Catholic Answers’ Patrick Coffin joined the fun when SPSE’s San Diego team went out to do some Catholic street evangelization in Balboa Park recently. In the photo, Patrick is talking with two Iraqi Catholics about the persecution that’s going on there.

The men had been walking down the street when the team got their attention — by offering them a $1 million bill! The “bill” is the newest evangelization tool that SPSE has made available in their store. It has a picture of Pope Francis on the front and the Gospel message on the back.

SPSE teams have found it a great conversation starter. A typical conversation may begin like this:

“Would you like a free Rosary?”

“No, thanks.”

“Well, then, how about a million bucks?”

This usually elicits a laugh from the passerby, plus a bit of curiosity.

When the person stops to accept, the evangelist may ask, “Do you know who this is?” indicating the picture of Pope Francis. Then the team member may say, “Have you heard anything about him?” This usually gets a conversation off to a positive start. If not, another useful opening is, “Do you think $1 million will make you happy?”

SPSE’s National Director, Steve Dawson, says that using their new million-dollar bill is now one of his favorite tools for starting conversations.

Many other resources are also available at SPSE, each carefully designed to make evangelization easy and fun for any Catholic to do. Are you a member yet? If not, please prayerfully consider joining today and learning how you, too, can become part of this exciting mission.