How we spread the Good News and make disciples of all nations, as Christ commands us (cf Mt. 28:19), can seem vastly different in 2021 than in the era of the first apostles and the early Church. Yet our calling, our missionary mandate or “Great Commission,” remains in many ways very much the same.
Through surveys and our own experience, we know we as a Church face ever-declining Mass attendance, declining belief in the perennial teachings of our faith, and what St. John Paul II describes as “entire groups of the baptized [having] lost a living sense of the faith.” (Redemtoris Missio). John Paul II calls the work before us in this modern era “The New Evangelization.”
What makes the New Evangelization new? We have before us tools that Saint Paul might only have dreamed of. Social media, video, the web, email, and—yes—this diocesan newspaper you’re reading right now are vital tools to not just evangelize but also to enrich and nourish the spiritual lives of Catholics. Communications through all these means is not merely an administrative function the Church has to carry out; it is a ministry and a key part of how we can grow as a Church, how we can grow as Catholics between our attendance at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and how we can fulfill Christ’s mandate. And because of that, it bears doing well.
The Catholic Communications Campaign is a key part of funding these works of the New Evangelization and helping us do it well. Please prayerfully consider making a tax-deductible gift to this vital ministry in your second collection the weekend of June 12-13 or by donating at www.givecentral.org/dioprovccc.
Your generosity and most especially your prayers for this apostolic work are received with grateful hearts by all of us in the communications office.
Michael Kieloch is the Director of Communications & Public Relations for the Diocese of Providence.
