Dear Friends,
There are few of us who have not been deeply grieved and impacted by the terrorist attacks on the United States. In the wake of this evil event we have witnessed a massive outpouring of generosity, loving action, and a summons to prayer around the world. “Where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more abundantly.” Rm. 5:20

I don’t know about you, but I have also been struck by the tremendous increase in spiritual openness that we have witnessed publicly since the tragedy, with national and local appeals for prayer, even spontaneous singing and praying to God by members of Congress. I heard a set of national TV commentators discussing the “face of evil” and rationally discussing Satan as the one behind the perpetrators of this wickedness. At a local parish one pastor said at Mass, the week after the attack, “It is a shame that we have to be shook up in order to shape up.”

This increased spiritual openness should raise questions for us about “shaping up” as the church. The United States and other countries are mobilizing for war, what about the church? In reality the Church is always engaged in the most significant level of warfare (Ephesians 6:10-18), the war for the souls of men, women and children. Like it or not, there are no sidelines or time outs in this warfare. Our weapons for this warfare include: prayer, the word of God, Eucharist, holiness, and equally essential, the proclamation of the love of God in Jesus Christ. Evangelization is at the heart of the conflict because we are telling people the accurate story of history by proclaiming “The Redeemer of man, Jesus Christ, the center of the universe and of history.” (The Redeemer of Man, 1, JPII). This essential weapon of warfare is one that has been missing for many of us and our parishes. The death of so many good people should cause us to realize the urgent need for God’s help in learning how to reach out and share that Christ our Savior desires that all be saved and come to know him! (1Tim. 2:4)

The Sunday after the attack, many parishes were as packed as it is on Christmas. How are we responding to the anguish, fear, confusion and desire for the meaning of life that many people are expressing? It can no longer be business as usual. Will we become welcoming communities who also are hurting, but know the grace and peace of God that is intended for all in Christ Jesus? Will we as parishes move from a maintenance mode to a missionary lifestyle which is reaching out with the truth that sets us free ? Will we enter the warfare to which Jesus calls every Christian? (Mat.28:19)

The date of the terrorist attack was 9 -11 - 01. Let’s make this date the beginning of an ongoing 911 prayer to the ONE who alone can give grace to change each of us and our parishes so we can extend God’s love to those around us!

Your brother,
Dave Nodar

CHRISTLIFE Activities
Early in the year, as we prayed we sensed that the Lord was calling us to become “sowers of the seed,” to share His call to evangelization wherever we had an opportunity. Our response was to present evangelization workshops at as many conferences as possible and to present Alpha in a Catholic Context seminars at as many Alpha conferences as we could. The multitude of opportunities has really kept us busy.

Conferences
An Alpha for Catholics Conference was held at the Franciscan University of Steubenville in July. Over 110 participants from across the US and Canada came to learn how to use Alpha to begin evangelizing in their parishes. Each left motivated to get things going and confident that they knew how to begin. The day after the conference we held our first National Leaders Forum. Key leaders from various regions across the country shared their successes and problems with developing a process of evangelization. It was a great opportunity for sharing vision and finding mutual support from brothers and sisters around the country who also want to help see parishes and ministries effectively evangelizing. We will have another forum in 2002. If interested in joining us, please let us know!

Workshops
We had the opportunity to present a seminar at the National Council of Catholic Evangelization. This conference is a gathering of those involved with the work of evangelization from dioceses all over the country.
We conducted several workshops at 3 conferences held at the Franciscan University of Steubenville. At the Priests and Deacons Conference about 175 attendees came to our workshop. Many priests were very interested in the vision for evangelization we presented and expressed appreciation for the practical tools to implement it. Approximately 120 leaders from the Charismatic Renewal Conference and over 70 men from the Catholic Mens’ Conference attended our workshops. The participants at these seminars represent individuals within movements already committed to following Jesus, as members of the Catholic Church,who are looking for ways to make him known.

Alpha in a Catholic Context
Seminars were presented at Alpha conferences in the following cities: Washington, DC; Tampa; New Orleans, Dallas, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York City. These seminars are intended to give parish leaders a vision for evangelization that includes bringing people into a personal relationship with Jesus and then leading them to become his disciples.
We estimate that in excess of 14,000 people have participated in Alpha courses held in more than 200 Catholic parishes here in the US and that over 3,000 leaders have attended Alpha conferences for training in evangelization and use of Alpha.!

Thanks so much for your prayer, service and financial support!

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