Today, the Gospel is the story of Jesus in His hometown of Nazareth, reading from the prophet, Isaiah, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.” And then Jesus responds by proclaiming “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” For me, this passage is almost a no-brainer. Like, duh, of course this passage is being fulfilled. This is Jesus! By this time in […]
evangelization
51 posts
Before the Second Vatican Council, Pope John XXIII said that it was time to “open the windows [of the Church] and let in some fresh air.” In the last 55 years since Vatican II, there have been many theories proposed about what the now Saint Pope John XXIII meant by his comment, but as the Catholic Church continues to struggle to to effectively evangelize people, especially young adults, in this post modern world, one thing is abundantly clear, some more “fresh air” is desperately needed if people are to come to know and experience what it means to belong and […]
This last weekend, a new book, The Smoke of Satan: How Corrupt and Cowardly Bishops Betrayed Christ, His Church, and the Faithful…And What Can Be Done About It by Philip Lawler, was released that I wanted to highlight for everyone, but especially for Roman Catholics. This book is an excellent and thought provoking assessment of the current state of affairs within the Catholic Church hierarchy For those who are not Catholic, I invite you to read it so you can be well-informed as to the issues within the Church rather than relying upon secular journalists and media outlets. I can attest […]
Am currently traveling back from the V National Encuentro (which is taking far longer than I expected since my flight got cancelled and I was rerouted!), but it’s given me the opportunity to reflect and process on these last 4 days in which I was privileged to accompany 3,000 others from across the United States. For those of you who might be unaware, the Encuentro “process” was initiated more than 2 years ago by the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops when they requested that the Hispano/Latino Catholic communities gather together to reflect, discuss, compile and then present the needs […]
Today is the conclusion of my series inspired by a conversation with Everett Fritz, author of the recently released book, The Art of Forming Young Disciples: Why Youth Ministries Aren’t Working And What To Do About It. Everett had just shared with me the methodology of “think small, to grow big” and although I understood why, I was wondering whether this process has proven to be effective. Instead of responding with a yes or no, Everett shared with me the story of Jan Tyranowski. Jan was a tailor in Poland in the beginning of the twentieth century. As a young […]
Today I continue sharing insights from a conversation that I recently had with Everett Fritz, author of the recently released book, The Art of Forming Young Disciples: Why Youth Ministries Aren’t Working And What To Do About It. After our discussion about the realities present in ministry today, how the current models of youth ministry in the Church are not meeting the needs of youth, and the shift in mentality necessary in order to be open to doing things differently, my next question to Everett was “What’s the first step if you decide you want to try and change how […]
Today I continue sharing insights from a conversation that I recently had with Everett Fritz, author of the recently released book, The Art of Forming Young Disciples: Why Youth Ministries Aren’t Working And What To Do About It. Everett and I had spoken about the reality occurring in the Church regarding the loss of young adults, and why that was happening—primarily, because the pastoral needs of young people are not being met within the current structures and practices of the Church, especially in how the Good News is being shared in youth ministry and catechetical programs. Religious education-based ministries—like a […]
Yesterday, I began sharing parts of a conversation that I was privileged to have with Everett Fritz, author of the recently released book, The Art of Forming Young Disciples: Why Youth Ministries Aren’t Working And What To Do About It. Today, I will focus upon an aspect of our conversation that I myself have intuitively known, and have been searching to find an answer for how to do it, when Everett said, “You can’t instruct people into lifelong discipleship.” Because my own experience of working with youth and adults has reflected that exact reality, I immediately asked Everett what he […]
Recently, I had the privilege of speaking with Everett Fritz, author of the recently released book, The Art of Forming Young Disciples: Why Youth Ministries Aren’t Working And What To Do About It. As we began our conversation, I asked Everett what had prompted him to write his book. “I felt that it was important that someone speak the truth about why we are losing young people (from practicing the Catholic faith), and to offer suggestions about what needs to be done. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised that a Catholic publisher (Sophia Institute Press) was willing to publish it […]
I have now been blogging daily for more than a month (actually 38 days!) and I am in awe at how our Lord has sustained and helped me in this endeavor–just as He said he would when I first committed to 30 days straight. I admit that my hesitancy to a daily writing commitment was partially a fear that I wouldn’t be able to have anything to say, but also because I was forgetting that God is the One in charge to begin with! LOL But my willingness to trust and step out in faith has resulted by my life […]