Oct. 29, 2014

Thanks to the Bishop’s Fund, the Diocesan Office of Evangelization exists to assist parishes, groups and individuals to become aware of the need for evangelization and to assist every baptized Catholic to become a disciple who shares the faith with others.

Following the document of the US Bishops, “Go and Make Disciples, a National Plan and Strategy for Catholic Evangelization in the United States,” the Office of Evangelization has three goals:
• to bring about in all Catholics such an enthusiasm for their faith that, in living their faith in Jesus, they may freely share it with others;
• to invite all people, whatever their social or cultural background, to hear the message of salvation in Jesus Christ so they may come to join us in the fullness of the Catholic faith;
• to foster gospel values in our society, promoting the dignity of the human person, the importance of the family, and the common good of our society, so that our nation may continue to be transformed by the saving power of Jesus Christ.

In order to fulfill these goals, the Office of Evangelization offers a variety of workshops to parishes and groups, from simple discussions on how to form a parish evangelization team to eight-session regional Forming Intentional Disciples workshops.

As Director of the Office of Evangelization, Marika Donders is happy to speak with groups and parishes on topics ranging from Telling our Story/Sharing our Faith, The New Evangelization, Evangelizing through New Media and programs to Welcome Catholics Home.  

She also offers retreats for Evangelization Teams.

The Office of Evangelization collaborates with all the other diocesan offices to promote larger events to help Catholics in the North Country to know and live their faith more fully.  Some recent events have been the collaboration with the Family Life Offices for the Building Strong Families workshop with Dr. Angela Franks (see www.rcdony.org/BSF for videos) and the End of Life Conference with Father Tad Pacholczyk. 

Currently the Office of Evangelization is coordinating the group which will attend World Youth Day 2016, collaborating with the Delegate for Religious on promoting the Year of Consecrated Life  and planning future events such as Beauty of Belief II.

The Office of Evangelization also spreads the Good News using the means of social communication. 
The Office manages the web-pages for both the Office of Evangelization (www.rcdony.org/evangelization) and Young Adult Ministry (www.rcdony.org/youngadultministry) as well as the associated Facebook Pages (www.facebook.com/dioceseofogdensburg, www.facebook.com/ogdensburg.evangelization and www.facebook.com/OgdensburgYAM  and Twitter feed (@rcdony). 

The Office of Evangelization publishes a blog with reflections on the Sunday readings and reviews of resources (www.rcdony.org/evangelization/blog).

Thank you for your generous contributions to the Bishop’s Fund without which the Office of Evangelization would not exist. 

If you would like assistance in establishing a parish evangelization team, have someone come to your parish or group about the New Evangelization and Discipleship or assistance with evangelization workshops or retreats, please do not hesitate to contact Marika Donders at mdonders@rcdony.org.