• EVANGELIZATION COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
  OCTOBER 16, 2014
   
  Present: Becky Estep, Cara Johnson, John Larmour, Lee McGrath, Sue Sopola
   
  Meeting was called to order by Lee McGrath (as John Mitchell had a schedule conflict) at 7:00pm and opened with Scripture and the New Evangelization Prayer.
   
  Lee gave a brief overview of the New Evangelization envisioned by the United Catholic Conference of Bishops (UCCB):
  
    a) each of us is called to deepen our faith, believe in the Gospel message and go forth to proclaim the Gospel. The focus calls for all Catholics to be evangelized and then go forth to evangelize;
  
  b) the New Evangelization as a journey of faith, worship and witness presents three opportunities or audiences for the transmission of faith –

  • To engage more intently those who are faithful and need to be renewed with increased catechesis;
  • To reach out to those who have never heard the gospel proclaimed; and 
  • To re-engage those who are baptized but have lost a living sense of the faith in their daily lives.

   Group agreed that the Parish HW and survey could provide data to be used to set a direction for action.  Cara explained the HW process and the results of the survey.  The 87 responses from the HW provided no clear consensus as to why respondents were not attending. Cara invited committee to the meeting on Monday, Oct 20^th for those who gave email addresses on the survey.  Discussion followed about lack of education and knowledge about the teachings of the Church on various topics, including divorced Catholics, that may influence decisions to attend Mass and stay involved in the sacraments and how to keep those who have entered the Church through RCIA to stay engaged in parish life. Sue suggested that the neophytes be contacted and invited to our next committee meeting.  Becky agreed to pass this on to Cara who had to leave before meeting was adjourned.
   
   Lee led a discussion about developing a road map for action.  Discussion included:

  • Identifying audiences
  • Inviting more parishioners to be involved on the committee
  • How important personal contact is
  • Training
  • Resources
  • Setting a realistic time line

   Members shared a brief personal story of how they have been evangelized and/or evangelized in the past few weeks.
   
  Petitions and closing prayer were offered.  Each member will extend an invitation to at least  one person to attend the next meeting. Meeting was adjourned at 9:00 pm.
   

  last updated 10/26/2014 jm