Scottish Catholic Observer

Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelisation and a former rector of the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome (above), will give the 2015 Cardinal Winning Lecture on February 14 at Glasgow University’s School of Education. His talk will focus on ‘The Church in Contemporary Society.’

Cardinal Thomas Winning was the Archbishop of Glasgow and president of the Catholic Education Commission when he died in June 2001. The Glasgow University lecture series was re-named in his honour the following year.

A different figure of national or international significance gives the university’s lecture each year. In 2014, around 300 people attended a talk by former Chief Executive of the General Teaching Council Tony Finn, delivered on changing patterns of belief in Catholic schools in Scotland.

Previous lectures have been given by Archbishop Gerhard Muller, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and former First Minister Alex Salmond.

Archbishop Fisichella was born in Codogno, Italy, in 1951, was ordained in 1976 and was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Rome in 1998. A former president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, he was appointed to the Pontifical Council for New Evangelisation after its creation by Pope Benedict XVI in June 2010.

Ahead of the lecture, the archbishop said that fifty years after the Second Vatican Council, the Church is highly conscious of the need to engage in the new evangelisation.

“This is a significant challenge given the historical and cultural context of the strong secularism which is such a marked feature of life in the West,” he said. “At this time the Church needs to re-appropriate the teaching of the Gospel which requires her to leave her own confines in order to reach out to every man and woman in search of the meaning of their existence. But it cannot be human ambition which drives the Church in this endeavour. Paramount in her preaching of the Gospel must be the faithful transmission of the person of Jesus Christ and His witness to the truth of the loving mercy of God.

“The new evangelisation is, therefore, a commitment to read the signs of the times in order to understand how we can best answer the great questions which arise today in the minds and hearts of our contemporaries. However, we cannot communicate the joy of the Gospel if we fail to rediscover the importance of the credibility of our lives as Christians. If we are not credible then our prophecy is non-existent, and we will fail in our task of restoring hope to humanity.”

Leonardo Franchi, head of the St Andrew’s Foundation for Catholic Teacher Education—which was created in 2012 and is located in the School of Education—said he hopes the lecture will strengthen links with the Holy See.

“I am sure that we all agree that it is vital for Catholic schools to be involved in some way in what is called the new evangelisation,” he said. “This initiative is two-pronged: it is a reaching out to those Baptised Catholics who have lost contact with the Church and an opportunity to re-evangelise the ancient Christian lands of the west. Teachers in Catholic schools are in the ‘front line’ of the Church’s mission of mercy and events like the Cardinal Winning Lecture allow them to gather together to reflect on this important task.

“This is a fine opportunity for the Church in Scotland to ponder [Archbishop Fisichella’s] words and apply them to the particular challenges we face today in Catholic schools. Once again we will invite senior pupils in Catholic secondary schools to attend.”

The archbishop’s Cardinal Winning Lecture comes in the 50th anniversary year of the Declaration on Christian Education Gravissimum Educationis, issued by Pope Paul VI during the Second Vatican Council in 1965.

Clare Fodey, a teacher at the Glasgow University School of Education, said the declaration is so relevant it could have been written in our own time, and that it covers a wide-range of topics. “The document considers parents as principal educators,” she said. “Both clergy and the laity are strongly encouraged to give support to Catholic schools. In particular, they are called to assist those who are materially poor; who lack secure family circumstances or are not of the Catholic faith.

“The document calls on young people to realise the importance of education to answer the call of this vocation for the sake of those coming behind them, to strive for excellence in teaching and in the pursuit of knowledge, especially in the sciences. In doing so young people would aid and support the beneficent influence of the Church today, especially in the intellectual world.”

— Catholic Education Week this year runs from February 8-14 and explores the theme Proclaiming the Joy of the Gospel. Resources for schools and parishes are available from www.sces.uk.com

— The Cardinal Winning Lecture will take place on Saturday February 14 from 9:45am in the Sir Charles Wilson Lecture Theatre, 1 University Avenue,Glasgow. Fr Ross Campbell will celebrate Mass beforehand at 9am in Turnbull Hall, the Glasgow University Chaplaincy

— Read Clare Fodey’s full article on the 50th anniversary of Gravissimum Educationis in the SCO’s upcoming Catholic Education week supplement

— [email protected]

—Read the full version of this story in Jan 16 print edition of the SCO.