"Evangelization  and You

If you are like most Catholics, the idea of evangelization makes you very nervous, and when you hear someone talk about “street evangelization,” you probably think of a religious fanatic standing on a soap box and shouting to all who pass by, “You’re all going to hell!” That is NOT evangelizing. Such tactics aren’t an effective way to share the good news of the Gospel, which is what evangelization is supposed to be all about – sharing the Catholic Faith we love and helping others find or rediscover that same Faith.
Catholics sometimes comment that when they were growing up, no one ever talked about evangelization. However, evangelization has been an essential part of the Church from the very beginning. After all, if those first twelve Apostles hadn’t left their comfort zone, the Good News of the Gospel would have died out within a generation. Throughout Christian history, the laity have always been involved in evangelizing their family and their friends. This call for the laity to evangelize was in the documents of the Second Vatican Council. The Council urged the baptized “to bring the Gospel, found fully in the Catholic Church, to a culture that has largely reverted to paganism.”
Saint John Paul II was one of the first to refer to the “New Evangelization.” In the papal encyclical Redemptoris Missio, he wrote, “The moment has come to commit all of the Church’s energies to a new evangelization…no believer in Christ, no institution of the Church can avoid this supreme duty: to proclaim Christ to all people.” This call, this duty, to evangelize is found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCC 1816: ‘The disciple of Christ must not only keep the faith and live on it, but also profess it, confidently bear witness to it, and spread it.”
The “New” Evangelization is different from the traditional evangelization of the past. The apostles and those who followed were sharing the Gospel with people who had never heard it before. That is sometimes true today. With the rapid secularization of the country and the decay of the modern culture, there are still people who have never heard of Jesus. However, often the greater need is to reach out to fallen-away Catholics. The numbers of baptisms and marriages in the United States have drastically declined, and the largest non-Catholic religious group in the country are fallen-away Catholics.  
The interesting thing is that they usually don’t stop going to the Catholic Church because of the teachings of the Faith or problems with the clergy. A recent survey of Catholics who have left the Church found that 71% of them “just gradually drifted away.” These are the lost sheep that we as faithful Catholics are called to reach out to, and often they are as close to us as our own family.
Unfortunately, we are conditioned by the secular culture around us to think that our faith is supposed to be a private affair; it’s not always something we feel comfortable talking about in public. While you do not need to be a street evangelizer or a professional, you are still called to intentionally share your Faith in the way you live your life and in the words you use to tell family and friends about Jesus in your own words.
So how do ordinary Catholics learn more about becoming effective evangelizers? First of all, by learning more about the teachings of the Church. You can’t explain what you don’t understand. Take advantage of any Bible study or apologetics classes your church might offer. Avail yourself of the vast riches that are available on the Internet from widely respected Catholic sources.
Then check out the many resources that are available on the New Evangelization, including the “Basic Evangelization Training” information available at the St. Paul Street Evangelization website. All of this can help you to gain the confidence you need to leave your comfort zone and see for yourself what this evangelization thing is all about.

To learn more, go to the St. Paul Street Evangelization website: www.streetevangelization.com "
All of us are called to Evangelize!

Resources from the Vatican
(in English and Spanish)

Pope Francis

As our Holy Father, Pope Francis has promoted the New Evangelization in a number of documents and speeches, including:

• Fratelli tutti: The Holy Father on Fraternity and Social Friendship

• Lumen Fidei, The Light of Faith, Pope Francis' First Encyclical Letter (En español)

• Laudato si', On the Care of Our Common Home, Pope Francis' Second Encyclical Letter (En español)

• Evangelii Gaudium, The Joy of the Gospel, Pope Francis' Apostolic Exhortation (En español)

• To Participants in the Meeting of the Pontifical Mission Societies (En español)

• To the Bishops of East Timor on their Ad Limina visit (En español)

• General Audience on Baptism and Discipleship (En español)

• To the Bishops of Gabon on their Ad Limina visit (En español)

• To Participants in the Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization (En español)

• Homily of Pope Francis at the "Mass for the Evangelization of Peoples" in Ecuador (En español)

Pope Benedict XVI

During his time as our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI promoted the New Evangelization in a number of ways.
In 2010, he announced the creation of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization (En español).
In 2011, Benedict XVI met with Leaders involved with New Evangelization (En español), and held a Mass for the New Evangelizers (En español).
Pope Benedict XVI also called for the 2012 Synod of Bishops, with the topic New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith. Documents related to the 2012 Synod of Bishops include the:

