Are we evangelizing in our parishes?

Recently a man who had seen a TV episode of The Choices We Face, on which I talked about evangelization, contacted me. As a result he called me for support and clarification on some of what he was experiencing. He had formerly been an evangelical Christian, was now a Roman Catholic, and wanted to continue to evangelize people to Christ within the context of his parish. His parish was the diocesan Cathedral, so he wrote his Bishop asking how do ‘we’ evangelize
people to Christ in our parish? He understood the place of RCIA and had been through it himself, but was asking, what else do we do? He was simply trying to understand how the parish evangelized. After respectfully writing three times and receiving no response he decided he had apparently gotten his response.

I have often heard this type of concern voiced by Catholics regarding their parishes or (arch)dioceses.The questions raised go like this: What are the steps we are taking to make evangelization our priority mission? What is our evangelization plan and process for my parish? Does anyone know the evangelization game plan in our parish so that we are all know what is expected of us and how we can support it? If evangelization is really a priority to us as Catholics, why isn't it reflected in the budget? Do we know that it is the universal calling, privilege and responsibility of every baptized Christian? Do we as Catholics realize this incredible calling given to each of us isn’t intended to be some abstract, irrelevant educational exercise we hear and vaguely remember, but rather is the power of the Gospel that can change the lives of people we encounter who desperately need good news! Is anybody being taught how to personally evangelize in our seminaries or parishes?

There are many Catholics (clergy, religious and laity), who are life long Catholics, who are raising these questions about evangelization, in addition to brothers and sisters who were formerly from other Christian traditions. I for one being a committed ‘cradle Catholic,’ would like to publicly express my gratitude for those of us who have come from other Christian backgrounds and have a deep personal commitment to evangelization. Thank God for their zeal! Oh that all Catholics would be so concerned for those around us to know the love of Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior!

The fact is we have Catholics who want to evangelize and don’t find the necessary support or means to do it as parishes. The Church teaches that the laity are intended to be in the front lines of evangelization in our neighborhoods and in the market place. The laity are crucial in the new evangelization and they need the support of their priests to get out into the harvest fields and spread the good news! Evangelization is after all not an isolated act: it is ecclesial. (See Pope Paul VI’s, EN, 60).

This issue of parish evangelization is a very serious pastoral challenge for the Church here in the United States. Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith, Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, speaking recently at a conference held in Rome on "The Parish and the New Evangelization," stated: "The Church exists only if it evangelizes, and the same is true for the parish. If a parish does not evangelize, it is only a building." Read the full article

The Magesterium teaches that evangelization is “the reason the Church exists.”(EN, 14) The universal mission of the Church we are taught is to be lived out at every level, in all institutions and in the lives of every baptized Christian (Mission of the Redeemer, 3). The US Conference of Bishops stated in “Go Make Disciples,” A National Plan and Strategy for Catholic Evangelization, that the Bishops want “to make evangelization a natural and normal part of Catholic life and to give evangelizers the tools and support they need to carry out this ministry today.”

The bishops evangelization plan was written back in November 1992. It is worth asking ourselves as parishes how we are doing with evangelization becoming a natural and normal part of Catholic life in 2008? Since the place where the rubber meets the road for most people in terms of their Catholic life is the parish, what are we doing?

Three Steps parishes can take

I would like to offer three practical steps that we can take as parishes that can help us move forward in making evangelization the essential mission. I am not going to develop these points here, we do that in our Building Evangelizing Eucharistic Communities seminar. I am simply pointing out three practical areas worth parish staffs and councils discussing and considering in order to take some steps to move forward.

1. Provide ongoing opportunities for people to encounter Christ Jesus as Lord within the context of a welcoming relational community (of the parish). As a parish we need to have regular ways of inviting people to encounter the Lord Jesus, both for parishioners and those not connected with the parish.
Courses like Alpha, Life in the Spirit seminars and ChristLife’s Discovering Christ course are effective examples of courses that are offered over several weeks.
Retreats that evangelize people like Cursillo and Light of the World are also means of evangelizing people to Christ and fuller life in the parish.
Special events. Special events such as a music concert, a film, or our Christmas and Easter liturgies. These Masses have incredible potential for lovingly welcoming our annual Catholics to the parish through par the intro to the Mass and in proclaiming clearly at the homily the reason for the celebration of the Incarnation or Resurrection of Jesus and what it means for you! Also, having some type of event, course or retreat, to invite everybody to, which the presiding priest would personally invite all attending to come to. Having extra greeters who could pass out a welcoming leaflet and invitation to whatever it is we will offer to connect them to the love of God and our parish!

