Dear Friend of CHRISTLIFE,

We are very excited and grateful for the opportunities the Holy Spirit is giving us to help to equip the Church for the work of evangelization. The opportunities far exceed our expectations and resources. We have a sense of urgency to help others personally encounter the love of God, in Jesus, through the Holy Spirit within the context of the Catholic Church! This isn't an anxious driving sense but a passion that others might be empowered and equipped to know Christ and make him known.

As we approach the third millennium since the Incarnation of the Lord, we believe that God is offering the Church an extraordinary opportunity of grace. We are convinced that we are entering what Pope John Paul II calls "a new springtime of Christianity". We are already seeing signs of its springing forth around us. We are hearing people in everyday conversations asking the real questions of life: "Where have I come from? Where am I going? What is the purpose of life?"

Only Jesus offers us the answers to these questions. Jesus alone provides the one, True, Way to Life! And that is precisely why we believe the new millennium will be an historic occasion for the Church, if each of us responds with generosity and holiness.

It is our conviction that CHRISTLIFE is to help serve the Church within our own Archdiocese of Baltimore, throughout North America, and beyond. The doors of opportunity that are opening are so numerous and significant that it causes us to get down on our knees and pray with gratitude for wisdom, for power of the Holy Spirit, and for workers. Jesus said, "The harvest is enormous, pray therefore that the Lord of the Harvest will send workers . . ." (Mt.9:35 ff). Please join us in praying that, by the grace of God, together with your support, we might fulfill our part in the work of evangelization. We believe that we are at a critical moment in history and that God is calling us, as Catholics, to share the good news of God's love in Jesus with the people around us.

Last April we sponsored the First North American Alpha for Catholics Conference. 580 delegates and volunteers were on hand for this training conference that gave the participants a practical way of beginning a process of evangelizing as parish, youth, college and prison ministries. In our Archdiocese alone, we now have over 17 parishes ready to use Alpha, almost triple the number using it before the conference and each day we hear of another one! And from the number of Alpha resources that were sold and the number of phone calls, e-mails, and faxes we have received, it is clear that many parishes around North America will be starting courses soon!

Opportunities abound!

· In addition to helping introduce and train Catholics to use Alpha we, in partnership with the Catholic Alpha Office in England, are developing and gathering teaching resources to continue the process of evangelization. We are attempting to respond to the hunger of participants completing Alpha for more teaching for their small groups and, to the request of pastors and hierarchy to provide additional steps to support the vitality of faith that many encounter in Alpha.

We have already produced 2 video seminars, the first, Touching Jesus Though The Church with Dr. Marcellino DíAmbrosio, is an introduction to the Church and Sacraments, and is intended to follow Alpha as a basic primer to the Church and Sacraments. The second series is titled, Drink From The Wells Of The Church by Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa OFM, Cap. Fr. Cantalamessa is the papal preacher, who, for the last 18 years, has preached to the Pope, Cardinals, and Bishops of the Vatican each Friday in Advent and Lent. This series is also excellent! It will be available for distribution in mid- September.

· As part of the means of accomplishing the opportunities the Holy Spirit has provided, we are mobilizing a core of volunteers who want to be evangelizers in their local parishes and Catholic organizations. On August 29th we will have a meeting here in Maryland to provide opportunities for many of you who are nearby to help serve in the mission. If you are interested in attending, please contact us. We would love you to join us! Our hope is to also mobilize others of you who are more distant as well.

· As North American headquarters for Alpha for Catholics, we want to continue to provide information and materials and to offer training throughout North America. In the US alone, there are over 18,000 parishes! If only one quarter of them were to use Alpha to evangelize parishioners and neighbors to the love of God, think of the impact that would have in our parishes, neighborhoods and society!

· In the year 2000, we will help sponsor two Alpha for Catholic Conferences. One will be in Baltimore in April; the second will be in Vancouver B.C. on July 7th & 8th.

· We are establishing a resource center here at our offices through which we will make available resources for evangelization and formation, including all Alpha materials.

· We will begin a quarterly newsletter this fall to help support Catholics in the work of evangelization.

This is what CHRISTLIFE is doing, equipping Catholics to serve in evangelization - to know God's love personally and to make him known to others in the context of the Church. From the letters, phone calls, and e-mails we get, it is beginning to bear fruit.

Will you please help us as we press on in this magnificent work? Please pray that we respond fully to the opportunities that the Holy Spirit provides us. Consider if you can participate as part of our volunteer core, and please try to help us financially.

We face an unprecedented opportunity in the years ahead if our parishes and each of us is willing to respond to the priority of evangelization! What a great privilege it is to share with others the good news of God's love for each of us in his son, Jesus Christ!

What a tremendous opportunity! This is the time of preparation for the Great Jubilee, the beginning of the 3rd Millennium since Jesus' Incarnation. Let each of us draw closer to him and respond to the Holy Spirit's call to share the Love of the Father with those around us, with all that we are!

God bless you for your faithful support.

Your brother in Jesus our Lord,

Dave Nodar

Helping People to know the love of God the Father in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit!

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