Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful
and kindle in them the fire of your love.
Send forth your spirit, and they shall be created
And you shall renew the face of the earth.
St. Margaret of Scotland Parish |
Photo Album |
Evangelization 2001 |
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June 16, 2001 |
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Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful |
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| In Go and Make Disciples, the American bishops told us that the primary mission of the Church in the United States is Evangelization. “Evangelization is what we are all about! Evangelization is the essential mission of the Church!” | |
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On June 16, 2001, the Parish of St. Margaret of Scotland accepted the bishops' challenge. Thirty-one parishioners and staff members gathered in Room 17 of the school. |
| We opened with prayer and song that the Holy Spirit would guide us in our deliberations and our response to the message of our Church leaders. |
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We talked about the baptismal call of every Christian, about our personal and communal privilege and obligation to witness to the Gospel of Jesus by our words and by our lives. | ||
| Then we turned to our workbooks. |
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The bishops told us “Evangelizing means bringing the Good News of Jesus into every human situation and seeking to convert individuals and society by the divine power of the Gospel itself.” |
| “Its essence is the proclamation of salvation in Jesus Christ and the response of a person in faith, both being the work of the Spirit of God.” |  |
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We endeavored to read and comprehend the depth of the bishops' message to us. |
| We recognized that all of us are called to conversion, challenged to allow the Spirit of God to change our lives. We saw again, that all of us are intended first to be disciples, learners at the feet of our Teacher Jesus--and then apostles persons sent to proclaim the Good News of Jesus to all the world. |  |
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The bishops set for us three goals. We decided to focus our initial efforts on the first: "To bring about in all Catholics such an enthusiasm for their faith that, in living their faith in Jesus, they freely share it with others." Very quickly we realized--we must first strengthen and renew our own faith, and then discover ways that we, and all St. Margaret parishioners, might, with courage and zeal, openly share our faith and proclaim our God! |
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At our tables, we began to discuss the objectives suggested
to us by the bishops.
Soon we were establishing goals of our own. From our table discussion there evolved the formation of three Evangelization teams--Education, Involvement, and Welcoming. |
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| Each team chose a chairperson and decided a date on which they would meet again to develop a plan of action. Come fall, these would be presented to the Evangelization Core Committee. |
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We felt, that day in June, that our Church leadership would be proud of us! St. Margaret of Scotland's Evangelization process was on its way. | 
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Date of Last Update: Saturday, November 03, 2001 14:01:51 -0500 |