2. Develop an ongoing process of initiation in the parish that includes both actual evangelization of the participants (point one above) and practical life formation/catechesis. I am not talking about RCIA here (which is essential and needs to be taught well and in an ongoing manner). But here I am talking about formation (discipleship) for daily living as a Catholic follower of the Lord, e.g., How to have a personal prayer life; how the sacraments sustain and strengthen our daily life; reading Scripture as God’s word; Christian relationships; service and evangelizing, learning to deal with the world, the flesh and the devil, etc. Here at ChristLife we are piloting a new course entitled, Following Christ, which teaches on these basics of following Christ as Catholic disciple. We also have some video courses that help in this process.

3. Foster Community as part of the process. True interior conversion, the work of the Holy Spirit, is most effective when it occurs in the content of relationships. Without authentic Christian relationships within the context of the parish it is hard to expect anyone to make the shift from being ‘conformed to this world’ (See Romans 12:2) to a transformed Christian worldview and lifestyle. To live authentic Catholic lives we need each other! We can establish small Christian communities that spontaneously develop and flow out of the two previous points above if we make it a priority to pastorally care for their development.

We would be happy to personally talk with you or someone from your parish more about evangelization in your parish, if you would like. Contact us at: info@christlife.org May we all take active concrete steps to incarnate the calling of Christ our Lord and the Church to evangelize!

Reaching out to Muslims

Recently I had the great privilege of speaking with Fr. Joseph Kenny, a Dominican friar from Nigeria. He shared with us the struggle of Muslims in Nigeria and how we can relate to them, understand them, and ultimately show the love of Jesus to them.

To give you a little background on Fr. Joseph Kenny: He was sent to Nigeria in 1964, while the Vatican II Council was in progress, because the Holy See requested the Dominicans to provide a resource person knowledgeable in Arabic and Islam, because nearly half the country is Muslim and there was a need at the very least to secure understanding and peace between the two communities. He took some time off to learn Arabic in Rome, Tunisia and Cairo, and to get a Ph.D. in Arabic and Islamic Studies at the University in 1970. After resuming work in the North and then teaching Islamics at the government-owned University of Ibadan for 22 years, he is presently based at the Dominican Institute, Ibadan, which provides philosophy and theology courses for candidates for the priesthood as well as for lay students, and also courses in communications and Internet.

We began the interview discussing the necessity of everyone in the Church to show interest in Muslims and reach out to them. "Why? Because Christ died for them" (Fr. Kenny). That point may seem obvious, but it actually struck me that in my own life I don't know if I would go out of my way to speak to a Muslim because God loves them and I desire for them to know that. It is something that I think many of us know, but need to better practice and live out.
Fr. Kenny stressed the fact that we should "walk with the Muslims", that is, we should be understanding their situations, problems, customs, and their life from their perspective. We should try to learn about them and treat them as friends first and foremost. Not that we water down our faith, on the contrary, they actually deeply respect someone who is solid in their beliefs. Rather, "we propose, we do not impose" (Fr. Kenny quotes John Paul II).

There have been great improvements in Nigeria in the last several years, which can partially be attributed to John Paul II. Although, his impact did not come without a price. He took a bullet and was greatly rejected by Muslims initially. At his funeral there were countless Muslims saying how much they admired John Paul II and grieving his death. Since then there has been decreasing hostility between Muslims and Christians, yet it is still not the freedom that we have here in America and we should not take for granted. We are able to approach Muslims in the street and strike up conversations with them and even tell them about Jesus, which is something not possible in many Islamic countries. We should take advantage of this opportunity (Fr. Kenny).

I was very encouraged by my conversation with Fr. Kenny. He is very knowledgeable and has a passion and love for Muslims that I find inspiring. The main thing I hope to live out as a result of the conversation we had is to not be afraid to approach a Muslim and to strike up a conversation not necessarily preaching Jesus to them, but finding out how they are doing and seeing things from their perspective, becoming a friend first and foremost. Please pray for Fr. Kenny and his work in Nigeria, to find out more about his work click here.