Bloomington, IN. Recently, on the campus of Indiana University, SPSE national director Steve talked to young lady from the church of Christ for about twenty minutes about the Catholic Church. He explained its founding by Jesus Christ, the “keys to the kingdom” granted to Peter and his successors, the gift of authority and infallibility in the words “whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven,” etc. She was very interested, and told him so, and they exchanged contact information. She accepted a copy of “Rome Sweet Home,” by Scott Hahn, as well as Hahn’s conversion story on CD, and other material, all of which she said she would read, and (who knows?) maybe she’d get involved with the Newman center on campus.
During another outing not too long after, Father Ignatius and Steve went evangelizing while shopping. They are preparing materials to help teach people how to evangelize in the circumstances of their daily lives. Spending a couple hours going from business to business as they were shopping, they visited a grocery store, hardware store, post office, shipping company, and a couple other places. In each location, they picked a few people to evangelize while they were in the store shopping, and while in the parking lots. This is done in such a way as to not cause a scene. They didn’t set up a sign or put out materials, they just approached and talked to people, offering them miraculous medals, and went from there.
In several conversations, people were definitely interested. One lady said she was considering joining the church, but hadn’t thought of it in a while. They encouraged her, gave their contact info, and she said she wanted to join RCIA. Fr. Ignatius talked to a man in the parking lot for about a half hour about the Church being founded by Jesus Christ, and the man took a book and other materials. In all, they spoke to about 20 – 30 people in about 2 hours. We pray that great fruit will come from it.
Praised be Jesus Christ! We’re always looking to improve our methods and expand our reach. After all, the Lord asks us to preach the word to all. Will you join us, and help us with this task?