BY JOE SIXPACK
Last week we talked about who needs to be evangelized. This week I’ll talk about how absolutely any Catholic can evangelize.
For the faint of heart — those who are terrified of face-to-face evangelization, you really can evangelize and receive all the kudos, admiration, and adulation of any professional full-time lay evangelist. Well, actually you won’t get that from any human person, but you’ll get that from the only Person who really matters — God. How?
Look, we work for the best Boss in the universe. Over the last 30-plus years, I’ve been used by the Holy Spirit to make hundreds of converts in one-on-one and small group venues, and I have 84 adult godchildren. Can’t see yourself doing what I do? Then give temporal and financial support to those who do the sort of evangelization I do! God will give you all of the very same credit (graces) for your participation as He gives to a lay evangelist.
For example, there are a few people who are Joe Sixpack Partners and contribute a few bucks at the CantankerousCatholic.com website every month, and so they get equal credit from God for all the evangelization I do because they make it possible. After all, since the foundation of Christianity one factor has been a constant: souls cost money. Even Jesus and His merry band of apostles had a purse for expenses.
What if you can’t make a financial gift? Well, there are two ways you can still contribute and share in the graces. One example is from the webinars I do. It actually takes at least two people to operate the webinar platform efficiently. For about the first six months I did them, I had to try to manage all on my own. That was tough too, because I’m a real techno-moron. But then a man volunteered to help me. He manages the chat moderation for when people ask questions while I do the presentations. When the presentation is over, I open the chat moderation to see if there are any questions he couldn’t answer. It works out great, and he shares in the graces!
Another example is from one of my godsons. He’s a man who’s intellectually challenged in the medical sense. In fact, he was so challenged that the bishop where I lived then told me he would baptize the man as long as he could articulate what Baptism is and what it does, as well as understand the difference between ordinary bread and the Real Presence. As you would expect, then, most of his friends are like him. He wanted to share the faith in the worst way.
At the time, I was teaching a small group and served them coffee and cookies. Since my godson couldn’t tell his friends what the Catholic Church teaches, he just invited his friends to come have a cup of coffee and a snack. Then he left the rest up to the Holy Spirit. Several of his friends became Catholics. Now, if my godson could make converts, I know you can!
The second way to evangelize is very closely akin to what my godson did. Find a group where evangelization is done, or even an RCIA class. Work-up a little pitch to present to people you meet; a little thing designed to get them committed to listening to someone share the faith in all its purity and splendor. Once they commit to listen, make sure you go with them. You will be their contact and friend while the lay evangelist does the work.
The third way of evangelizing is really what this article is all about. In fact, it’s really what I’m all about. You can do what I do. What I do is as simple as falling off a log. Do you have to be as proficient or knowledgeable as I am? No, but I’ll admit it helps. Still, you can begin doing today — right now — what I do. First, let’s talk about how you begin on the road to proficiency and knowledge.
The first thing I’d recommend to anyone is to join the Marian Catechist Apostolate. Why this apostolate? Well, it was founded as a course of study by the late Jesuit theologian Servant of God Fr. John Hardon at the insistence of St. John Paul II to equip St. Teresa of Calcutta and her spiritual daughters for evangelizing the poor people they cared for.
Once Fr. Hardon had finished his mission for St. Teresa, he realized he had something to use where he could build an army of average, everyday lay people who would spread the faith as we all should. So the Marian Catechist Apostolate was born. You can learn more at mariancatechist.com.
The other thing I’d recommend for you is connecting with the St. Paul Street Evangelization apostolate. You can find them at streetevangelization.com. They can help support you in all things regarding evangelization. Yeah, their main thrust is engaging people on the street, but it’s really a lot less intimidating than you might think, because they have a system worked out to a science.
Evangelization is every Catholic’s responsibility, as I’ve said before. And I want to help you evangelize. If you want to learn how, I’ll be happy to teach you — for free. Nobody pays me to do what I do. If you’ve been reading these articles to this point, you’re ready to ramp things up to the next level. The way to get started is to go to JoeSixpackAnswers.com and enter your first name and email on the form on the right hand side of the homepage. Then two things will happen.
The first thing to happen is that you’ll get a free email course sent to your inbox every three days. Don’t worry; there are no requirements and no pressure. You can unsubscribe at any time.
The second thing to happen is that you’ll get special invitations to free webinars every week. I have a webinar series called Sharing the Catholic Faith. It teaches the unvarnished truths of Catholicism, the sort of stuff that will blow your wig off. Join me now!
Begin listening to The Cantankerous Catholic podcast for more great stuff! You can listen at https://cantankerouscatholic.com/episodes/.
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