In a nutshell, evangelization means creating activated disciples of Jesus Christ. To be "evangelized" means to have a personal relationship with Jesus, and a desire to follow him. 

In the wisdom of the Church, we find a model of the spiritual journey laid out for us in what is called "the catechumenal model". In this model, we find that a person's journey into the Church consists of five stages: pre-evangelization, evangelization, catechesis, sacrament, and mystagogia. Pre-evangelization is essentially "building bridges of trust and community", creating a culture where evangelization can happen freely and organically. Evangelization is teaching people who Jesus is and handing on the Gospel message to them in a way that touches their hearts and minds and leads them into discipleship and relationship with God and his Church. Catechesis is "handing on the Catholic faith", in all of its splendor and beauty. The pillars of this faith are the tenents of the Creed we profess, the teachings on the Sacraments, and the moral teachings of the Church. These teachings are all rooted in the Gospel message, the reality that God is love. After Catechesis comes reception of the Sacraments of Initiation, bringing us into full communion with the Church. And finally, Mystagogia refers to "being drawn deeper into the mysteries of God". It is a deepening of one's spirituality as they live out the Catholic faith. It should be noted that there is no true "end" to any of these stages, as every one of us is called to deepening the relationships in our lives. Each of us is in need of being evangelized, just as each of us can always learn more about the beauty of the Church's teachings and journey deeper into the mysteries of God. There is no "one and done" step in any of these stages. 

In order to carry out this goal of evangelization and discipleship, we have put together an "Evangelization Committee" for St. Matthew Parish. The goal of this committee is to serve as a catalyst for the different evangelization efforts of our parish community. Our overarching goals are two-fold. On one hand, we seek to reach new people in our community who have never heard the Gospel message and find innovative ways to bring them this message and bring them into our community. On the other hand, we recognize that all of us are in deeper need of evangelization. Across our country, there are millions of Catholics who have been sacramentalized( and maybe even well catechized) yet have never truly been evangelized. There is a real spiritual hunger to hear the Gospel message, to allow God's word to move from the head to the heart. Even those whose lives have been set on fire need are in need of being evangelized. "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning." (Lamentations 3:22-23) While community, intellectual formation, the sacraments, and prayer are all critical aspects of our discipleship path, so too is learning to walk day by day with Jesus Christ and allowing his message to penetrate our hearts. 

The evangelization committee of St. Matthew Parish seeks to promote evangelization in the following ways: 

1. By being a catalyst for various evangelization and discipleship focused programs and ministries in our parish grouping. 
2. By creating a culture of discipleship and faith mentoring - It is our firm belief that programs, although important, cannot replace person to person relational discipleship. We seek to do this through faith mentoring, small group discipleship groups, and creating a culture of evangelization and discipleship by frequent faith sharing testimonies and a blog geared towards reflecting on these topics. 
3. By "equipping the evangelized to evangelize others". We want to empower our parishioners to recognize the ways in which God is calling them to evangelize, whether it be within their own circle of family and friends, or something bigger and getting involved in one of our ministries.

It is important to note that the members of the evangelization team do not see themselves as the sole evangelizers of the parish, but rather as a catalyst and support for evangelization efforts. As Catholics, we believe that all of us are called to evangelize by nature of our baptism. This looks different for everyone, and we want to help equip you to do it in the unique way that only you can.
 

Alpha - Alpha is a FREE series of sessions exploring the Christian faith, run over twelve weeks. Each talk looks at a different question around faith and is designed to create conversation. Alpha is run all around the globe, and everyone is welcome. This is the perfect series to "explore" Christianity, but it is also great for those who wish to strengthen their faith.  To register, please click here. 


More events, programs, and ministries coming soon... 

Evangelization Committee Members:
Louis Bosco, Samantha Barie, Justin Barie, Ron Baznik, Eric Gazica, Ginny Mikulan, John Mikulan, Mary Ann Petrakovich, Mike Puharic, Richard Rengers