Notre Dame's Institute for Church Life has launched a promising online journal to be published quarterly: "Church Life: A Journal for the New Evangelization." The editor, Timothy O'Malley describes in the inaugural issue the vision that inspires the undertaking:

Pastoral theology is the theological art of analyzing how we believe, celebrate, and live the Gospel in our parishes, schools, and dioceses in such a way that all are called to contemplate the wondrous love revealed in the Christ. It includes a methodological examination of how the Church manifests her faith in Christ through catechesis, liturgy, spiritual formation, and service to the poor, all of these carried out in the context of contemporary culture and society. Thus, the field of pastoral theology encompasses a continued enrichment of our knowledge of Christian revelation (the Scriptures and Tradition), an opening up of our imaginations to the mystery of love revealed through these signs (especially in liturgy), and a re-commitment to the life of self-gift made possible through this intimate knowledge of God (the vocation of mission intrinsic to Christian life). We believe that a renewal of a robust pastoral theology, particularly in ministerial formation among both the ordained and lay, may become a catalyst to the new evangelization.

Among the regular contributors to the Journal are Larry Cunningham and John Cavadini. One of its salient features is the use of art, in the conviction that the aesthetic is an integral dimension of the proclamation of the Good News. One of the art works featured in the first issue is Giotto's Crucifixion.

Giotto crucifixion-l

The Journal is free and may be accessed here.

Robert P. Imbelli, a priest of the Archdiocese of New York, is a longtime Commonweal contributor.

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