• Senior Regional Missionary • w/ SPSE since 2014 • Awaken team leader • Matchen Soup Kitchen team leader • Anne has been with SPSE since 2014 when she took our flagship Basic Evangelization Training in Detroit. She was blown away by the whole idea of how we, the laity, are needed and must go out to the nations and proclaim Jesus. Her first evangelization outings were in downtown Royal Oak and at parish festivals. The following year she became a Regional Missionary which simply means that she helps local teams get started and then supports those teams, hosts hospitality events to help foster relationship between evangelists, runs vendor tables for local SPEI events, and conducts trainings. (Find out more about SPSE Regional Missionaries)
Anne leads a team that travels with a diocesan praise and worship ministry called Awaken Ministry. She also worked for over a year to get into a local soup kitchen run by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul – and the invitation finally came in the fall of 2018. Both of her teams evangelize monthly. There are about a dozen evangelists who rotate between the two teams. Anne has discovered that evangelizing at a Catholic event like Awaken is not all that much different from evangelizing on the downtown streets: people need to hear Jesus proclaimed and are hungry for hope.
Why do you love evangelizing?
There are two reasons:
- I want beautiful feet! — “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the one bringing good news.” Isaiah 52:7a
Isaiah is writing about how God was leading his people back from exile in Babylon to Zion, a hill in Jerusalem on which the Temple was built. Evangelization with SPSE is leading people, with the help of the Holy Spirit, back to the God with friendly smiles and simple methods. Anyone and everyone can learn the Kerygma! And the Holy Spirit helps us proclaim Jesus.
- Because of faith, hope and love. – “So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:13
I am a person of hope and know, from many parts of Scripture, tradition, and church documents, as well as the Fatima Prayer which Our Lady gave to the three shepherd children, that God wants ALL souls led to heaven especially those in most need of thy mercy. We play our part by bringing the name and actions of Jesus to the people on the streets or in soup kitchens and in our daily lives. Living our lives by receiving the sacraments, praying, being engaged in Christian service and in Christian fellowship allows our faith to grow. When faith grows, our hope increases. As our hope increases, we begin to see what God wants for all and what He did for all: Send Jesus Christ into the world to save us!
Is there a scripture passage you often turn to?
Our Catholic church has selected an order of hearing scripture proclaimed at the mass in an amazing way. I don’t have to figure out what part of our wonderful Word of God to read each day; it is done for me. I simply read the mass readings before mass (preferably the night before unless I fall asleep too quickly) and then either before or after mass I read a couple of meditations on the readings. Since I’ve heard a homily as well, I feel as if I have three bits of input to “chew” on for the daily readings.