Father Manuel Chouciño organized an escape room experience within the parish-monastery of the Divine Savior of Lérez in Santiago de Compostela. The monastery, an old Benedictine site, had been empty since the ecclesiastical confiscations of 1835. The escape room immersed about 700 participants in medieval monastic life through challenges like identifying prayer times via bells and using herbs for medicine. Chouciño believes Catholics are currently popular because people are seeking fulfillment due to feeling empty. This creative activity is the initial part of an ambitious plan to address society's spiritual thirst.
2 months ago
Father Manuel Chouciño, with over 40 years in youth ministry, recently arrived at the parish-monastery of the Divine Savior of Lérez in Spain's Archdiocese of Santiago de Compostela.1 2
The site, an old Benedictine monastery empty since 1835 due to ecclesiastical confiscations, inspired him to launch innovative outreach.1 2
He organized an "escape room" immersing 700 participants in medieval monastic life through family-friendly challenges like decoding bells, herbs, and mirrors.1 2
Chouciño asserts Catholics are "in vogue" as society tires of spiritual emptiness and "woke ideology."1 2
People crave deeper answers to life's questions, prompting a return to faith, especially among those with Christian roots.1 2
He sees this as an ingrained human need amid exhaustion from superficial discourse.1 2
Evangelization requires priests and parishes to be "welcoming, not judgmental," easing return like the prodigal son.1 2
Initiatives target the unchurched—"those who would burst into flames" entering a church—via accessible language and attitudes.1 2
Guided monastery tours, including his own room, build comfort and explain plans for a major pastoral center open to Catholics and civil society.1 2
Chouciño works in a pastoral unit with four priests overseeing 10 parishes.1 2
They receive strong backing from Archbishop Francisco Prieto, formerly in new evangelization in Orense.1 2
Parishioners' enthusiasm fueled bold steps after pastoral discouragement.1 2
Advent-to-Epiphany plans include a post-midnight Mass Christmas party and Holy Innocents family gathering.1 2
A highlight is "barbecue and prayer" on January 4, blending food and faith, as Chouciño has cooked for 400 before.1 2
He draws from "The Meals of Jesus" lectures, noting meals lower guards for Gospel sharing, mirroring Christ's approach.1 2
How does New Evangelization address modern spiritual emptiness?
The New Evangelization, as articulated by recent popes and Church documents, directly confronts modern spiritual emptiness—a pervasive malaise marked by secularism, relativism, individualism, consumerism, and a loss of the sense of God—by calling the Church to a renewed, missionary "going forth" that proclaims Jesus Christ with fresh ardor, fosters personal encounters, reawakens faith through charisms, and restores hope through the Gospel's transformative power. This approach recognizes the spiritual hunger of our time, where people drift into indifference or seek fulfillment in technology and self-sufficiency, and responds not with abstract doctrines but with living witness, dialogue, and a return to the sacred.
Contemporary society grapples with a profound spiritual crisis, often described as a "flight from the transcendent mystery of God" that impoverishes human life of meaning and joy. Pope John Paul II highlighted this as a crossroads at the end of the second millennium, where utilitarianism reduces persons to objects, technology unleashes energies without moral direction, and cultures build "without reference to the architect," ignoring the biblical truth that "Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain" (Ps 127:1). This emptiness manifests in secularism's "disenchantment, pervasive malaise, and sense of decay," a weariness with history's cruelty, and a "collective broken heart" where humanity feels repulsive to itself. Benedict XVI, echoed in later reflections, identified the "dictatorship of relativism," materialism, individualism, and a "troubling loss of the sense of the sacred," questioning even foundational realities like God as Creator, Christ as Savior, and natural moral law. In Oceania and America, this appears as dwindling faith, public indifference to Church teaching on family and life issues, and a secular outlook that normalizes "practical indifference to religious truths." Even within the Church, some baptized live without reflecting Baptism's demands, lacking consolation from faith. Patristic voices like Cyprian of Carthage urged awakening from "slumber of indolence" amid mortality and sin, emphasizing judgment and the need for confession to avoid Gehenna.
Rooted in Christ's mandate to "go and make disciples," the New Evangelization draws from God's own "exodus" toward humanity in the Incarnation, where the Trinity's love propels mission: "God consecrated and sent his Son... so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but may have eternal life" (Jn 3:16). Pope Francis stresses that evangelization summons all in three settings: ordinary pastoral ministry to inflame faithful hearts; lapsed baptized needing conversion to reclaim faith's joy; and those unaware of or rejecting Christ, who quietly seek God and deserve the Gospel shared not as imposition but joyful invitation—"by attraction." John Paul II defined it as "new in its ardor, methods and expression," with its "vital core" being unequivocal proclamation of Christ's person, teaching, life, promises, and Kingdom won by his Paschal Mystery. This is no mere repetition but inhabiting contemporary culture, as Paul urges: "Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Cor 6:2).
The New Evangelization addresses emptiness through bold proclamation that diagnoses malaise and offers Christ as the cure. Like a physician diagnosing before therapy, it uses questions and stories to shatter self-security, prompting recognition of sin, loneliness amid abundance, and need for a Savior—countering social media isolation or depression despite material plenty. Pope Francis calls for "going out to meet others," dialoguing with the faithless, reawakening hope suffocated by inhuman conditions with the "fresh air of the Gospel" and open Church doors for welcome and mission. Charisms nourish faith's life, reawakening People of God for new evangelization amid brothers and sisters lacking Christ's friendship. St. Augustine, in his Tractates on John, depicts Christ knocking at the Church's door amid "abounding iniquity" cooling love, urging saints to preach: "Open to me... go and preach me to others," as "how shall they hear without a preacher?" (Rom 10:14). This counters the Church's sorrow over scarce preachers by mobilizing the faithful.
Central is restoring God's centrality: a "return to the sense of the sacred" combats secular humanism forgetting our Creator relationship. John Paul II insisted on "healing of the mind as well as of the heart" via radical new evangelization satisfying spiritual hunger, communicating Christianity's joy—"in Christ," in grace, united to the Church. It proposes the "entire Gospel of salvation" lest Christ's Cross be emptied (1 Cor 1:17-18), targeting post-modern challenges like consumerism. For women and men adrift in ethical indifference or hedonistic stupor, it announces God's love in Christ, assuring His tender pursuit amid modern complexity and future angst.
In essence, the New Evangelization transforms spiritual emptiness by missionary conversion: proclaiming Christ personally, encountering peripheries with hope, valuing charisms, and witnessing truth lived, not shouted. It invites all to the banquet of faith, healing secular wounds with Trinitarian love and sacred wonder, fulfilling the Church's eternal call to evangelize now.