I first came across St Paul’s Street evangelization when I was in Bellingham. At this point in time it was a chance encounter with an outreach ministry that was doing something new and exciting in a way that I hadn’t considered before. I met one of their team members at an Evangelization rally while I was with my college students. I was impressed because their thought process was to go out into the streets and talk about God with others, sort of in the same manner as a Mormon Missionary or a Jehovah’s Witness. Like I said new and intriguing but at least at this point in time it was something I was interested in doing myself.

           St Paul’s ministry was started in the early 2000’s when a young man had a powerful personal encounter with God a decided to start passing out Miraculous medals. Soon his ministry shifted from just handing out medals to talking about the faith to active sharing of the faith in the public sphere. Over the last number of years I have thought back on my chance encounter because it has become more and more apparent that the type of ministry they do will become more and more essential to us here at Our Lady of Hope.

           Currently a large percentage of our parishioners don’t actually live within our parish boundaries. This is not an uncommon trend in the modern Church, but it becomes an important piece of information when the mission given to us by the Archbishop is so intensely focused on the effect we, as a community, are having on the surrounding population. As The Partners in the Gospel (the Strategic Planning effort of the Diocese) initiative ramps up more and more emphasis is being placed on what percentage of any given parish’s population lives within their territorial boundaries, becoming one of the reference points for the Diocese’s planning efforts. 

           Following our recent merger we have been putting together a plan to be as successful as possible in all aspects of Parish life, with Evangelization being one of our key areas. As I have explained before Evangelization is a multifaceted topic, one of which is the outward facing effort to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to people who may not have ever heard it before or to people who have drifted away. This process of going out to the neighborhood is not something that is “typically” seen as Catholic but it is a rich part of our 2000 year tradition. Since it is going to become a major part of our mission here at Our Lady of Hope I thought it would be good to begin easing into it.

           I have invited St Paul’s Street Evangelization to give our Parish Mission this year. They will be here February 24th, 25th and 26th to give a series of talks on an introduction to Evangelization. I decided to not throw us all into the deep end quite yet so there won’t be any expectation of door to door ministries right out of the gate but it may be something we work up to in a couple of years. Statistically the segment of the population living within our boundaries is shifting which necessitates a shift in ministry on our part.

           St Paul’s presentation will be a great place for all of us to start, especially since “what exactly is Evangelization?” is one of the most common questions myself and my staff gets. There will be one talk on Friday, following Lenten Stations of the Cross a few talks on Saturday, and the Mission will close on Sunday morning. More information will be coming in the next couple of weeks but I want to make sure as many of you as possible keep the dates in mind because it promises to be not only an exciting event but also an important one for our newly founded parish community.