While the weeklong mission, A Spirituality for an Evangelizing Parish has concluded, the Parish Mission has only just begun. We invite all of those who attended the mission to continue spreading the evangelical message which was brought to us by Fr. James DiLuzio and Ms. Christine Watkins. If you were unable to participate in our mission the first week of November, you are urged to contact Msgr. Patrick Fryer of Mrs. Debra Marino to learn more about this powerful event.

A mission is a very special time of grace in the life of the parish. On November 1st thru 6th St. Paul Parish will sponsor a parish mission entitled A Spirituality for an Evangelizing Parish. Whether you are a venerable senior member of our parish or just beginning grade school, whether you are married or single, young adult or teenager, this mission is for you. It promises to be a special opportunity for spiritual growth for all of us.

Why the title, A Spirituality for an Evangelizing Parish? A mission that calls us back to our central focus - the person of Jesus Christ. We are called to learn to share more freely our faith with others, by the power of our good example. There are 80 million unchurched people in this country. Eighteen million of them are inactive Catholics. Many of which are our own family members, friends, co-workers and neighbors. This mission will help equip us to become more welcoming and more inviting in the practice of our faith. We will also discover, as Pope John Paul II says, the faith is strengthened when it is given away.

Father Jim DiLuzio has been a Paulist Father since his ordination in 1993. After six years as an associate pastor as St. Paul the Apostle in Los Angeles, he worked at the St. Lawrence Church and Newman Center as a campus minister and pastoral associate. Father Jim brings a love of people to every aspect of his ministry. He has specialized in the areas of liturgy, social justice, and outreach to young adults. He brings a great enthusiasm for preaching and an appreciation of drama to the PNCEA Parish Missions.

Christine Watkins holds a Master's degree in Social Welfare at the University of California at Berkley's School of Social Welfare and a Master's degree in Theological Studies from the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkley. She currently works as a bereavement counselor, social worker and spiritual director, and, in addition, leads workshops in Catholic spirituality and liturgical movement, performs and choreographs liturgical dance, and conducts communication services. She has worked with the elderly, the infirm, the homeless, the disabled, persons with AIDS and war veterans and has held past positions as a resident minister and assistant liturgist for the University of San Francisco, as an English teacher in Spain, and as a professional dancer with the San Francisco Ballet Company.

Catholic Evangelization:

Know our own faith story and cultivating a willingness and readiness to share it –or parts of it—in appropriate and opportune situations.

Apply our growing awareness of how God is working in us, be prepared to be sensitive to how God is working in others (whether they are in or outside of the Church). Our strategy is: LISTEN! LISTEN! LISTEN! Acknowledge, acknowledge, and acknowledge that God is already at work in the lives of the inactive Catholic and the un-churched. Affirm all that is good in others: We catch more flies with honey than vinegar! Present a softer, gentler approach to God by cultivating a picture of a gentler God through gentler parenting, befriending.
Ask pertinent “pre-evangelization” questions when others share their experiences. For example, “How were you able to cope with such a difficulty?” “What do you do when you feel that kind of tension? “Who are you able to turn to times of discouragement?”
Be ready to share aspects of your story that are appropriate: “That reminds me of the time when . . . and prayer was my only recourse.” OR “I find listening to spiritual music very helpful,” or “I benefit from praying the longer version of the Serenity prayer. May I share it with you?”
Trust in the Holy Spirit to produce results. The Holy Spirit is the principal agent of evangelization. We are not. Thus, we are not in charge of results.

From Pope Paul’s encyclical “Evangelization in the Modern World”

Chapter IV Methods of Evangelization

1. The first means of evangelization is the witness of an authentically Christian life.

2. The necessity of preaching and engaging the Scriptures in dialogue with modern thought and actions in the celebration of all the sacraments and in Para-liturgical events and assemblies of the faithful as well.

3. We must look for signs in the world drama that affirm God’s message in the Scriptures and the teachings of the Church. These insights must be shared in our preaching that is expressed with great faith and love.

4. It is necessary above all to prepare good instructors—parochial catechists, teachers, parents—who are desirous of perfecting themselves in this “superior art” which is indispensable and requires religious instruction.

