Friends,

I do not know if or when a serious vision for evangelization will come in the Eparchy. It probably won't come at all until circumstances force the issue. What certainly can come and is coming as we write is some serious evangelization and church growth in some of our Churches. What can and will most likely come are movements among Churches that will bring renewal and will be supported through meetings like we will be having on August 6 in Homer Glen. BTW All evangelically minded persons are invited to mark their calendars. Information will follow.

In addition in order to allow our bishops to know that the Church's strongest supporters are also its most aggressive evangelizers and to let them know that we support the priests who are evangelizers we must write and/or call them. They certainly hear from the fear mongers. Let's not let them assume that the fear mongers constitute all that are here.

Therefore, I encourage all of the evangelizers on this forum to write and/or phone your bishop with the following:

1. Assure them of your devotion to the Church and of your loyalty to them and to your priest.

2. Inform them of your willingness to invite people to Christ and the Church and of your support of every effort to help grow the Church.

3. Encourage them to be bold in combining parishes in order to strengthen their strategic witness. To organize or to allow laity to organize national or regional conferences on evangelism. To plant Churches where growth can be expected. To give assistance to vital Churches in their efforts to plant mission Churches. To encourage Deacons and laity to start prayer groups in homes where our parishes do not now exist. To make the path to ordination much clearer. To work toward union with other Eastern Catholic Churches.

As FDR said: "There is nothing to fear but fear itself."

As Father Loya says: "The nastiest four letter word in the English language is F-E-A-R."

Dan L