A Parish Guide to the New Evangelization

Longtime NCCL member and author Fr. Bob Hater ( and Diocese of St. Augustine 2011 Catechetical Ministry Day keynote speaker) has a new book entitled A Parish Guide to the New Evangelization in which you will learn you will learn:

• How to overcome challenges to the new evangelization
• How to motivate parishioners to evangelize
• How to coordinate efforts at the parish level
• How to effectively reach inactive Catholics
• How to use the web and other media to promote your evangelization efforts
• What sets Catholic evangelization apart from Protestant evangelization
• How to jump start parish evangelization

I just bought it and I am breezing through it…very practical resource.

Pope Francis Says Catholics Still Need to Enact Teachings of Vatican II

In his homily April 16, Pope Francis said Christians must struggle with the temptation to tame the Holy Spirit. "To speak plainly: The Holy Spirit annoys us," he said. The Spirit "moves us, makes us walk, pushes the church to move forward."

But, too often, he said, Catholics are like the Apostle Peter on the mountaintop when Jesus is transfigured. They, like Peter, say, "Oh, how nice it is to be here all together," but "don't bother us. We want the Holy Spirit to sleep. We want to domesticate the Holy Spirit, and that just won't do because he is God and he is that breeze that comes and goes, and you don't know from where."

The Holy Spirit is God's strength, the pope said. The Holy Spirit "gives us consolation and the strength to move forward," and the moving forward part is what can be a bother. People think it's better to be comfortable, but that is not what the fire of the Holy Spirit brings, Pope Francis said.
While Catholics today may be more comfortable speaking about the Holy Spirit than they were 50 years ago, it doesn't mean the temptation to tame the Spirit has diminished, he said.

Pope Francis said reactions to the Second Vatican Council are a prime example. "The council was a beautiful work of the Holy Spirit," he said. "But after 50 years, have we done everything the Holy Spirit in the council told us to do?" The pope asked if Catholics have opened themselves to "that continuity of the church's growth" that the council signified. The answer, he said, is "no."

Catholics seemed willing to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the council's opening in 1962, he said, but they want to do so by "building a monument" rather than by changing anything. At the same time, Pope Francis said, "there are voices saying we should go back. This is called being hard-headed, this is called wanting to domesticate the Holy Spirit, this is called becoming 'foolish and slow of heart,'" like the disappointed disciples on the road to Emmaus. The full report from Catholic News Service can be found at http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1301701.htm.

Love Your Neighbors---Uphold the American Tradition of an Immigrant Nation

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and Catholic Relief Services are currently reviewing the details of the Gang of Eight’s Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013. You are encouraged to stay informed and read the USCCB (http://www.usccb.org/news/2013/13-069.cfm)  and CRS (http://newswire.crs.org/crs-welcomes-senate-immigration-proposal-urges-congress-to-address-causes-of-migration/)  press releases.

The humanitarian disaster unfolding along migration routes north is also of great concern to the Church, making it critical for immigration reform legislation to include a way for future migrants to have legal and safe ways to come to the U.S. Kidnappings, trafficking, sexual assault, torture and death among migrants is widespread. In 2009 alone, more than 18,000 would-be migrants were kidnapped on their journey to the U.S. For more information about the specifics of the Senate immigration reform proposal and ways to get involved, see http://www.confrontglobalpoverty.org/.

Newman Connection

 

The Diocese of St. Augustine has signed up with the Newman Connection in an effort to better connect our high school seniors with our Catholic Campus Ministry Programs.  Pastors have been asked to cooperate with this program in gathering only basic information from parents (or youth, if they’re over the age of 18).   This information would be student first and last name, parish and college of choice.  They may choose to give more information, but this bare minimal information would alert our campus ministers as to the Catholic students arriving on their campuses. This information is shared with only our clergy in charge of campus ministry.  Anything you can do to promote participation in this program would be greatly appreciated.

Summer Technology Boot Camp

Digital Discipleship Boot Camp through Interactive Connections will be held via webinars over the summer months.  We are pleased to have a local orientation scheduled for June 10^th at Cathedral Parish School.  Please find information on our website, www.dosaformation.org

 

RCIA Q and A

There will be two Question and Answer sessions for RCIA Coordinators and others who work in RCIA in August.  Dates and locations are:

            August 10 from 9:30 am – 12:30 pm at Sacred Heart in Jacksonville

            August 11 from 1:00 – 4:00 pm at Holy Faith in Gainesville

Eventually, I will be asking for an RSVP for the sessions.  I mention it early to get it on your calendars as well as for you to formulate questions or issues you would like discussed.

Catechetical Ministry Day ~ Engaging Families in Faith Formation

The 29th annual Catechetical Ministry Day will be held on Saturday, October 12 at Bishop John J. Snyder High School.  The main sponsor this year will be RCLBenziger.  Our keynote presenter will be Dan Mulhall of RCLBenziger.  Dan has over 30 years experience in catechetical ministry and is currently Director of Professional Development and Hispanic Catechesis for RCLBenziger.  Formerly, Dan held the position of Asst. Secretary for Catechesis and Inculturation at the USCCB.  Dan holds an M.A. in Theology from Catholic University of America and an M.A. in Adult Christian Community from Regis University.   Mark your calendars now.