Year of Evangelization

Liturgy to celebrate efforts welcoming Catholics home

BY KATHERINE DANCAUSE, Rhode Island Catholic Correspondent
12/23/10

PROVIDENCE—While the Diocesan Year of Evangelization will officially come to a close on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, Sunday, Jan. 9, with a 1 p.m. Commissioning Mass at the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul, the Mass will also serve to mark the beginning of a renewed and ongoing commitment to honor the baptismal call to evangelize, always and everywhere.

Much work and prayer went into making the Year of Evangelization a time for Catholics to reconnect with their faith and to welcome back those who may have lapsed in theirs. [Read the full story in the RI Catholic]

Thanks to generous grants, the CatolicosRegresen.org Spanish language site is now completely redesigned to reflect the depth and quality of the English language site.  Faithful Catholic actor Eduardo Verastegui donated his time as web host, welcoming you to the site!  Eduardo also shares his personal testimony of returning to the Catholic faith in a new commercial.

This Advent and Christmas, help others rediscover the Heart inside every Catholic Church.

With the Year of Evangelization ending at the close of the Christmas Season, 2011, we’d like to remind you of existing resouces and share new ones. Resources like:  Bulletin Ideas, Franciscan Coming Home Program, Collectors can be Welcoming, too!, Congratulation Folders to Parents at Baptism and First Communion, Important Resource Links, Invitations to Come Home , “Real Reasons to go to Mass Invitation”, Parish Best Practices, Parish Outreach to New and Lapsed Members, Registration Procedures, Usher/ Greeter Programs, Welcome Folder Ideas, YOE Logos and other Clip Art, LARGE SIZE YOE Logos, and YOE Poster Files.

Read Bishop Tobin’s column on Advent and Evangelization in the RI Catholic.

And don’t forget resources on Journalism and Evangelization, and outdoor advertising information. And if you want to invite people to your parish by advertising in your local newspaper, like a group of Warwick parishes did last year with a full-page ad, visit the RI Newspaper Group for information.

Used in parishes here in the diocese, this model can help priests and parish teams learn more about holding an all-day Confession program for those that seek to come home through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. It has suggested language to communicate the event, as well as other helpful, practical information to use as a foundation for your program.

View the document here.

Stay tuned for information on the closing of the Year of Evangelization at a special Mass on Sun., Jan. 9, 2011 at 1PM.

Details on the way as this special date draws closer. The day will include a special Commissioning Mass on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which will both celebrate the Year of Evangelization as well as underscore Our Lord’s call to evangelize always and everywhere.

All parishes will be invited to send representatives to this special Mass, especially those clergy and lay members involved in parish evangelization efforts and, of course, those who have come home. 

These honest invitations identify many of the reasons people have left the Church, or stopped going to Mass. But there are reasons to come home–the answers to all our doubts, hurt and frantic pace of life. Those answers are found when we give our lives to Christ.

TO ORDER FOR YOUR PARISH USE: Clergy and parish staff members can order these invitations by calling Connie Thornton at 278-4610 or email her at cthornton@dioceseofprovidence.org.

OR PRINT YOUR OWN VERSIONS: Use the links below to these online versions of the invititaion. They can be customized for your use in the back 4″x4″ panel. Then save these files and take them to your printer of choice and print only what you need.

Reasons: Format with your own message

Reasons: Standard Format Version

You’re Invited to Fill These Hearts

Renowned author and speaker Christopher West will be joined by indie folk artist Mike Mangione and the Union for an evening of artistic beauty and reflection on Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body on Saturday, October 23, 6:30-10:30p.m. at the Historic Park Theatre, Cranston, 848 Park Avenue, Cranston RI.

The FILL THESE HEARTS TOUR has stopped in New York City, Colorado, Texas, and Milwaukee – the October 23rd show will be the only New England appearance this year.  Don’t miss it!

Click to  Get more info,  Buy tickets, or Get directions

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. (MT 7:7-8)

Day of Evangelization: St. Joseph’s Parish, Woonsocket. October 16.

On October 16, St. Joseph’s Parish, Woonsocket and the Legion of Mary will offer a perfect package of faith, action, and practice at practical evangelization. This Day of Evangelization will be centered around the Eucharist; it will assist you by learning from the experience of others and it will help us all take the Gospel’s welcome to a world that desperately seeks it.

Click here to read about the great success that St. Timothy’s Warwick had with their Day of Evangelization in June!

Saturday, October 16. St. Joseph’s Parish, Woonsocket, RI

• Mass at 7:30AM followed by Rosary
• Followed by continental breakfast provided by your brothers and sisters at St. Joseph’s.  
• Followed by instructional meeting on door-to-door visitations. Learn from members of the Legion of Mary who have experience in visitation efforts. You can then be paired up with a partner to take to the streets of Woonsocket. No experience? No problem. You’ll be with experienced people who will show you how it’s done.
• The visitations begin at 10:30AM 
• Return for Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament, which begins at 12:45PM  
• Lunch provided by St. Joseph’s at  1:00 PM
• Report highlights to Fr. Michael Wooley, Pastor, St. Joseph’s
• Conclusion at 3PM
• Note: To help parents, Day Care for children will be provided at the parish.

Please prayerfully consider taking part, and sharing this opportunity with others who would like to experience this necessary form of personal evangelization. Bring nothing but your heart open to the working of the Holy Spirit. St. Joseph’s and the Legion of Mary will supply the rest.

Click here for the registration form in Adobe pdf format.   Click here for the registration form in Microsoft Word.

Or to register, or for more information, contact Robert Fougere at 508-269-9641 or email Alice Dabney at Catherine3533@verizon.net.  Or contact Edward Gallagher at 401-573-3630 or Kathleen Kerin at 401-885-9834.

Saturday. October 23. 6:30PM-10:30PM. Historic Park Theatre. Cranston. RI.

 Click here for more info and to buy tickets.

Renowned author and speaker Christopher West will be joined by indie folk artist Mike Mangione and the Union for an evening of artistic beauty and reflection on Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body.

Theology of the Body is a bold, organic and contemporary understanding of human love in the Divine Plan. Through philosophical reflection, humor and our everyday experiences, Christopher West will unpack the message of the Theology of the Body in a language and application that anyone can appreciate – whatever one’s background or beliefs. 

The FILL THESE HEARTS TOUR has stopped in New York City, Colorado, Texas, and Milwaukee – the October 23 show will be the only New England appearance this year.  Don’t miss it!