With today’s longer Gospel reading of an obscure-sounding family tree, you might do a double-take and think that Christmas has come early. Instead, it’s the Feast of the Nativity of Mary. At times, it can seem like the Church has a bewildering…
God’s Love for the Individual
Initial Proclamation of the Gospel: A Non-Negotiable
How do you share the Gospel with someone? I’m not talking about context–like how or where you meet them, or what your relationship with them is like–but the words. The content. What do you say? If someone was to ask,…
Touching Suffering in the New Evangelization
Evangelization runs much deeper than just sharing the Gospel (though that’s an essential part, don’t get me wrong). Sometimes, it’s probing the depths of human experience that can be the most challenging to each of us personally as disciples of…
Making the Gospel Sticky
He [Jesus] spoke to them another parable. “The Kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flouruntil the whole batch was leavened.” (Mt 13:33) Just a single verse from the Gospel of…
How Does Liturgy Fit with the New Evangelization?
What exactly is the relationship between the Church’s liturgy and the New Evangelization? From one perspective, you might feel as if liturgy is an obstacle, something that’s a barrier to more effective proclamation–just think back to the level of concern surrounding a…
Barnabas and Paul: Enabling Evangelization
Yesterday our Church celebrated the wonderful solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul. Without question Paul is one of the most well-known, pivotal, and remarkable men to serve Jesus Christ as an evangelizer. Yet without a certain brother in Christ–Saint Barnabas,…
How Do You Measure Disciple-Making?
How do I know if my local church is making disciples? Whether you’re a person in the pew, volunteer leader, minister, staff, pastor, or parish council member–you should care. Your local church has the unique mission to foster initial and ongoing…
From Consumers to Coworkers in the New Evangelization
The Archdiocese of Detroit recently released a survey of the faithful that addressed many issues, including answers to the question: What characteristics are important in a quality pastor? Here’s what topped the list: Sounds like a pastor for the New Evangelization,…
Personal Discipleship and Life as Church
Discipleship. Intentional Discipleship. Personal relationship with Jesus Christ. These phrases are becoming more and more common in parishes as we embrace the New Evangelization more and more! And that’s great since all of our recent popes have emphasized the essential…
Be Imitators of God?
“So be imitators of God, as beloved children…” Ephesians 5:1 A little over a year ago, my husband and I were sitting around trying to decide on a Scripture verse to have printed on the back of the icon cards…