Under the
leadership of the Evangelization Team we want to create a
place where Adults and Parents can go to learn more about their Catholic
faith. No meetings, no travel, no time constraints. It will be there
when you are ready or when the Holy Spirit gives you a poke in the ribs.
Fr. Barron comments on
Effective Evangelization
Pope Benedict: Crisis of 'indifference' shows need for New Evangelization
Pope Benedict stressed the urgency of evangelizing modern society, saying that Christians today face the task of reaching a world that grows increasingly apathetic to the message of the Gospel.
“The crisis we are living through,” he said, “carries with it signs of the exclusion of God from people's lives, a general indifference to the Christian faith, and even the intention of marginalizing it from public life.”
IMAGINE IF
Evangelization in the Modern World
(Evangelii Nuntiandi) Paul VI, 1975
Above all the Gospel must be proclaimed by witness. Take a Christian or
a handful of Christians who, in the midst of their own community, show
their capacity for understanding and acceptance, their sharing of life
and destiny with other people, their solidarity with the efforts of all
for whatever is noble and good.
Let us
suppose that, in addition, they radiate in an altogether simple and
unaffected way their faith in values that go beyond current values, and
their hope in something that is not seen and that one would not dare to
imagine. Through this wordless witness these Christians stir up
irresistible questions in the hearts of those who see how they live: Why
are they like this? Why do they live in this way? What or who is it that
inspires them? Why are they in our midst?
Such a
witness is already a silent proclamation of the Good News and a very
powerful and effective one. Here we have an initial act of
evangelization. The above questions will ask, whether they are people to
whom Christ has never been proclaimed, or baptized people who do not
practice, or people who live as nominal Christians but according to
principles that are in no way Christian, or people who are seeking, and
not without suffering, something or someone whom they sense but cannot
name. Other questions will arise, deeper and more demanding ones,
questions evoked by this witness which involves presence, sharing,
solidarity, and which is an essential element, and generally the first
one, in evangelization.
Mathew Kelly's seven
pillars of Catholic Spirituality given at a mission in Arizona.
Here
is an opportunity to share your faith and encounters with God
with others.
It
is the power of the Holy Spirit and the testimony of people that
brings the Good News and hope to those who are thirsting for
“Living Water”
In
John’s Gospel he tells the story of a Samaritan woman who
encounters Jesus at a well and how Jesus offered her more than
any ordinary water. He offered her living water of eternal life.
So moved by this experience she ran into town to tell everyone
of her encounter.
She
says,
“Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this
be the
Messiah?" They came out of the town and made their way toward
him. (John 4:29-30)
In
this story, a woman experienced the progressive stages of faith
in Jesus. She met Jesus, she learned about him, and she came to
believe in him. Then she went and told other people about him.
Then
John tells us, “Many of the Samaritans from
that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony,
"He told me everything I ever did." So when the
Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he
stayed two days.And
because of his words many more became believers. They
said to the woman, "We no longer believe just because of what
you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this
man really is the Savior of the world."(John
4:39-42)
The
people listening to her also came to believe in Jesus.
If
we look at our lives with spiritual eyes we will begin to see our
Lord’s finger prints all over it and our close encounters with
him.
Like
the Samaritan woman we have encountered Jesus at the well.But!!!
Do
we run back into town to tell others? Do we share these encounters
so that others may be nourished and encourage? Do we lead them to
the well so that they may encounter Jesus and believe for
themselves?
What's
your story?
Have
you already found Jesus or are you just coming to the well?
Tell
us where you are. If your relationship with God is great we want
to share it with others.
If
you are still searching we want to help you come home to the
Church.