• Lineamenta, which outlines the orginization of the 2012 Synod (En español)

  • (Press release explaing this document) (En español)

• Instramentum Laboris, which is the working document summarizing the responses prior to the 2012 Synod (En español)

• Homily of Pope Benedict at the opening Mass of the 2012 Synod (En español)

• Message to the People of God at the Conclusion of the Synod (En español)

• Homily of Pope Benedict at the closing Mass of the 2012 Synod (En español)

Pope St. John Paul II 

Pope St. John Paul II also promoted the New Evangelization through his writings. He wrote encyclicals related to the New Evangelization, including Redemptoris Missio, on the Permanent Validity of the Church's Missionary Mandate (En español). John Paul II also published several Apostolic Exhortations, including Christifideles Laici, on the Vocation and Mission of the Lay Faithful (En español), and Catechesi Tradendae, on Catachesis on our Time (En español).

Bl. Pope Paul VI

Bl. Pope Paul VI released two Apostolic Exhortations related to Evangelization, Evangelii Nuntiandi, on Evangelization (En español), and Gaudete in Domino, on Christian Joy (En español). In additon, there were several documents from the Second Vatican Council released during Paul VI's Papacy related to Evangelization, including Lumen Gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (En español), Gaudium et Spes, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (En español), and Ad Gentes, the Decree on the Missionary Activtity of the Church (En español). Nostra Aetate, the Decleration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions, (En español) and Apostolicam Actuositatem, the Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity, (En español) are also two more great resources from the Second Vatican Council on Evangelization.

Internet Resources

Ecclesial Sites

www.stpaulevangelization.com/  — St. Paul Evangelization Institute
www.vatican.va  — Vatican Website
www.usccb.org — United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
ww.wearesaltandlight.org — USCCB Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development
www.nolacatholic.org — Archdiocese of New Orleans

Publishers/ Periodicals

www.americanbible.org — American Bible Society
www.americancatholic.org — St.Anthony Messenger Press
www.americancatholic.org — Catholic Updates Library
www.avemariapress.com — Ave Maria Press
www.harcourtreligion.com — Harcourt Religion Publishers
www.litpress.org — Liturgical Press
www.loyolapress.com — Loyola Press
www.ltp.org — Liturgy Training Publications
www.osv.com — Our Sunday Visitor
www.pauline.org — Pauline Books and Media
www.pflaum.com — Pflaum
www.rclweb.com — RLC Benziger
www.rpinet.com — Resources Publications
www.sadlier.com and www.cyberfaith.com — Wm H. Sadlier
www.smp.org — St. Mary’s Press
www.twentythirdpublications.com — Twenty-Third Publications

Books & Other Media

Catholicism: A Journey to the Heart of the Faith, by Bishop Robert Barron

The Church and New Media: Blogging Converts, Online Activists, and Bishops Who Tweet, by Brandon Vogt
Creating the Evangelizing Parish, by Frank P. DeSiano and Kenneth Boyack
Welcome Home! Stories of Fallen-Away Catholics Who Came Back, edited by Victor Claveau
The Evangelizing Catholic: A Practical Handbook for Reaching Out, by Frank P. DeSiano
The Parish Guide to the New Evangelization, by Robert J. Hater
Search and Rescue: How to Bring Your Family and Friends Into—or Back Into—the Catholic Church, by Patrick Madrid
John Paul II and the New Evangelization, by Peter Williamson and Ralph Martin
Rediscover Catholicism: A Spiritual Guide to Living With Passion & Purpose, by Matthew Kelly
From Maintenance to Mission: Evangelization and the Revitalization of the Parish, by Robert S. Rivers, CSP
Rebuild My Church: God’s Plan for Authentic Catholic Renewal, by Alan Schreck, Ph.D.
Forming Intentional Disciples: The Path to Knowing and Following Jesus, by Sherry A. Weddell
Becoming a Parish of Intentional Disciples, by Sherry A. Waddell
Evangelical Catholicism: Deep Reform in the 21^st Century Church, by George Weigel 
The Evangelization Equation: The Who, What, and How, by Father James A. Wehner, S.T.D.
Rebuilt: Awakening the Faithful, Reaching the Lost and Making Church Matter, by Tom Corcoran and Michael White
Jesus the Evangelist, a Gospel Guide to the New Evangelization, by Allan F. Wright
New Evangelization: Passing on the Catholic Faith Today, by Cardinal Wuerl