BONUS: Telling the Story of God’s Love

Fr. Mike speaks about evangelization, new media, and telling the
story of God’s love at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in
Philadelphia. Addressing future pastors, he tells them “the heart
of your formation is to become a dad” to your parishioners. He
encourages them to use the same motto they use at the Newman
Center of the University of Minnesota, Duluth, where he serves as
campus minister. The motto he shares with students there is “See
a need, fill a need.” 


In other words, you don’t have to wait for permission to share
the gospel, to be charitable, or to do good.


Evangelization in the new world is at its heart no different than
it’s always been. As Pope St. Paul VI shared in Evangelii
Nuntiandi, if you’re baptized, you’ve been anointed to spread the
gospel. And as Christ says when commissioning the apostles:


“You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit
has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and
in all Judea and Samar′ia and to the end of the earth” (Acts
1:8).


Christ is saying it’s our job to continue his mission. 


But it’s not all about going out. We also need to go in, to look
inward. Before we go out to evangelize, we need to invite Christ
into our hearts.


What does it mean to know him? And what does all of this have to
do with new media? It’s all connected because of one word: story.
Evangelization is about telling the story of God’s love as you
have experienced it, and new media is just a new medium for
spreading that centuries-old message, the kerygma. 


How do you become a Catholic speaker? “Well, you get baptized and
then you start talking” Fr. Mike says.


Opportunities will come, but your first yes has to be to Christ.
And the opportunities don’t have to be to speak to thousands of
people thousands of miles away. Saying yes to Christ means being
willing to talk about him to one person one block or one house
away, or just to the person in front of you. Just as it starts
with a personal encounter with Christ, the next step is to tell
the story of God’s love for you to one person. 


So how do we evangelize with new media? We don’t if we aren’t
willing to do it without new media. 


Also, getting into new media requires more than a person sitting
in his living room sharing his opinion on something. It requires
an entire Church community, and you. The speaker speaks, the team
puts everything together, but the most important piece is the
person who shares the video, program, podcast, or article with
someone they know and love.


Check out St. Charles Borromeo Seminary and their John Cardinal
Foley Chair of Homiletics & Social Communications