Andre Lesperance, Senior Content Creator and Ministry Consultant with Evangelical Catholic, Madison, coaches parish staff members to implement its Reach More process. (Submitted photo)
The word evangelical can be an intimidating adjective.
At best, it conjures images of saints and martyrs, people whose holiness may feel unattainable to the average Catholic. At worst, it brings to mind awkward social interactions and Bible verses being yelled through bullhorns on street corners.
The folks at Evangelical Catholic know the connotations that have developed alongside the term, and they aren’t fazed. Reclaiming the world’s understanding of what evangelization is and what it looks like is part and parcel of their mission.
In fact, one of the first questions asked of participants in their Reach More training is “What do you think of when you think of evangelization?”
“It’s interesting because I actually end up getting a lot more negative images than positive ones (in answer to that question),” said Claire Ziolkowski. As the adult minister at St. Dominic Parish in Brookfield, Ziolkowski has led a dozen groups through Reach More.
“I think it speaks to how we have been informed in understanding evangelization, and the re-formation that needs to happen,” she said. “I think for so long our faith was taught as something very personal and very private, and so the idea of talking about your faith is such a big hurdle for a lot of people to understand.”
“An evangelical Catholic is just a Catholic who lives their faith generously and intentionally,” said Andre Lesperance, Senior Content Creator and Ministry Consultant for the Evangelical Catholic, a Madison-based apostolate that was founded in 1998. “Our mission is to help Catholics live a life with Jesus that’s impossible not to share.”
The word evangelization is derived from the Greek word “evangelion,” which means, simply, “good news.”
“We want to reclaim this identity of evangelization as receiving the good news of Jesus fully into our lives and then radiating that good news of Jesus back into the world in all we do,” said Lesperance.
That’s where Reach More, Evangelical Catholic’s flagship mission training, comes in. Last year, 2,800 people participated in the 12-week Reach More process, becoming equipped, inspired and formed in “being good news to the world.”
Five parishes in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee currently partner with Evangelical Catholic to offer Reach More.
Ziolkowski knew that she wanted to bring Reach More to St. Dominic as soon as she was hired at the parish five years ago. A former staff member at Evangelical Catholic, she felt it offered “some of the best resources for helping parishes raise up disciples.”
“It’s not just another program that the church runs — it’s really about helping people become mature, self-sustaining disciples on mission,” she said.
Reach More isn’t a how-to book or a curriculum, and Evangelical Catholic prefers not to even call it a program. Rather, it is a process, one heavily based in relationships — between Catholics and Christ (prayer), between Catholics and other Catholics (community), and between Catholics and the world in which they live (mission).
Participants in Reach More desire a deeper understanding of the Great Commission and their baptismal call, Lesperance said. It’s not boot camp, but it is spiritual and relational training.
Throughout the 12 weeks, participants will be formed in what Evangelical Catholic calls the 10 habits of mission, which are ways of distilling “this scary word of ‘evangelization’ into really actionable things they can do,” said Lesperance.
Included in those actionable skills is fasting and praying in an apostolic way for friends, families and communities, learning to be attentive to others in a more profound way, embracing a sense of curiosity about others’ experiences and the ways in which those experiences have shaped their beliefs, and facilitating small groups where people can grow in friendship with Christ and one another.
Participants also learn to listen well, to be sensitive to others’ spiritual needs, and most importantly, to discern the right moments for conversation — and the right moments for wordless support.
“Basically, we specialize in an apostolate of friendship,” said Lesperance. “If we know how to be attentive to our friends, we might get opportunities to really walk with someone through their joys, hardships and deepest questions.”
“It’s about helping you become a better disciple, but also helping you bring others into discipleship,” said Ziolkowski.
Those “others” don’t have to be strangers at all; Ziolkowski said most of her parish’s Reach More participants have been people who are hoping to understand how to talk about faith with their children and grandchildren.
The hope, said Lesperance, is to bring all the truth and goodness of the Catholic faith into every space, moment and relationship that Reach More participants enter.
“Everybody has friends, neighbors, coworkers that are not coming to church, that aren’t going to hear the best YouTube videos from Fr. Mike Schmitz and Bishop (Robert) Barron. They’re not going to listen to that stuff — but they might walk with us as their friends,” Lesperance said.
Sometimes, said Ziolkowski, evangelization is “just getting a cart for the mom who’s got her hands full at the grocery store.”
“The name of Christ never comes up, but the love of Christ is evident in everything that you’re doing,” she said.
For more information about Evangelical Catholic and bringing Reach More to your parish, visit evangelicalcatholic.org/.
