Educational Resource
Catechetical Sunday Resource: A Review of the Best Evangelization Methods and Resources by Father Anthony Krisak (2012)
Catechetical Sunday, September 16, 2012
A Review of the Best Evangelization Methods and Resources Available for Parish Outreach Efforts by Fr. Anthony F. Krisak, STD
"Determining the “best” outreach efforts for parish evangelization requires a context for understanding what is “best.” Social communications media and Internet technology have given us vast opportunities to proclaim the Good News to the most distant of places and to a vastly diverse audience. Many parishes and dioceses have made admirable use of these opportunities for spreading the Gospel. Yet, as admirable as these efforts are, they lack an important ingredient, as Pope Benedict XVI suggested strongly in his message for the forty-fifth World Communications Day on June 5, 2011. Reminding us that virtual contact cannot take the place of direct human contact, he asserted, “The Gospel demands to be incarnated in the real world and linked to the real faces of our brothers and sisters, those with whom we share our daily lives. Direct human relations always remain fundamental for the transmission of the faith!”
This context of making face-to-face contact with seekers and inactive Catholics provides the criteria for reviewing the best evangelization methods and resources that are available for parish outreach efforts."