Snippet from the Show

No matter what our vocation, we can all cry out from our hearts the Good News- that powerful reality that Jesus saves.

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Evangelization cannot be reduced to merely mechanics or processes, it must always leave room for the dynamism of the Holy Spirit.

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> When preaching the kerygma around people (Evangelicals) who have spent their whole lives dedicated to preaching the gospel, I show them the Catholic Church is the home of the kerygma. The papacy safeguards the basic gospel message.

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This is a good exercise for parishes to do every year, to help focus in on the things that will have the biggest impact, and also a good idea to do right now, as many parishes will have to streamline programs in the coming year.

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We also talk a bit about parish bureaucracy and the hierarchy of the Church. Let’s just say you should pray for your parish.

What do you think about philosophical approaches to evangelization? Do they work? Are they helpful? Email us at eksb@ascensionpress.com with your story, question, or comment—or if you’ve got a new nickname for Dave.

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“Your spouse is not sufficient to make you happy. They are a human person and your heart has an infinite longing that only an infinite God can fulfill. So if you demand your husband or wife to complete you, you are asking them to be God for you. That’s unrealistic.”

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The kerygma is not the end of evangelization, it’s just the beginning. It’s how someone takes the first step to becoming a disciple of Jesus, but we can’t stop there, we have to make sure that we’re preaching, but also teaching.

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“An initial proclamation of the kerygma is not enough. It is the doorway to faith, but once you cross that threshold, you are in the house of faith, and now you must conform your life to Christ.”

SHOWNOTES

Catechism of the Catholic Church, 89 - “There is an organic connection between our spiritual life and the dogmas. Dogmas are lights along the path of faith; they illuminate it and make it secure. Conversely, if our life is upright, our intellect and heart will be open to welcome the light shed by the dogmas of faith.”

Pope St. John Paul II in Catechesi Tradendae - “The Church has always considered catechesis as one of her primary tasks … very soon the name of catechesis was given to the whole of the efforts within the Church to make disciples, to help people to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, so that believing they might have life in His name, and to educate and instruct them in this life and thus build up the Body of Christ.”

Catechism of the Catholic Church, 89 - “The mutual connections between dogmas, and their coherence, can be found in the whole of the Revelation of the mystery of Christ. ‘In Catholic doctrine there exists an order or hierarchy of truths, since they vary in their relation to the foundation of the Christian faith.’

St. Teresa of Avila - “If you want to hear God speak to you, read scripture. If you want to see a miracle, receive the Eucharist.”

St. John the Baptist - “Bear fruit that befits repentance” (Matthew 3:8).

5 Practical Tips

1. Read the Catechism, paragraphs 74-95.
2. Pick a dogma to enter into more deeply.
3. Connect dogma to the kerygma.
4. For your spiritual life, ask Jesus to be Lord of your life, ask where you need him to assert his lordship over you, and conform.
5. Pray for the USCCB.

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The Church needs the voice of the laity to speak up! Priests can’t go into your office and nuns can’t go into your friend’s house (probably). We are the ones that must carry the Gospel into our homes, schools, jobs, and public places.

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“Catholics were attempting to be modest and self-critical instead of being triumphant … We went from being triumphant and engaging in apologetics to just being apologetic.”

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Snippet from the Show
“One person can bring about dramatic change at a parish.”

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SHOWNOTES

How do you lead when you are not in a leadership position?

• Try to be close friends with the current staff on evangelization teams.
• Try to win the front of “what is the truth” and make sure everyone is on the same page on what they believe.
• Give talks on what the life of catechists and parish workers should look like.
• Encourage the use of Scripture and the new Catechism for formation.
• Give talks on how to have a personal relationship with Jesus in the context of the Catholic Church.
• Offer a talk on the history of the Catholic Church in America since Vatican II.
• Pray for the leaders and with them.
• Work with your priest to prioritize and organize an annual staff retreat.
• Have a “ministry leader summit.”
• If people are refusing or rejecting evangelization, work with your pastor to make sure the appropriate people are in the right positions.
• Go in trying to win souls for Christ, not fight them.
• Remember to always be praying for these people.
• When confrontation has to occur do not do it out of hate for people but in service to people who are missing out on the gospel.
• You need to have the courage to stand up for the truth and gospel when needed.

5 Practical Tips

1. Go to NewAdvent.org and search the name of a church father (St. Ignatius of Antioch, St. Athanasius … )
2. Pray for the CCD staff (or another staff group) and their openness to the gospel.
3. Listen to Mike’s talks on the kerygma at Soundcloud.com/AMDGomer.
4. Meet once a week with your pastor and discuss the kerygma.
5. Send this podcast to your CCD Staff.

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We start off today answering some tough questions about the kerygma, and then pivot to ways you can infuse evangelization into programs your parish already has like baptism prep, marriage prep, and religious education.