5. Indispensable personal contact: the person-to-person dynamic remains valid and important. Note Jesus with Nicodemus, Zacchaeus, the Samaritan woman. “Assist people with discernment and availability.”

6. The importance of the Seven Sacraments engaging the Word in “unbroken intercommunication.” The goal of evangelization is, of course, to lead each individual to Christ through the sacraments.

7. Acknowledgment of the value of popular piety and exercising patience with its excesses. Of primary importance are any local practices that affirm God’s fatherhood, providence, loving and constant presence and that engenders interior attitudes of patience, the sense of the cross in daily life, detachment, openness to others and devotion.

Catholic Evangelization: 20 Tools

1. According to Pope Paul’s encyclical “Evangelization in the Modern World,” the first means of evangelization is the witness of an authentically Christian life.

Know your own faith story and cultivating willingness and readiness to share it –or parts of it—in appropriate and opportune situations.

Read the Bible regularly and keep making connections between the Biblical characters and events with the events and emotions of your life. As you listen to others, identify parallel biblical events and issues related to their situation.

Read about the lives of the Saints. Just as with the Bible, keep making connections between issues, concerns, situations in your life with those of the saints. As you listen to others, identify parallels for them as well.

Point out where you see God is at work in the lives of the inactive Catholic and the un-churched. Affirm all that is good in others: We catch more flies with honey than vinegar! Present a softer, gentler approach to God by cultivating a picture of a gentler God through gentler parenting, befriending.

Be ready to share aspects of your story that are appropriate: “That reminds me of the time when . . . and prayer was my only recourse.” OR “I find listening to spiritual music very helpful,” or “I benefit from praying the longer version of the Serenity prayer. May I share it with you?”

Pray before you share matters of faith, and speak with love.

9. If words fail, speak to people about Jesus through your actions. Show that YOU CARE. If people don't feel cared for, they could care less what you believe.

PRAY FOR PEOPLE’S CONVERSIONS. In your prayer groups, make it a point to pray for unbelievers and people alienated from the church.

Invite people to pray with you over matters of mutual concern.

Tell others you will pray for them. Then do it. People are almost always grateful for this offer.

Invite people to Mass and afterwards take time to answer their questions.

Offer hospitality. Invite others over for a meal. Pray before the meal. Be welcoming!

Do not abandon people when they leave the church or fall into sin. God is unconditional love and we are called to demonstrate that love for others.

Be an example of Forgiveness. People may be moved by the story of the Prodigal Son and the Forgiving Father (LUKE 15) but more powerful still are LIVING EXAMPLES of forgiveness among their family members, friends, and business associates. Be open to forgiveness always and get spiritual help and guidance when forgiveness is too difficult.

Let people vent about their problems with religion and the church. Let them be angry. If they don’t feel listened to, they may distance themselves further from the church. They may have been very hurt by a Catholic or Christian person. Be a good listener and try to understand their point of view. Their grievances may not have ever been acknowledged before and you may be the first Christian person to empathize with them. Do not be too quick to defend our church, which is full of saints and sinners alike. We are called to challenge, but we are also called to console. Taking a defensive stance will alienate you from them.

Honesty is always the best policy. The fact that we, a believing people, remain in continual need of conversion and forgiveness is the best possible invitation to people looking for the same. They may more readily feel at one with us if we admit our faults. Truly, the sins of the church acknowledged, we are ever more the witness to the grace and forgiveness of God!

Fast on behalf of someone, or on behalf of people who do not believe. We can fast, by eating just bread and water, for instance. Or we can give up a craving or comfort dear to us. This form of prayer is very efficacious. God will take your prayer very seriously because you are willing to sacrifice something. As written in the catechism, the church calls us to fast in "Lent and each Friday in memory of the death of the Lord." Many fast every Wednesday and Friday on behalf of those without faith. When words fail to evangelize, pray and fast. Prayer without fasting is like a bird with one wing.

Trust in the Holy Spirit to produce results. The Holy Spirit is the principal agent of evangelization. We are not. Thus, we are not in charge of results.

