Blacksburg, VA
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The following report comes to us from team leader Zach with our team in New River Valley, VA:
It was a warm and clear day, which contrasted with the cold and snowy winter we have had. Anticipating the good weather the following day, we made a last-second decision to set up our A-frames at our go-to spot. In honor of the Lenten Ember Saturday, we fasted before and through our outing, offering it up for those we met and those we couldn’t meet. We passed out maybe 20 rosaries and 25 pamphlets over 2 hours, and two interactions stood out.
Dave was an agnostic man who was shocked to see Catholics street evangelizing. He bounced from denomination to denomination over the past several decades, and has been wrestling with knowledge that something greater than the material world exists, but not knowing how God fits into our world. He takes a rational approach to life and has interest in math and science, including cosmology. Luckily, my evangelization partner for the day was an astrophysicist in graduate school! After a 15+minute conversation, he left with “Evidence of God from Astrophysics” and “Why Be Catholic” pamphlets.
Personally, I thought the most awesome interaction was running into a fellow Catholic. We often run into Catholic students from the Virginia Tech Newman Center when we evangelize in Blacksburg, and it is always mutually enjoyable to run into each other. This Newmanite was even more shocked than Dave to see Catholics in the wild — his jaw dropped when he found out who we were. Evangelizing (i.e., emboldening) other Catholics is just so fun. St. Paul Street Evangelization combats an important stereotype (and often an unfortunate reality) that Catholics keep their faiths private, which is the antigospel. As God reminds us in Joshua Ch 1, we must be strong and courageous.
Happy feast day to Bl. Daniel Brottier… pray for us!