Our advice isn’t the only way to do it, but it is a (pretty darn good) way to do it. How do you evangelize at your parish?

We want to hear from you! Email us at eksb@ascensionpress.com with your story, question, or comment—or if you’ve got a new nickname for Dave.

Snippet from the Show
“People aren’t going to surrender their life to Christ if we’re hitting them over the head with moral issues and their failure … but there is no gospel without repentance.”

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We want to talk about how to bring this movement to your parish and community. Starting with Carole Brown’s Gems for the New Evangelization: Shamelessly Pilfered from Various Treasuries of Church Teaching, we then add some additional points that we’ve discovered along the way.

There are a lot of different things you can do, but the important thing is to start.

Snippet from the Show
“My favorite thing is to take every part of the Catechism and tie it back to the Cross and resurrection, because you can do it with everything.”

We want to hear from you! Email us at eksb@ascensionpress.com with your story, question, or comment—or if you’ve got a new nickname for Dave.

SHOWNOTES

The Five Points for the New Evangelization

• Recover the importance of kerygmatic proclamation.
• Build explicitly Christ-centered witness testimony into everything.
• Talk in the explicitly evangelical language of the New Evangelization popes.
• Saturate yourself in the world of God (Bible studies, lectio divina training…)
• Establish a permanent discipleship track in the parish.

Dave and Mike’s added points for parish evangelization

• Establish a formalized intercessory prayer group to bring about conversions.
• You can’t do it alone.
• Start with the programs that people must attend, to draw in people who might not be involved otherwise.
• Start trying to meet everyone at your parish and learn their names.

The Five Practical Takeaways

• Read paragraphs 1- 21 of the Catechesi Tradendae by Pope John Paul II.
• Consider joining or starting a Bible study at your parish.
• Begin a conversation with the pastor, DRE, or director of religious evangelization about evangelization at the parish.
• Look for touchstone moments (baptism class, marriage prep class) and how you can be a volunteer in those ministries.
• Buy a Catholic Bible for someone who doesn’t have one in your life.

Resources Mentioned in the Show

• Michael Gormley – Radical Communities
• Bible Studies from Ascension Press
• The Great Adventure Timeline Catholic Bible

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They explain how fellowship is not socializing and why the Church comes before the individual in the plan of God.

“Our love for Jesus and for our neighbor impels us to speak to others about our faith. Each believer is thus a link in the great chain of believers. I cannot believe without being carried by the faith of others, and by my faith I help support others in the faith.” (CCC 166)

Snippet from the Show:

You have not given yourself faith as you have not given yourself life. The believer has received faith from others and should hand it on to others. (CCC 166)

5 Practical Tips
1) Meet someone at your parish that you have never met before. It can be as simple as introducing yourself.
2) Read 2Timothy 2.
3) Read CCC 176-184.
4) Pray for the staff of your parish all week long.
5) Look at the four steps of the kerygma below and compare them to your personal testimony. (You can also go to the shownotes on at ascensionpress.com/everykneeshallbow.) Pencil in what parts of your testimony line up with the kerygma. This will help you make the kerygma center stage of your testimony and not your personal story.

4 Steps of the Kerygma:
1) God has a plan for your life.
2) Sin interrupts that plan and separates you from God.
3) Jesus Christ died and rose so that you could be forgiven of these sins and be united to God in heaven.
4) Through faith and his Church, you can be united to God forever.

Recommendations
1) Fr. Spitzer’s book New Proofs for the Existence of God: Contributions of Contemporary Physics and Philosophy
2) Rev. Timothy Keller’s book The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism
3) C.S. Lewis’ book Mere Christianity
4) Dr. Peter Kreeft’s book Fundamentals of the Faith: Essays in Christian Apologetics
CCC #166

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Snippet from the Show

For most of us Catholics, we think repentance is the thing you do in the confessional. We don’t realize that in the Catechism, it is repentance, the interior sorrow, that sends us to the confessional.

4 Steps of the Kerygma:
God has a plan for your life.
Sin interrupts that plan and separates you from God.
Jesus Christ died and rose so that you could be forgiven of these sins and be united to God in heaven.
Through faith and his Church, you can be united to God forever.

Five Practical Tips to Help you Enter Into the Kerygma and Start Proclaiming it:
If you do not have a vital relationship with Christ, start with Mark’s Gospel. Read it as straight through as you possibly can. Ask yourself as you are going through it: “What do the words and deeds of Jesus reveal to me about God the Father’s heart?”
In the book of Acts there are eight different kerygmatic sermons that the apostles give. Prayerfully take one of them (we suggest Acts 2:14-36) and meditate on it.
Write down in your own words the basic gospel message.
Intentionally go and ask someone if they have some need in their life that you can pray for.
Start to build a relationship with a non-believer by inviting them to do something that is mutually enjoyable.

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