10 July 2007, OUTDOOR CHARISMATIC Mass (in Spanish).
Our Tuesday night Spanish prayer group is
sponsoring a special Mass on Tuesday, July 10th at 7pm in our church parking
lot. We will use this opportunity to invite friends and neighbors to join us
in prayer and praise. After the Mass, we will host a reception to
welcome all newcomers.
June 10, 2007, The Feast of Corpus Christi, Walkathon
through the neighborhood! We will begin our program by
having as many parishioners as possible walk through the neighborhood where
we plan to evangelize this Summer. Our Sunday morning walk will wake
up the neighbors to a vibrant Catholic Community, one that they will want to
get to know! This will set the stage for the next evening when we
begin the door to door phase of our program.
Door to door phase, every Monday and Wednesday
Evenings, June 11 through July 25th! Our purpose in going from door to
door is primarily to get to meet our neighbors, welcoming the newcomers and
saying hi to those who have lived here for many years. Because we are
guests visiting someone else's home, we treat each family with
respect on their terms: we do not attempt to convert them; we
do not debate them over beliefs. When we meet a registered family, we
ask to update their registration with the parish (census). We bring
with us a list of registered families in the neighborhood. When we
meet unregistered members of the parish, we encourage them to register.
When we meet Catholics who go to other churches, we encourage their
participation in their faith and ask them to let their Pastor know that we
stopped by for a visit! Catholics who do not attend church are invited
to attend ours and asked if there is anything we can do to help them return
to practicing their faith. For the non-Catholic families we come
across, we take the same approach: if they attend another church, we
encourage their participation and ask them to let their pastors know we
stopped by. People who identify themselves with another church but are
not attending a church regularly are informed of the church of that same
denomination closest to their house, but they are also invited to consider
visiting our church. Those who belong to no church are, of course,
invited to join us!
Every family
is encouraged to participate in our social service programs, helping the
needy, or offered assistance, should they be in need. We also encourage
everyone to join us for our fiestas and ecumenical services.
Finally, we
encourage you to participate by praying for our success and safety, or by
involving yourself in one of the many other ways we evangelize.
The History of our Evangelization Program -
Celebrating the Colors of Our Faith
In January, 2001, our Parish Council prayed to determine a focus of its
ministry for the upcoming years. We chose to evangelize within our
neighborhood for a number of reasons.
Why evangelize?
Christians are called to proclaim and live the Gospel.
We cannot be complacent in responding to this
call. The Holy Father reminds us that a new
millennium calls for a new evangelization.
Our parish area is changing demographically and we want to invite the new
neighbors to pray with us while maintaining a sense of
our history.
The future strength of our parish is in our ability to embrace the Gospel
and to grow together in faith.
Celebrating
the Colors of Our Faith - the St.
Aloysius Parish Evangelization Program
The door to door phase of the program begins this year!
Make
repairs to the parish buildings that will
invite people to step inside and celebrate their
faith. Build a garden and a hospitality room
for people to talk with each other and feel God's
presence in their lives. Foster a spirit of
welcome to all people.
Develop
a liturgical style that continues the vibrant rejoicing
of our community while recognizing the many new faces
who have been drawn to worship with us. We want our
worship to be as colorful as the windows of our church
and as joyful as the people of our parish who come
together to celebrate life and to give thanks for God's
presence in their lives. Diversify the style of
our masses in order to reflect the diverse styles of
prayer among our people.
Construct
a sign that will announce the Church's presence to
all passersby. The Church sits a block away from
the major streets and many people do not realize that
there is a Catholic Church nearby. In addition,
the sign will be used to promote messages of faith,
encouraging all people to develop their
relationship with God and with their own churches.
Finally, the sign will be used at times to promote
events for the parish.
Place
a sign with the times of the Masses and other services
on the wall of the Church to help communicate the times
of prayer.
Encourage
people to register as parishioners and to participate
fully in the life of the parish as active members who
celebrate God's grace in their lives. Develop
programs that will help bring young people and families
closer to their faith. Develop parish handbooks
and pamphlets which will help people know and share the
ministries of the parish.
Develop
a door to door program of evangelizing in order to
invite new people to come to the Church. The
program is meant to invite people to enter into a deeper
relationship with God. If someone belongs to
another church, they will not be asked to leave their
church, but will be encouraged to participate fully in
their own church and to be aware of both the social and
spiritual events that we have and to which they might
feel welcomed. We will invite non churchgoing
people to try our parish and other parishes
nearby. We will provide to both parishioners and
nonparishioners information about the parish in the form
of pamphlets and refrigerator magnets.
Develop
a master plan for the parish and encourage people to
participate in the Sharing Christ's Gifts Millennium
Campaign as a way of building the future of our
parish.
References
Pope John Paul's Encyclical on Evangelization
Cardinal
George's pastoral letter "Dwell in My Love"
St.
Aloysius Catholic Church
June 10, 2007, The Feast of Corpus Christi, Walkathon
through the neighborhood! We will begin our program by
having as many parishioners as possible walk through the neighborhood where
we plan to evangelize this Summer. Our Sunday morning walk will wake
up the neighbors to a vibrant Catholic Community, one that they will want to
get to know! This will set the stage for the next evening when we
begin the door to door phase of our program.