Douglasville, GA
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This report comes to us from team leader Jeremy with our team in Douglasville, GA:
The Douglasville Christmas parade is the biggest public event of the year in our community. We had enough experienced volunteers come to set up tables at two different locations (the parade route is about a mile long): one near the clock tower, and one near the amphitheater, where the parade ends. Pat, Christine, and Ekpen braved the cold with me – and the crazy parking situation – to sow seeds of the Gospel.
Typically we have given out around 20 Rosaries each time we do a downtown event. This time it was well over a hundred! Christmas has a way of focusing people’s hearts on religious matters. Plus, there were a lot more children, who are more attracted to colorful objects that look like jewelry. It was common for children to swarm the table and drag their parents with them!
I had two extended conversations that were especially meaningful: one with a man a few years older than me; another with a man young enough to be my son, both Protestant Christians, though the older man was not active in a church. The focus of both conversations was on division between Christians as a result of doctrinal disagreements. That they were deeply disturbed by this fact, and struggled to make sense of it, made them open to the solution found in the true Church. As the older man was criticizing others for taking verses from the Bible out of context to make it mean whatever they wanted to, I told him, “You are making a better argument for Catholicism than I could make!” The young man had a best friend who was Catholic, which gave him a positive impression, but they had never really discussed the differences. He seemed drawn to the fact that we are the oldest and only global Church, and open to the argument that the papacy/Magisterium is necessary to resolve conflicts and keep Christians united in doctrine. He thanked me and gave me a big hug at the end!
This was our last outreach of our inaugural year. I am grateful for how God has raised up co-laborers from St. Theresa’s to help realize my vision of having a regular evangelistic presence at public events in our community.
Praised be Jesus Christ!