• In Attendance: John Mitchell, Reno Sartori, Joe Osteen, Ginger Osteen, Paulette Domingo, Becky Estep, Phil Knecht, Marge Mattingly, Enid Timoney, Laura Hack
  
  1. The meeting was called to order at 7:00pm and the opening prayer included "Open My Eyes Lord".
  
  2. John Mitchell recapped February's meeting and reiterated that the witness of a guest each month was proving to be powerful towards our enthusiasm and commitment as Mary, Queen of the Holy Rosary's Evangelization Committee. Bruce Daniel was February's witness.
  
  3. We each gave brief introductions and welcomed Enid Timoney and Marge Mattingly as Evangelization Committee members. Phil Knecht was introduced as our guest for the night.
  
  4. While Phil and Jude Knecht have been at MQ a little over 25 years, Phil came into full communion with the Church about 15 years ago. Phil's father was a cradle-Catholic, yet Phil most often worshipped within his mother's Baptist faith when he was young. Following his deep interest in philosophy and Eastern religions in at U of K, Phil belonged to the Unitarian Church. After marrying Jude and the birth of their first son, Phil and Jude started feeling the "need for strong values". Jude returned to MQ and Phil followed a little later by attending adult formation classes. After some months, Phil started to join Jude at Mass. It was a long journey for him through the RCIA process and took several years before he felt ready to commit, but he appreciated that he never felt pressured by his family or Fr. Bob Nieberding. He appreciated Fr. Bob's patience and willingness to proceed within Phil's needs. Phil and Jude are very involved with MQ's RCIA program and are currently discerning the call to the leadership position of the Elect's period of Purification and Enlightenment.
  
  5. Following Phil's presentation, John suggested that we needed an at-large member to be selected for the Parish Pastoral Council's team as they begin work on our parish's goals and objectives 'task force' process. As a staff member, Laura had seen that the Evangelization Committee had been given a dedicated objective to work on. Laura will make sure that John has received the pertinent information as soon as possible, respecting that as a PPC member John would be receiving most of the 'process' type of info from Fr. Dan and the executive committee.
  
  6. Further discussion was held in regard to how to teach the people of MQ to evangelize:

  • Through catechesis (some would like to see the presider/deacon-homilist catechize during Mass)
  • Prayer as a foundation—specifically the prayer introduced by Reno last month
  • Help parishioners become aware of how they already evangelize and do not recognize it as such
  • Greeters are the first evangelizers on the scene for each Mass
  • Having a specific spot in the bulletin each week with evangelization info
  • Most importantly, desensitizing people to the words—evangelization, evangelist, evangelizer, etc.

  
  7. John will not be present for the April 19^th meeting, so Reno will chair. Each Evangelization Committee member is being challenged to do the following over the next month, and be prepared to share the experience at April's meeting:
  1. At Mass, pick out someone you do not know
  2. Approach that person
  3. Introduce yourself by name to them; ask their name
  4. Tell them a little about who you are, your history
  5. Ask them to share with you who they are
  6. Express your happiness in meeting them
  
  8. The meeting was closed at 8:35 with the 3^rd Sunday of Lent's Collect.
  
  Lhack
  

  last updated 08/25/2013