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Have any of you seen anything in your local paper inviting those who were so emotionally moved by Pope Francis in his DC and Philadelphia visits to come and learn about the Catholic Faith? Anything from the pulpit in your parish urging YOU to begin the conversation, say at work or in your social settings? Anything on the local radio in your zip codes from local clergy? Anything in the local paper? Here we are looking to restructure our parish configurations to respond to the Gospel messages. We complete a survey etc. Meetings then take place to parse the responses. Time will pass….Seems to me, we are missing a pivotal moment in the here and now to reach out! A pertinent directive is to take the initiative. Make it happen.
AC, these are great questions. How did it go in your community doing these things? Did you publicly advertise? If so, what was the result? At work, what kind of response did you get? I’m unclear on your last two sentences. Are you telling someone to, “make it happen”? Who?
Well, here we are over a month since Pope Francis exhorted us Americans in person to be missionary desciples. I have not heard either word from my parish priests…..Am I wrong to expect something to be said? Seems to me the pulpit is the appropriate place for a meaningful directive to the flock. I have seen nothing in the local papers and I have heard nothing on the radio inviting those who might have been interested to come and speak with a priest. It was truly meaningful momentum then. I try to carry it on; I am retired but opportunites do arise. I have used the approach to ask folks what they thought of the Pope and take it from there…..That stirs the pot, opens the mind, makes it happen in a sense.
Catholics grow discouraged and drift away from the Church they had been so excited to join way too often. It is important to take advantage of those moments when our Church is in the center of the conversation, such as Pope Francis’s visit to the US. It is an opportunity to extend the Evangelization message and Be Missionary Disciples. This is an informative article on how to welcome new Catholics and the importance of community.
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