October 5, 2014
Dear Parishioners,
Evangelization is the primary mission of the Church. This mission is given to all of us as baptized in the Lord Jesus. This is the mission that all of us are called to live, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.” (Mk 16:15)
The need for evangelization is the great challenge of our time. Looking around we see that more and more baptized Catholics are dropping out of the life of the church. According to a recent study only 30% of Americans who were raised Catholics are still practicing (which according to the study means attending Mass at least once a month.) Of these roughly half may be at Mass on a given weekend. Another 38% hold onto their Catholic identity but seldom or never attend Mass. The final 32% no longer consider themselves to be Catholic. When you look at young adults the numbers of those falling away from Church are even more staggering. In fact, the fasting growing group in our nation today is those that mark the box “none” when asked about their religious affiliation.
What does that have to do with us who are attending Mass and practicing our faith? I am convinced that we cannot sit back and do nothing. We cannot remain silent and complacent. Christ is calling us to more. We Catholics believe that as Church we have been given a great treasure in our sacramental life, our teachings and all that a life connected to Christ in the Church gives us. Evangelization means that in recognizing this gift we reach out to others to invite them to be part of this connection and encounter with Christ. It means that we, in a variety of ways, share with others what this means to us. It means bringing Christ’s love, peace and joy to others.
This is the call to the New Evangelization to which the recent Popes have called us. This is more easily understood as following a three point process: 1.) Discover Jesus through a personal encounter with him. 2.) Following Jesus, becoming his disciple. 3.) Proclaiming the Good News, becoming a witness of Jesus.
The call to evangelization is beautifully summed up by Pope Francis, “I invite all Christians, everywhere, at this very moment, to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ, or at least an openness to letting him encounter them…no one should think that his invitation is not meant for him or her since ‘no one is excluded from the joy brought by the Lord’” (Joy of the Gospel)
At St. Francis de Sales we have initiated several ways to make the New Evangelization a reality. We have made changes in our church and office space to make them more welcoming, we have been more intentional about welcoming all to Mass and our office, we are making better connections in all that we do in our programming so that each of us becomes more intentional in our discipleship, we are praying, we are studying and we continue to make worship and service the center of our living as Catholics.
There is another step that we will take. After discussions with our Pastoral Council I am working to bring the St. Andrew School of Evangelization to our parish in English. This will begin with the first New Life retreat to be held on November 21-23. Craig Slachter and I have been away the last weekend until today attending a conference to further prepare us for this mission.
Now what I ask each of us to do in the days and weeks ahead it to pray for the New Evangelization in our lives, in our parish and our Church. Let us pray for the team preparing the retreat and those that will be attending the New Life retreat. Let us pray that the Holy Spirit may bring many fruits of grace in our lives and in our parish. Let us pray that each of us discovers the joy of evangelizing.
God bless,
Fr. Charlie
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