicit proclamation, inner adherence, entry into the community, acceptance of signs, apostolic initiative. These elements may appear to be contradictory, indeed mutually exclusive. In fact they are complementary and mutually enriching. Each one must always be seen in relationship with the others» (Ibid., 24).

An inculturated evangelization thanks to concerted pastoral efforts enables the Christian community to receive, celebrate, live and translate its faith into its own culture, in «compatibility with the Gospel and in communion with the universal Church» (Redemptoris Missio, 54). At the same time, it affirms the absolute newness of Revelation in Jesus Christ and the need for conversion which is manifestly the result of meeting the Saviour: «Now, I am making the whole of creation new» (Rev 21:5).

This shows the importance of the specific tasks of understanding in loyalty to the faith and of pastoral discernment that are incumbent on theologians and pastors. The sympathy with which they are bound to approach the various cultures using «the concepts and language of different peoples» (Gaudium et Spes, 44) so as to express Christ's message cannot go without a stringent discernment, in view of the great and serious problems which emerge from an objective analysis of contemporary cultural phenomena, whose weight cannot be ignored by the pastors. What is at stake is the conversion of persons and, through them, of cultures, the Christianization of the ethos of peoples (cf. Evangelii Nuntiandi, 20).