Evangelization for a new millennium

By Nadia Pozo
CS&T Staff Writer

When you hear Pope John Paul II’s call to the Church to go out and make disciples of the world, do you wonder how it’s possible to accomplish such a feat?
Wonder no longer. The Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s Evangelization Outreach has concrete ways of helping you answer this call beginning with the upcoming Door-to-Door Evangelization training from 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. Sat. Oct. 16 at St. Pius X Church in Broomall.
“Don’t be afraid,” said Bill Donaghy, administrator of evangelization out reach at the archdiocesan Secretariat for Evangelization. “We knock and we offer the invitation to come and see what the Catholic Church is all about.”
Last year, the archdiocese designated April 3 as the kick-off day for the program, encouraging parishes throughout the archdiocese to participate by going into the streets and inviting their neighbors back to the Church.
More than 24 parishes participated last year and many more are expected to take up the challenge this year.
St. John Bosco’s parishioners in Hatboro participated last year despite some initial apprehensions.
“They came back on cloud nine,” said Maryanne Thompson, director of Adult Faith Formation for St. John Bosco Parish. “[E]veryone seemed very receptive to accepting them into their homes. We told people [to go out for] two hours, but we had people who didn’t get back until three-and-a-half hours later. They were having the best time! Everyone came back with at least one encounter that touched them. The Holy Spirit was everywhere.”
This year’s training will be another opportunity to get Catholics from around the Archdiocese fired up to spread the Good News.
“We want to refresh people and challenge them to look at this again,” Donaghy said.
The training will be held before Advent and everyone, including priests, is encouraged to attend.
“We’ll encourage parishes to form teams and take what we teach them and make it their own,” Donaghy explained.
If, after attending the Door-to-Door Evangelization training day you think perhaps your gifts and talents would be better used in a small group setting, the Evangelization Outreach has just the thing for you — Community of Disciples.
This long-standing program offers assistance in setting up small faith-sharing communities within parishes that reflect on the upcoming Sunday readings.
The focus is on faith-sharing to build schools of prayers.
“It builds community and enriches [parishioners’] Mass experience,” Donaghy said.
Every fall, the Outreach sponsors an introduction to Community of Disciples, giving the faithful an opportunity to learn the basics of faith-sharing.
This year’s introduction will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. Sat. Nov. 20 at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary.
To supplement this program, the Evangelization Outreach brought in nationally acclaimed Jeff Cavins to present the Bible Timeline Seminar. Cavins gave the Community of Disciples groups a broader understanding of the “big picture” to help them understand Sunday readings in the context of salvation history.
“We decided to offer it to the whole Archdiocese, but in a special way to these faith communities,” Donaghy said. “People were really grateful that we cared enough to offer something so good and we had a great turnout with over 500 people — young, old and everything in between.”
Because the Sept. 18 event was such a success, there’s talk of bringing Cavins to the area again. The Outreach also offers the Landings program, a lay-led parish apostolate which invites inactive Catholics back to the Church through an eight to 10 week program.
Donaghy reminds the faithful that the blessme.org Web site provides information about all these programs and offers answers to just about any Catholic question.
With all these programs, Evangelization Outreach makes it easier for everyday Catholics to answer the call to “put out into the deep on the sea of history with the enthusiasm of the new evangelization.”
To learn more about these programs or register call Bill Donaghy at (215) 587-0547 or Connie Scharff at (215) 587-0504.

CS&T staff writer Nadia Pozo can be reached at npozo@adphila.org or (215) 965-4614.