‘School of Evangelization’ to start in Greenwood in January

By Sean Gallagher

Ken Ogorek has worked for a long time to help people learn more about the faith. But he knows that, with many people, it can be one thing to learn about the faith but a whole different matter to share it with others.

“We hear all the time how important evangelization is,” said Ogorek, archdiocesan director of catechesis. “In some ways, it’s not that complicated. But I think that a lot of our faithful might be lacking in the confidence that can be helpful in evangelizing outreach.”

With that in mind, the archdiocesan Office of Evangelization will sponsor next year a “School of Evangelization” that will meet weekly starting on Jan. 19 for two-hour meetings at Our Lady of the Greenwood Parish in Greenwood. After a break during the summer months, the school will conclude at the end of September.

“This opportunity will help clarify what evangelization is and what it is not,” Ogorek said. “It will provide some very practical, doable and achievable tips for evangelizing in your own circles—friends, family, neighbors, co-workers. But it’ll also be helpful to parishes who want to get a little bit more organized and strategic in how this ministry unfolds at the parish level.”

The School of Evangelization will be operated by St. Paul Street Evangelization, an apostolate based in Warren, Mich., that helps people share the faith in many contexts.

The two-hour sessions will include time for worship, small-group discussions and presentations on the faith and how to share it. Participants will be given assignments to help them grow incrementally more comfortable with being evangelists, says Adam Jenke, the chief operating officer of St. Paul Street Evangelization.

“Each week you have evangelization homework that’s a little bit outside of our comfort zone, but is simple enough that we’re going to build on that throughout the year,” he said. “Suddenly, by the end of the program, you’re an effective evangelist.”

Peter Doane will be the chief instructor for the school. A member of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Carmel, Ind., in the Lafayette Diocese, Doane previously served as director of evangelization at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Carmel.

“As an instructor, I’m not only instructing them academically but I’m modelling for them how to evangelize to certain groups, to non-believers, to

non-practicing Catholics,” Doane said. “I can draw out of my experience and go out with them to model that for them.”

Toward the end of the school, participants will work and launch a program to help promote evangelization in their own parish communities.

“People leave the school not only with knowledge and confidence but, because of that project, with a very practical way of evangelizing and helping others to be better evangelizers as well,” said Ogorek.

Janke emphasized that the school is designed for people with no experience in evangelization.

“You can come if you’re already a seasoned evangelist and have lots of work under your belt,” he said. “But this is a program for absolute beginners. So, if you’re like, ‘Man, I’ve never evangelized in my entire life before,’ this is a program for you.”

Ogorek added that evangelization is not for specialists, but is a mission for all the faithful.

“Very few of us are called to be theologians or professors,” he said. “But we’re all called to be disciples and evangelizers. You don’t have to be a theologian to be an evangelizer. The School of Evangelization will help people to not only to take this to heart but to put it into practice.”
 

(The School of Evangelization that will take place at Our Lady of the Greenwood Parish in Greenwood starting in January costs $600. Scholarships are available. For more information or to sign up, visit streetevangelization.com/parish-schools.) †