CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- Beauty must play a central role in our efforts for evangelization and cultural renewal, because it is a gift from God to lead us to him, Bishop James D. Conley said in an address at a recent apologetics conference.<\/p>\n\t\u201cOur New Evangelization must work to make truth beautiful. By means both ancient and new, we must make use of beauty \u2013 to infuse Western culture, once more, with the spirit of the Gospel,\u201d the Bishop of Lincoln said Sept. 28 in his keynote address at the Catholic Answers National Apologetics Conference in San Diego.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cBy means of earthly beauty, we can help our contemporaries discover the truth of the Gospel. Then, they may come to know the eternal beauty of God.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tBishop Conley told CNA on Oct. 1 that his decision to focus on beauty and culture at an apologetics conference was well-received, and that Catholic Answer's development director, Christopher Check, \u201cthought it was a real sort of game-changer,\u201d because apologetics efforts can often be rejected by those with a relativistic mindset, who are not even open to entering into a standard apologetics discussion.<\/p>\n
\tBut to lead with beauty \u201copens (others) up to consider the argument\u201d in a way they might not otherwise, the bishop reflected.<\/p>\n
\tBishop Conley opened the address by sharing a story of his first session of spiritual direction when he entered seminary. Spiritual direction typically involves a detailed discussion with a priest.<\/p>\n
\tWhen he arrived for his first meeting, the priest, Fr. Anton Morganroth, who had fled Nazi Germany, was playing a Mozart sonata, and proceeded to finish it.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cAfter a few moments of silence, eager to get started,\u201d Bishop Conley shared, \u201cI broke the silence and said: 'so are we going to have spiritual direction, father?' Fr. Morganroth turned and stared right through me and said: 'son, zat was your spiritual direction, you can go now.'\u201d<\/p>\n
\tThis example of being caught up in beauty is a demonstration of how the transcendental can open minds and hearts to \u201cthe realities of the spiritual life,\u201d the bishop said.<\/p>\n
\tHe emphasized that evangelization is concerned not only with individuals, but with transformation of culture as well.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWe\u2019re starting to get a sense of our cultural mission,\u201d Bishop Conley said. \u201cCatholics are working to recover our traditions, and to build community \u2026 to foster a way of life that is true, good, and beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tHe added that faith \u201cis meant to be the basis of culture,\u201d and explained how he was converted to the Catholic Church through the Integrated Humanities Program run by professor John Senior at the University of Kansas, which exposed students to the beauty of Christian culture.<\/p>\n
\tThis experience of beauty, he said, allowed him to be open to the great philosophers and theologians of the past, rather than assuming \u201cthat truth was found in the dictates of popular culture.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cSenior was not an evangelist, in the traditional sense of the word: he did not preach from a pulpit, or write works of apologetics. His goal in the classroom was not to convert us, but to open our minds to truth, wherever it might be found. And he did that primarily through the imagination.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tDespite not being a traditional evangelist, the bishop said, Senior \u201cwas a remarkably gifted evangelist,\u201d and through his sharing of the beauty of historic Catholic culture, hundreds of University of Kansas students became Catholic in the 1970s.<\/p>\n
\tTheir conversion \u201cwas not the result of proselytism in the classroom nor was it engaging in apologetics,\u201d Bishop Conley said. \u201cIt occurred because we became lovers of beauty, and thus, seekers of truth. Beauty gave us 'eyes to see' and 'ears to hear,' when we encountered the Gospel and the Christian tradition.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tSenior and his colleagues \u201cknew that students had to encounter beauty, and have their hearts and imaginations captured first by beauty, before they could pursue truth and goodness in a serious and worthy manner,\u201d the bishop explained.<\/p>\n
\tHe observed that in the midst of intellectual and moral confusion, beauty can break through to hardened hearts, and that \u201cevery instance of real beauty points beyond itself\u201d to God, who \u201cinvested this world with many forms of captivating beauty, so that created things would lead us to contemplate the transcendent glory of the Creator.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tWhile God \u201cspeaks to our souls through intellectual truth and moral goodness\u201d in addition to beauty, \u201cthese forms of communication have become problematic. Many people, especially in modern Western culture, are too intellectually and morally confused to receive such a message.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tBecause of this confusion, beauty may be the transcendental which \u201ccan get through, where other forms of divine communication may not,\u201d the bishop taught.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWhen we begin with beauty, this can then lead to a desire to want to know the truth of the thing that is drawing us, a desire to participate in it. And then the truth can inspire us to do the good, to strive after virtue.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tBishop Conley said that \u201cclearly, beauty has a major role to play in the New Evangelization\u201d and enumerated three ways in which this can be done: through liturgy; appreciation of historic Christian culture; and openness to beauty in all its forms.<\/p>\n
\tHe called beauty in liturgy the \u201cmost essential\u201d point, noting that \u201cworship \u2026 is the basis of Christian culture\u201d and pointing to examples of great converts who were struck by the solemn rites and extraordinary chants of the Catholic Church.<\/p>\n
\tThe bishop\u2019s second recommendation was to become familiar with the beauty of historic Christian culture, such as Gregorian chant, in order to help others who appreciate it to understand the Christian beauty that inspired it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\tFinally, he invited Catholics to \u201copen our own minds to beauty, in all its manifestations\u201d in both nature and culture, which will help us to understand beauty as \u201can earthly reflection of God's glory.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tConcluding, Bishop Conley quoted famous Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky, who wrote in \u201cThe Idiot\u201d that \u201cbeauty will save the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cIt will,\u201d the bishop added. \u201cWhen it points to God\u2019s enduring love.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThere are many souls to rescue, and a vast cultural wasteland to restore. Both tasks will require fluency in God\u2019s language of beauty,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cTo speak this language, we must first begin to listen. And to listen, we must have silence in our lives. I pray that God will open our eyes and ears to beauty, and help us use it in the service of the Truth.\u201d<\/p>\n
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San Diego, Calif., Oct 4, 2013 \/ 04:17 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Beauty must play a central role in our efforts for evangelization and cultural renewal, because it is a gift from God to lead us to him, Bishop James D. Conley said in an address at a recent a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-us"],"yoast_head":"\n
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