CHRISTLIFE Newsletter - Ascension Thursday, 1998

12290-A Folly Quarter Road, Pho: (410) 531-7701

Ellicott City, Maryland 21042 USA Fax: (410) 531-7702 E-mail: dave @christlife.org

Dear Friend,

Just before Jesus ascended to his heavenly Father he gave his disciples this great commission: "Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations . . . " (Matthew 28:19). This commission is the calling each of us has been given as members of His body. Did you know that as Catholics we believe that the Church, "exists in order to evangelize."(1) ? At a time in history when much of the church in the west is not only experiencing a shortage of priests, but also a reduction in the number of people in the congregation, especially young people, it is essential that we, who call ourselves Christians, take up His call to evangelize. In fact, the whole Church is becoming aware of this need. Over the last several months, I have been involved in meetings with Church leaders, and have been struck with the candor in conversations about the need for conversion to Jesus Christ(2) among many of our fellow Catholics and for the need to address the lack of vitality of faith in many of our parishes. "Entire groups of the baptized have lost a living sense of the faith, or even no longer consider themselves as members of the Church and live a life far removed from Christ and his Gospel."(3) The Pope has consistently called upon the Church to make evangelization her number one priority, and the Bishops have been calling increasingly upon all Catholics to help enter into the work of evangelization. The teaching is absolutely clear that each of us is to participate in the work of evangelization. But how? Father Avery Dulles, SJ, a noted theologian once said, " The teaching of the Church is very clear on the priority of evangelization, the issue is how to put it into practice." (4)

There are encouraging signs of the activity of the Holy Spirit helping us to undertake the task of evangelization. There are a number of new initiatives in different countries of lay movements and associations of Catholics (and other believers) that are involved specifically in the work of evangelization and mission to the nations. Also, there are a number of new programs that focus on the work of evangelizing people to relationship with God, in Jesus Christ. And perhaps most importantly, there seems to be a growing hunger for God among many Catholics and other Christians, including among the Church's leadership. Recently a priest, who works with Pope John Paul II, presented a retreat on the Holy Spirit to 200 Catholic bishops in South America. Father told us that several years ago there would have been reluctance to ask for the Holy Spirit to come, renew, and fill them with His power. But now there is a sense of need and hunger for him in their personal lives and for their service to the Church! We are hearing that same hunger expressed by many people, both Christians and those who do not yet follow the Lord Jesus.

We in CHRISTLIFE are promoting ALPHA as a practical introduction to the Christian faith that is a very effective way for parishes to enter the work of evangelization. Alpha's primary goals are to help individuals encounter the love of God, in Jesus Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit, and to help them to become active members of the church. Alpha is being used in many Christian churches throughout the world. In the United Kingdom, where the course began, there are over 5000 churches using it, including 100 Catholic parishes. Here in North America it has recently been introduced and there are already over 600 churches using it, including several Catholic parishes. The results are fantastic! Alpha is a wonderful first step in the process of becoming evangelizing parish communities.

CHRISTLIFE is establishing a resource center to provide teaching that is inspiring, practical, and faithful to the Catholic Church. We plan to research and gather existing material which will complement the Alpha teaching and will continue its spirit and format. We will provide Catholic courses for use by small groups in parishes, on college campuses, and in missions. In addition we will develop resources to fill this need.

On July 23-25, 1998 we will produce our first teaching series, "The Church and Sacraments." Marcellino D'Ambrosio Ph.D., of the University of Dallas, will be our speaker. The sessions will be video taped as a resource for small groups. The series will be offered as a seminar to interested friends of CHRISTLIFE. We welcome your attendance. Since the size of the audience is limited, please contact us as soon as possible to express your interest.

We believe the Lord is providing us a unique opportunity to serve the Church by practically responding to the call to evangelization and mission to the nations. CHRISTLIFE is currently a small group of Christians who are attempting to follow the Lord Jesus in His calling to know Him, and make Him known. We want to respond to him with generosity and holiness, and give of ourselves with the expectation that he can do far more that we can imagine is humanly possible, even with us!

We need your help in this undertaking. We need prayer to cover all of the areas of mission that we have undertaken. We sincerely believe that prayer is the crucial dimension of the fruitfulness of this mission, and we greatly appreciate your prayer support! We would like you to consider serving in some of the areas of our mission. In our monthly updates we will present to you the different areas of Mission that we are presently engaged in. When we are better able to define our need in these areas, we hope that some of you will be called serve with us. In addition, we need your financial help in specific areas of development, for example, the video production that we will begin producing this summer. The first video project will cost approximately $6000. We will rent the equipment and Phil Rosensteel, who has been volunteering his services to CHRISTLIFE, will do the production. Phil produced the video of our work in Eastern Europe along with Lee Thomas. If this project is successful, there is the potential that the sale of the materials will provide funds for additional teaching series. For now we are simply taking the first steps of faith in response to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Our hope is that this aspect of our mission will help to prepare and support parishes in the great commission, which Jesus gave us!

Once again, thanks so much for your support and encouragement. We pray for you!

Sincerely,

Dave Nodar
Director of CHRISTLIFE

Endnotes:

1. Evangelization in the Modern World #14, Pope Paul VI

2. "Conversion means accepting by a personal decision the saving sovereignty of Christ and becoming his disciple." - Pope JPII, Mission of the Redeemer, #46

3. General Directory for Catechesis, #58c, 1997; Mission of the Redeemer, # 33

4. Conference on "The New Evangelization and Mission ad gentes", Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1993

Please pray for these coming events:

June 11-14 Dave will be speaking to Youth with a Mission leaders retreat in Austria.

July 23-25 Marcellino D'Ambrosio, Seminar on The Church and Sacraments, Maryland USA

July 13- August 22 School of Evangelization and short term missions, Lanckorona, Poland

- We will have teachers, staff and students participating in this school and mission. Please pray for Melanie Barnes who is our staff person on site, along with all of the staff and students!

August 1-28 School of Evangelization and short term missions, Podolinec, Slovakia - Dave will be teaching at this school on August 10-12

August 7-9 Catholic Men's Conference on the Lordship of Christ & the Holy Spirit, Poland - Dave Nodar, Fr. Jim Tortorici, Neal Lozano

October 30,31'98 Holy Spirit Conference in Archdiocese of Baltimore. Following the theme of Pope John Paul II, as we prepare for the third millennium.

April 19,20, 1999 First North American Alpha Conference for Catholics, to be held in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, Maryland, with the support of William Cardinal Keeler, Archbishop.

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