Original scientific paper

The Church Faced with Challenges of Poverty in the New Evangelisation

Tomislav Kovač orcid.org/0000-0001-9157-2079 ; Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

Abstract

The article reflects on the current problem of poverty in the perspective of various challenges that it represents for the Church and as an unavoidable dimension of the new evangelisation. Contrary to common critique that accuses the Church of being too attached to material goods and for being socially insensitive, the author first tries to shed some light on the ambivalent relation between wealth and poverty in the Church itself, to point out that the care for the poor is a permanent task for the Church and all its members, and that the spirit of Gospel poverty has always inspired the social discourse and activity of the Church throughout history until today. After that, the author reflects on the various types of poverty in the contemporary world, including Croatia, while drawing special attention to existential drama and social exclusion that poverty causes, and pointing towards neoliberal capitalism and its ideological order as the main cause of contemporary global poverty. The author also sees poverty as a specific theological challenge, which summons the Church to reflect on its own relation towards the world, to meditate more profoundly on the mystery of the Triune God through the lenses of »God’s poverty« and Christ’s kenosis through which God’s love is being revealed as self-renunciation and endless self-giving (Maurice Zundel), and which also announces a new valuation of the human person, especially those who are the weakest and the smallest among the poor (Jean Vanier). Towards the end, the author describes a few goals of the (new) evangelisation and tis relation towards poverty and the poor, with a special review of the teaching and impulses of pope Francis. In the conclusion, the author points out that the Church and other social factors are called to work together on solving the urgent problem of poverty. The author sees a possible solution in developing the culture of altruism, i.e. in altruistic behaviour of believers and all people of good will, that would put the good of the other and the common good before one’s own.

Keywords

Church; poverty; the poor; neoliberal order; God’s poverty; altruis; new evangelisation

Hrčak ID:

129311

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/129311

Publication date:

4.11.2014.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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