Evangelization Supplement
Pastors speak on role of priests, parish teams in evangelization
Father Dustin Boehm, pastor of St. Gabriel Parish in Connersville and St. Bridget of Ireland Parish in Liberty, poses with altar servers, members of the parish’s Knights of Columbus and others prior to one of St. Gabriel’s “Novena of Sundays” rosary walk evenings. (Submitted photo)
By Natalie Hoefer
Those who know Scripture know there are 10 commandments in the Old Testament. But in the New Testament, Jesus offers one final command, a command so crucial that he chose it as his final words on Earth: “Go and make disciples” (Mt 28:19).
Priests embrace these commands in a special way, both to evangelize their parish members, and then to encourage and equip their parishioners in evangelizing the local community and beyond. After all, Christ’s command was for all Christians, not just shepherds.
Recently, the archdiocesan Office of Evangelization conducted a survey of nine parish priests in central and southern Indiana regarding evangelization.
“Each of our pastors bears at least some responsibility for every soul in his parish territory,” said archdiocesan director of catechesis Ken Ogorek. But he also notes the importance of “parishioners being involved in evangelization efforts. It’s not just the pastor’s responsibility.”
To that end, the archdiocesan Office of Catechesis is creating a booklet designed to help parishes form evangelization teams.
Information about the booklet will be shared at the end of this article, after highlighting the priests’ response to two of the survey questions: what the priests surveyed are currently doing in terms of evangelization, and what traits they recommend members of a parish evangelization team have.
Priest’s role is ‘comparable to a conductor’
Among the nine priests, efforts to evangelize ranged from within their parish to the local community, and even as far as a radio station’s airwaves will allow.
Several of the priests made a comment similar to that of Father John McCaslin, pastor of St. Simon the Apostle Parish in Indianapolis, that “as pastor, I am the first evangelizer of the parish.”
That effort to evangelize internally is then extended to help parishioners evangelize as well. As Father Todd Riebe, pastor of Christ the King Parish in Indianapolis, put it, the priest’s role in evangelization is “comparable to the conductor of an orchestra by empowering parishioners to evangelize and equipping them with the proper tools to do so.”
One of those tools is knowledge. While evangelizers must have a fire for spreading the Good News of salvation that is lit by their relationship with Christ, knowledge of the faith is also key.
Father John Hollowell, pastor of Annunciation Parish in Brazil and St. Paul the Apostle Parish in Greencastle, saw that need not being met among students in his parishes, because “not many students were participating in a class offered by a catechist,” he said in the survey.
So he decided to reach them in a territory they as students are familiar with: online.
Father Hollowell now uses videos and PowerPoint slides to teach online classes to students in seventh through 12th grade in his two parishes.
How does Father Hollowell know if anyone is participating, let alone learning?
“They respond to my questions through e-mail,” he noted.
Another way to both catechize and evangelize is radio. Both Father Hollowell and Father Thomas Kovatch, pastor of St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Bloomington, noted that they use this medium to spread the Gospel.
Father Kovatch pointed out that his parish owns Bloomington’s WCYI 104.1 FM, which airs programming through the Relevant Radio Catholic network. And Father Hollowell hosts “Fr. Hollowell & Friends,” which airs on another Relevant Radio channel, W281BG 104.1 FM out of Knightsville, on Tuesdays at 4 p.m., Fridays at 2:30 p.m. and Saturdays at noon.
While he is not evangelizing on the airwaves, Father Dustin Boehm, pastor of St. Gabriel Parish in Connersville and St. Bridget of Ireland in Liberty, has led his parishioners in evangelization efforts on the ground, creating means of connection between parishioners and the community in several ways.
In 2014, he began an annual “Novena of Rosaries” walk—praying the rosary while processing in Connersville’s city park for nine consecutive Sundays—as a witness to the community in response to the community’s opioid crisis.
He noted that “many of the social events are geared to getting people on the campus in order to encounter and connect with the neighbors of the area.” And through a grant, parishioners can be reimbursed up to $50 for performing a random act of kindness in their community.
‘Open arms’ and not a ‘baseball bat’
To help priests in spreading the Good News to all who live in their parish boundaries, “We feel strongly that every parish ought to have an evangelization team of some sort,” said Ogorek.
So the priests surveyed were asked for input on what type of people such a team should include.
The responses primarily held three themes: people who are joyful, people who are welcoming, and people who are on fire for their faith.
On that last point, Father Robert Robeson, pastor of Holy Name of Jesus Parish in Beech Grove, noted that team members should be “deeply rooted in a relationship with Christ and Mary. If there is no commitment to Christ, it really won’t matter how great the team members’ social skills are.”
That being said, he added that team members should not be “afraid to engage, people who like people and who want to form relationships with others.”
Father Riebe’s comments were similar. He said the team should consist of “people who are on fire for their faith,” but who also must evangelize “with open arms” and not a “baseball bat.”
In addition to being “joyful and inviting,” Father Eric Johnson said the members need to know the message they are proclaiming “with a steady and firm conviction.”
The pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in New Albany went on to say that there can be no “ambiguity” for an evangelization team, but rather “practical efforts to move from vision to action.”
To maximize that action, there should be a “discernment and inventory of the charisms of the team [members],” said Father Sengole Thomas, administrator of St. Michael Parish in Cannelton and St. Pius V Parish in Troy.
“Recognizing the different gifts the Lord has provided will allow for a strong unity of the members and the ability to reach out with fuller potential,” he added.
Another helpful component for an evangelization team to accomplish the highest potential is for it to have members of “a wide demographic with a variety of stages of life, including someone who can speak intelligibly about youth culture, in addition to speaking to youths themselves,” said Father Daniel Bedel, pastor of St. Margaret Mary and St. Patrick parishes in Terre Haute.
‘No magic bullet’
Ogorek notes that parish evangelization efforts cannot rely on a fad or trend.
“There are resources and programs that can be helpful,” he said. “But there’s no magic bullet. Programs come and go. New resources come all time. No one program or kit is likely to help an evangelization and discipleship effort put down deep roots in a parish.
“You need a core group of people who are going to help shepherd an ongoing process.”
In addition to such a group, said Ogorek, parishes also need “what people call ‘spiritual multiplicity’—the power of a small group of people spending a finite amount of time together helping each other grow in discipleship, with the understanding that at a certain point, each of them will gather a small group around them, help them grow in discipleship, and so on, and so on, and so on.”
Such ideas and tips will be put forth in a booklet the Office of Catechesis is developing to help parishes with evangelization. It is expected to be completed next spring, and will be sent to each pastor and to each person on an evangelization contact list the office maintains. (See below for how to be added to this list.)
“Our intent is to provide a brief, practical document that will help people hit the ground running with parish evangelization efforts,” said Ogorek.
“I’m not a fan of big, thick binders that end up as a door stop. There will be substance—people need to know what evangelization is and be formed to some degree.
“We want people within six months of getting this resource to start diving into some serious discipleship and evangelization efforts.”
(Anyone wishing to be added to the Office of Catechesis’ list to regularly receive information about evangelization in general, including the upcoming booklet, can email evangelization@archindy.org.) †
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