Bishop Andrew Cozzens briefly described his new role as chairman of the Committee for Evangelization and Catechesis for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on an episode of the “Practicing Catholic” radio show that will air Jan. 29.
The auxiliary bishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Bishop Cozzens succeeds Bishop Robert Barron of Los Angeles, whom Bishop Cozzens said focused his work on those disaffiliating from the Church. “Seven out of 10 young adult Catholics don’t practice the faith right now,” Bishop Cozzens said.
“Many times, we think they’re going to come back,” he said, but statistics indicate they don’t. “So, we have a real need to evangelize,” Bishop Cozzens said, launching into the main focus of his segment on the 9 p.m. program on Relevant Radio, 1330 AM.
Bishop Cozzens said that in 1990, St. John Paul II sensed the moment had come to commit all of the Church’s energies to a new evangelization, saying, “No believer in Christ, no institution of the Church, can avoid this supreme duty: to proclaim Christ to all peoples.”
Pope Francis began his pontificate with the same emphasis, saying:
“I dream of a missionary option, that is, a missionary impulse capable of transforming everything, so that the Church’s customs, ways of doing things, times and schedules, language and structures, can be suitably channeled for the evangelization of today’s world, rather than for her self-preservation.”
“So this is a really universal message,” Bishop Cozzens said, “that we’re invited to rethink how we live our faith so that we are doing everything we can to evangelize the world in which we live.”
Show host Patrick Conley asked Bishop Cozzens what advice he would give to “regular Sunday Massgoers” who are practicing Catholics but a little intimidated about sharing the good news of Jesus. Bishop Cozzens replied that Pope Francis’ consistently used phrase of “missionary discipleship” is important to keep in mind.
“In the last 20 years or so, we’ve talked a lot about discipleship and what it means to be a follower of Jesus,” Bishop Cozzens said. “But Pope Francis’ point … the tradition, that to be a disciple, means to be a missionary. And the faith is given in order that the faith might be shared.” And everyone he said, has that responsibility, to find ways to share the faith.
Catholics need to be ready to explain why they have hope in their hearts and to share who Jesus Christ is and why he matters.
“We need to know how to give a testimony,” he said, “and … if I had two, three minutes to explain why Jesus Christ is central to my life, how would I say that?”
To hear how Bishop Cozzens answered that question for himself, tune in to the radio show using one of the links below. Bishop Cozzens appears monthly on “Practicing Catholic,” as does Archbishop Bernard Hebda.
“Practicing Catholic” is produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
Other guest interviews on the Jan. 29 “Practicing Catholic” show are Sarah McCauley, a licensed associate marriage and family therapist, who discusses civil disobedience, and Libby DuPont and Shehan Perera, who describe an upcoming Living in Love Newly Married Retreat.
Listen to their interviews after they have aired:
soundcloud.com/practicingcatholic
Practicing Catholic on Spotify
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