Parish Evangelization: Where Do You Begin?

Part I of a series on ways to engage the parish with the New Evangelization.

Lay people who understand their vocation to be Christ's presence in the world is not enough for the new evangelization to flourish. They likewise must be formed and equipped to be those evangelizers who will draw people into the life of the Church.

Therefore, among the paramount duties of the clergy is providing that necessary formation for the lay faithful to fulfill the new evangelization.

Where does a pastor even begin with such a formidable task? Since there is a multitude of ways to begin this work of the new evangelization at the parish, I would like to propose just one initial step.

Upon arriving at my new assignment at St. John the Evangelist Parish in Jackson, Michigan, this past summer, I addressed the congregation at all six weekend Masses as their new pastor. I shared that I would be following the advice of Pope Francis, who encouraged priests to go out and be shepherds with the smell of the sheep.

In striving to accomplish that, I said that I wouldn't wait for everyone to come to church, but that I would visit them in their neighborhoods and homes.

I recognized that they might wonder how such an endeavor is possible in a parish with over two thousand households. That may take all nineteen years that my predecessor was pastor! So, I shared with them that, in my first year at the parish, I would dedicate myself to a couple dozen evenings of what I called fireside chats. These Thursday evening gatherings would be held in parishioners' homes in various neighborhoods all around Jackson.

Each parish household, then, would receive an invitation from me and someone who lived in their general neighborhood to one of these fireside chats. I said that I wouldn't be coming with a long boring talk but was planning simply to pop open a cold one with them so as to get to know one another. I asked them if they would share what they loved about Jackson and St. John the Evangelist, as well as what their future hopes were for both the parish and school. The fireside chats would also give them the opportunity to discuss any questions of interest regarding our Catholic faithfrom Pope Francis to ways to grow in their relationship with Christ.

There are three primary aims that I hope these fireside chats will help to accomplish:

• The first aim is to foster solidarity between the pastor and the parishioners, so that the pastor, their shepherd, indeed is one with the smell of the sheep.
• A second aim is for parishioners to connect with one another. Many do not even know just how many people in their neighborhood belong to the same parish. This also provides an avenue for those parishioners who do not yet go to Mass regularly to interact with those that do.
• The third aim is to identify those intentional disciples who are willing to partner with the pastor to provide the necessary formation for the lay faithful to be those apostles, that is, those who are sent into the world to proclaim the Good News.

Part 2 in the next issue of Mosaic will discuss more ways of engaging the parish with the new evangelization.