"MY VERY DEAR ITINERANT EVANGELIZERS"
The Holy Father's address to 350 itinerant catechists responsible of the Neocatechumenal Way in 94 countries.

Sala Clementina Rome, January 17, 1994

        Very dear Brothers and Sister in Christ!
        1. It gives me great joy to meet you, experienced itinerant catechists of the Neocatechumenal Way, who together with the initiators and responsibles have gathered to pray together and to reflect on the fruits and prospects of the mission entrusted to You, particularly as reference to the role of families among the poor.
        I greet Mr. Kiko Argüello, and I thank him for the words he has just addressed to me on Your behalf; I affectionately greet each one of you. The Lord's peace be with you!
        2. Your "Way" seeks to draw on the spirit of Vatican Council II, to offer an example of a new evangelization that gives hope to the Church on the eve of the third Christian millennium. It is to your credit that you have rediscovered a "kerygmatic" way of preaching, which invites even those who are "far away" to believe and to make a post baptismal itinerary in accordance with the guidelines of the Ordo Initicitionis Christietnae Aatatontni, to which the Catechism of the Catholic Church refers(cf.n.1231). Central to this faith journey is a fruitful synthesis between preaching, change in moral life and liturgy. All this is put into practice in small communities where "reflection on God's word and participation in the Eucharist.... make living cells of the Church and renew the vitality of the parish through mature Christians able to testify to the truth through a radically lived faith" (Message to the Bishops of Europe meeting in Vienna, 12th April 1993). Communities such as these will help people to experience the Church as the body of Christ in which, through sacramental signs, God extends his saving action to people of every generation, especially to the families.
        3. Today everybody recognizes the serious crisis which is undermining the familyj, and is at the root of the deepest evils of contemporary society. Precisely for this reason the Church, making her own United Nations initiative has designated 1994 as the Year of the Family. Your experience in the "Way" acquired over many years, will certainly have taught you that the small community, sustained by the word of God and by the Sunday Eucharist, becomes a place of communion where families can rediscover the meaning an d joy of their basic mission to transmit natural and supernatural life.
        Families cannot delegate this primordial task to others. Among the People of God, we see that from time immemorial the family has always been the first context of evangelization, as we read in Deuteronomy: "These precepts ... repeat them to your children, speak of them when seated at home, whether you are busy or at rest"(Dt 6:7) Thus your families rediscover daily prayer with their children and especially that domestic celebration which takes place on the Lord's day when the parents open the Sacred Scripture, read it and comment on it and the children can enter in to a dialogue illumined by the Holy Spirit. This custom is echoed in the Letter where St. Paul reminds Timothy how his mother and grandmother from early infancy, introduced him to the Sacred Scriptures(cf. 2 Tm 1:5, 3:14-15).
        4. Therefore it is not difficult in this light to perceive the fruits of the Neocatechumenal Way. reconciled families, open to life and grateful to the Church, offer themselves to bring the Gospel to the very ends of the earth. I myself was able on other occasions to give the Crucifix to families bound for the poorest and most dechristianized regions. From these families a great many vocations are now arising: young girls who embrace the religious and contemplative life; young men on their way to the Priesthood both in local and in diocesan-missionary seminaries named "Redemptoris Mater", which were established to help Churches that are in serious difficulty due to the shortage of clergy. Accordingly, the hope of the Second Vatican Council is realized: "the Presbyters, therefore, should recall that the solicitude of all the Churches ought to be their intimate concern... For this purpose it could be useful to create international seminaries..." (Presbyterorum Ordinis, n-10)
        5. Yet above all a great fruit of this Way is its missionary impetus. I learn with joy that you have echoed the words I addressed to young people in Denver. At the time I said: "This is no time to ashamed of the Gospel(cf. Rm. 1: 16) It is the time to preach it from the rooftops (CF Mt 10:27)" (Homily, World Youth Day Mass in Denver, 15th August 1993)
This is why you are preparing yourselves for large popular missions addressed in particular to all those who have fallen away from the Church or who as yet do not know her. I hope that the initiative of going out on to the streets to proclaim the Gospel, in complete agreement with the local Bishops, may yield an abundant harvest everywhere.
        6. "Dear itinerant evangelizers"! I turn with great affection to you who have left everything to preach Christ and Christ crucified in 94 Countries of the five continents, in docile and constant obedience to the Bishops. I urge you to be ever faithful to the charisma that God has granted you for the good of the entire ecclesial Community, contributing with your work to the deeper rediscovery of the Christian initiation of adults.
        As I assure you of a constant remembrance in my prayers, I am pleased today, in an atmosphere of festive communion, to give the Crucifix to all those among you who are called to be itinerant evangelizers. May Mary Most Holy, the humble Virgin of Nazareth, go with you on your pilgrimage in the world to proclaim God's kingdom. Remain always under her maternal protection! With all my heart I impart to you, to your families, and to the Neocatechumenal Way my Apostolic Blessing.