PORTLAND, Ore. (CNS) -- Religious leaders and worshipers across denominations rallied Feb. 13 at a Portland church to protest the ordered closure of a free meal and prayer program for needy people at another church.
         The controversial decision, handed down in January, also cited parking shortages and placed a cap on the size of the Sunday congregation at Sunnyside Centenary United Methodist Church, limiting the number to 70 people.
       Church officials said the regular attendance on Sundays is about 70 but that the sanctuary can hold about 350 and special services often draw 300 or more.
        The Portland City Council was to take up the case March 1. The original decision was handed down by city hearings officer Elizabeth Normand, who ruled in favor of a neighborhood group that blamed local crime on Sunnyside Methodist’s programs for needy residents and homeless people. The group is concerned about neighborhood livability and the code on land use. Law scholars are saying parts of the ruling appear to violate constitutional protections for religious practice.
         Some 1,100 people filled Portland’s First United Methodist Church to overflowing for the Feb. 13 rally against what Portland’s religious leaders see as an infringement on their right to live out their faith by reaching out to needy people.
         “Churches are not social services; we do what we do out of core belief and it is part of our ministry to open our doors,” said Valerie Chapman, pastoral administrator at St. Francis of Assisi Church, which serves free meals to more than 300 people each day.
         “Some neighbors think if we would close our doors people would go away,” said Chapman, who church is near Sunnyside Methodist. “But our doors are open because the need is already there.”
         The Rev. Steven Sprecher, a superintendent of the Methodists’ Oregon-Idaho Conference, said in a statement that the church was “disappointed that the hearings officer did not understand that the Wednesday night supper and Friday night coffee house are integral parts of the church’s outreach program.”
         “We think the city would look for ways to support, not close, organizations ... who are providing services the city would otherwise have to offer using tax dollars currently utilized elsewhere,” the statement said.
         Normand’s decision revoked a city permit Sunnyside Methodist used
to carry out the meal programs in what is a mostly residential neighborhood. The program, which serves about 70 or 80 people, was continuing while the church’s appeal was pending.

         “There are serious, continuing intrusions into the community, and the church meal programs cause them,” neighbor Judith Trenberth said in December testimony before Normand. Neighbors submitted a book, three-quarters of an inch thick, documenting incidents in the past year.
         The city’s planning department issued a report saying that a security officer and 12-member volunteer foot patrol the church established after neighbor   complaints “appear to be contributing to the safety of the neighborhood.”
         But Trenberth testified that the measures “have been totally inadequate” in preventing problems such as littering, public defecation, noise and theft.
        “The churches are looking at this as an issue of freedom of religion, but that’s not what it is,” said Ronald Doctor, who lives three blocks from Sunnyside Methodist. “It is an issue of neighborhood livability.”
        In her ruling to close down the Sunnyside meals program, Normand wrote that hungry people could go two miles to St. Francis of Assisi Church instead.
         Although St. Francis wants to welcome all comers, it is already overflowing at 300 meals per day, said Julie Cusumano, director of the dining hall.
        “People have to keep moving because neighborhood don’t want them anymore,” she told the Catholic Sentinel, newspaper of the Portland Archdiocese.
        The case is causing many church leaders to take a new look at the balance of private and public resources committed to serving the needy.

        “You cannot expect the churches to provide these services and then set up criteria that wind up causing the city to shut them down. This isn’t going to work,” says Paulist Father Steve Bossi, pastor of St. Philip Neri Parish, not far from Sunnyside Methodist.
       “Where are the publicly sponsored feeding programs that will take in folks?” he asked. “There isn’t a church in the city that doesn’t have people calling constantly and coming by looking for help with one thing or another.”
         Leaders at St. Philip Neri have joined with the local neighborhood association to offer a forum on homelessness. That project, said the priest, could help neighbors embrace what the churches see as both a religious and civic responsibility.

2. Questions for Newspaper article discussion:
1. What is my response to the city officials and neighborhood positions in the article?

3. Using the Four Stages of Faith Development, where am I on my spiritual journey? Where might the city officials be?

4. Recognizing the stages of faith development each side may be on, what approach would we use to “evangelize” all sides of the issue? What proposals would we make to keep people open to “Gospel Possibilities?”

From Pope Paul’s encyclical “Evangelization in the Modern World”

Last modified: 08/16/05