EVANGELIZATION. IT’S ONE of those words whose meaning can shift depending on whom you ask. For some, it simply means sharing the “Good News” of Jesus as the light and the way. For others, the word may carry negative associations, including pressure, judgment, political agendas or overly aggressive proselytizing. The Catholic Church offers a more thoughtful approach, emphasizing that evangelization should be rooted in faith, love and respect for others while affirming it as a central responsibility of every Catholic.
Since the Second Vatican in 1962, the Catholic Church has worked to draw a red line between proselytizing, which many say was a major element of the Church in past eras, and evangelization. It is now about proclaiming and sharing the beauty of the Gospel through love, personal witness and good deeds.
MARTHA ARENAS, MANAGER OF THE DIOCESE OF ORANGE’S SCHOOL OF EVANGELIZATION, LEADS A WORKSHOP ON THE CHRIST CATHEDRAL CAMPUS. PHOTOS BY YUAN WANG/DIOCESE OF ORANGE
At the Diocese of Orange, the Lumen Christi, or more commonly referred to as the School of Evangelization, is helping parish leaders and faithful congregants become living and practicing examples of Catholic evangelization in their parishes and communities.
According to Martha Arenas, manager of the School of Evangelization, the school veers away from a dogmatic approach in a new direction. She says it can be as simple as “bringing Jesus to others through action and testimony.”
Arenas added, “For decades the Church focused on doctrine. We forgot to introduce people to Jesus. The school is about meeting the moment.”
ATTENDEES OF THE DIOCESAN SCHOOL OF EVANGELIZATION WORKSHOP DISCUSS THE DAY’S TOPICS AND GOALS.
The Diocese of Orange is not alone. There is a faith-wide effort to “open the doors of the Church,” and be more accessible to all. It is a direction that the recent popes, Saint John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis, all supported in different ways.
In 2013, Pope Francis discussed the importance of the Church being evangelistic and embracing rather than stressing doctrine and self-preservation. His “The Joy of the Gospel (Evangelii Gaudium)” teaches that Christian life is rooted in the joy of encountering Jesus and God’s mercy, and then in turn, flows into sharing the faith with others. More than an opportunity, Catholics should see this as their duty, if only to witness and be exemplars who are available and open.
John Paul II and Benedict XVI also wanted to reach out and reclaim Catholics who have moved away or experienced crises in faith. They also took aim at those who haven’t been properly catechized.
AN OVERWHELMING SUCCESS
As it concludes its third year, the School of Evangelization, under the auspices of the Office of Parish Evangelization and Faith Formation, has been a runaway triumph. The school grew from Bishop Kevin Vann’s 2019 Strategic Plan and longstanding desire to build evangelization teams at parishes.
That’s where the school comes in, training and educating parishioners who can take their newfound knowledge and renewed faith to share at their home parishes. Since its inaugural class of about 40, the class has nearly tripled in size to 115 this year. Arenas said the school can accommodate about 140 and may reach that number in 2027. She would also like to one day add Vietnamese and Korean to its English and Spanish instruction.
The School of Evangelization runs from May to November, with an introductory one-day Kerygma Encounter Retreat in the spring.
The School of Evangelization program and curriculum are divided into three units:
• Discipleship: Growing in Relationship with Christ
• Evangelization: Learning to Share the Good News
• Missionary Discipleship: Bringing Evangelization into Parish Life
The school brings in experts and speakers to talk about various topics and provide an overview of the Church.
Anne Balliet, a parishioner at St. Edward the Confessor Catholic Church in Dana Point and part of the Class of 2026, said although she had been raised and educated in Catholicism, she felt she hadn’t been adequately catechized.
The school’s curriculum, she said, “brought into focus and defined the Church’s teachings and history. It provides unparalleled structure and only brought me closer.”
Matt Holke, a classmate and fellow St. Edward’s parishioner, said the school helped him synthesize many of the Church’s cultures and diversity.
“It brought cohesion to those things as well as scripture and prayer,” he said.
Balliet and Holke are already part of the mission to bring evangelization to their parish.
St. Edward has started a program to bring back lapsed Catholics and those who struggle with the faith.
Balliet fit into that category. Although she had received all the sacraments, “I strayed about as far as you can get,” she said. “I hadn’t been to church for decades. I wasn’t sure I could come back.”
GETTING OVER THE HURDLE
Still, there’s that word – evangelization. Balliet said at first she struggled with the differing notions of evangelization.
“I avoided that word,” she said, “I thought of all the negative things.”
She did not want to tell people what they should or shouldn’t believe.
By viewing evangelization as sharing, Balliet is now more comfortable expressing her personal experience “and the Holy Spirit will do the rest. It changed my whole definition of the word. I’ve been enriched in ways I can’t describe. I know I want to share my experiences. I didn’t know it was our job as Catholics.”
She added, “I’ve been telling anyone who will listen about the class,” and she may have recruited members for the Class of 2027.
Holke said one class exercise had participants evangelizing to one another.
“I found I was defensive and argumentative,” he said, which was the wrong approach. “They taught us, ‘don’t try to win a debate.’”
Rather, he said, it was simply about nonjudgmentally sharing his personal relationship with God.
Arenas said the School of Evangelization is succeeding in its goal to help participants “be catalysts for change and bring that to their communities.”
NOTE: A graduation Mass celebrated by Auxiliary Bishop Thanh Thai Nguyen for this year’s class will be held Wednesday, Dec. 2, at 7 p.m. in the Arboretum. Information on next year’s retreat and class, with Q/R codes, will be forthcoming.