3 minute read
Evangelization Committee Shares the Most Exciting News on the Face of the Earth
If you were to find out an amazing piece of news, wouldn’t you want to share it with everyone you know and love, as soon as you could? And if you knew that sharing it with them would bless their lives abundantly, bring unspeakable joy to their hearts, and help bring them eternal salvation, wouldn’t it feel wrong to just keep it all to yourself?
You probably answered “yes” to the questions above, and if so, you can understand the importance of the Great Commission of Christ, as well as the Evangelization Committee at our parish.
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“This committee has been around for about 10 years now, and through it, we have been blessed to share our faith with inactive Catholics and non-Catholics,” says Lee Jarocki, who coordinates this ministry.
In answering the call to evangelization, members of this fervent committee find themselves doing so in union with the Sacrifice of the Mass.
“We tend to absolve ourselves from the responsibility of sharing the Gospel, and shrink from any public display of our faith in an ever-increasingly secular, post-Christian world,” Lee says. “We only need to be reminded of the very last sentence of Holy Mass, ‘Go forth and proclaim the Gospel of the Lord.’ In fact, the word ‘Mass’ itself has its roots in the word ‘mission’ and our mission is to evangelize in our homes, our workplace, and our neighborhoods.”
For Lee and other committee members, evangelization also means being dedicated to discipleship and walking in the footsteps of the saints. This dedication to evangelization is also beautifully reflected in a brief prayer that Lee holds dear — “The fruit of silence is prayer; the fruit of prayer is faith; the fruit of faith is love; the fruit of love is service; the fruit of service is peace.”
“[The prayer’s] brevity and arrow-sharp focus cuts to the heart of the Gospel and hints at the unmistakable authorship of St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta,” Lee says. “I have a card with this prayer on it. It is creased, discolored, and torn, but I keep it on my dresser because Mother Teresa herself gave it to me one morning after Mass nearly 30 years ago. I cherish it because it came from her soft, wrinkled hands, which are a reminder of what it means to put our Catholic faith into action!”
Although their annual Catholics Returning Home program is on hold because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the committee continues carrying out its mission in other ways.
“Weekly attendance at Mass is still below the average of a year ago,” Lee says. “Recently, we have made effort to reach out and call each parishioner to check in on them, ask if they need anything from the parish, and offer to pray for their intentions.”
In addition to evangelizing those in our parish family, the Evangelization Committee has re-initiated monthly trips to local abortion clinics to pray on the first Saturday of each month.
“This important, life-saving apostolate gives strong witness that the taking of innocent life is never normal, acceptable or tolerable,” Lee says. “It is a reminder that life is God’s greatest gift to us and our job to proclaim the Gospel of the Lord is one we take seriously. All are welcome to come and join us on the first Saturday of each month at 9 a.m. in the church parking lot — we return by 11 a.m.”
Furthermore, the committee continues to distribute Catholic literature aimed at helping nonpracticing Catholics, as well as pamphlets designed to strengthen us all in our faith.
“Perhaps the best way we can evangelize with joy and hope is to share our faith with each person we meet, as well as with those in our own homes,” Lee says. “Knowing a bit of Scripture, being able to defend basic Church teachings, and wanting others to know the profound joy we have as a result of our beliefs are the necessary prerequisites to being effective evangelists in our world today.”
