The Archdiocese of Louisville’s bicentennial celebration moved to the East Coast last Sunday as more than 600 people from Central Kentucky attended a papal Mass in Yankee Stadium at which the archdiocese was honored along with four other U.S. archdioceses.

Pope Benedict XVI called attention to the archdioceses of Louisville, Boston, New York and Philadelphia marking the 200th year of their establishment and of Baltimore becoming the first archdiocese at the April 20 Mass and on other occasions during his April 15-20 visit to the United States. The church in America can “rightfully praise the accomplishments” of the past 200 years, he said in one talk. But, he added, now the church is “called to look to the future.”

The pope addressed a number of issues to a variety of audiences during his six-day visit. But one central theme was spiritual renewal — a recommitment to living the faith, to proclaiming and living the Gospel and to building the kingdom of God.

The bicentennial celebration is an occasion of “gratitude for graces received,” he said at the Yankee Stadium Mass. But it’s also a “summons to move forward with firm resolve to use wisely the blessings of freedom ... to build a future of hope for coming generations.”

This summons was directed to all American Catholics. But it has special meaning to Catholics in the Louisville archdiocese, because the bicentennial is as much about renewal and meeting new challenges as about the achievements of the past.

Pope Benedict said at a Mass in Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., that his visit to this country was “an occasion for all Catholics to reaffirm their unity in the apostolic faith, to offer their contemporaries a convincing account of the hope which inspires them and to be renewed in the missionary zeal for the extension of God’s kingdom.”

The world needs this witness, he said, explaining that the church in America and society as a whole are at a crossroads. While this is a time of “great hope,” he said, it’s also a time in which “we see clear signs of a disturbing breakdown in the very foundations of society; signs of alienation, anger and polarization; ... increased violence; a weakening of the moral sense; a coarsening of social relations; and a growing forgetfulness of God.”

What’s needed is a recommitment to the church’s mission of “proclaiming the Gospel to a world that longs for genuine freedom, authentic happiness and the fulfillment of its deepest aspirations,” the pope said.

He also called for new ways of evangelization in spreading the Gospel message. “The Gospel has to be preached and taught as an integral way of life, offering attractive and true answers, intellectually and practically, to human problems,” he said in a talk to U.S. bishops.

The challenge, he explained, is recapturing “the Catholic vision and reality, and presenting it in an engaging and imaginative way” in society. In particular, he mentioned the need “to speak to the hearts of young people,” who face constant exposure to messages contrary to the Gospel and who “thirst for authenticity, goodness and truth.”

Pope Benedict also cautioned against the separation of faith and life. In his talk to bishops, he asked a question: Is it consistent to profess our beliefs in church on Sunday and then act contrary to these beliefs by our actions and behavior during the week?

“Any tendency to treat religion as a private matter must be resisted,” he said. “Only when their faith permeates every aspect of their lives do Christians become truly open to the transforming power of the Gospel.”

“Let us be joyful witnesses to the transforming power of the Gospel,” Pope Benedict told people during a Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York. “Let us go forth as heralds of hope.”

At the Mass in Washington, he said: “As the church in the United States gives thanks for the blessings of the past 200 years, I invite you, your families and every parish and religious community to trust in the power of grace to create a future of promise for God’s people in this country.

“I ask you, in the Lord Jesus, to set aside all divisions and to work with joy to prepare a way for him in fidelity to his word and in constant conversion to his will. ... I urge you to be a leaven of evangelical hope in American society, striving to bring the light and truth of the Gospel to the task of building a more just and free world.”