By Father Richard A. Kieran

At a clergy conference last Wednesday, Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan called upon the priests of the archdiocese to cooperate in a special Year of Outreach from Pentecost 1979 to Pentecost 1980. The purpose of this evangelization effort is:

To establish as a priority in the archdiocese ongoing outreach to alienated Catholics and churchless persons to enable them to experience salvation in Jesus Christ and to live out their Christian life in the Catholic Church.

This purpose is to be related to the ongoing need for renewal within the parishes of the archdiocese.

The specific goals for the Year of Outreach include:

-- Having each parish develop and implement a special outreach to alienated Catholics and churchless persons, using the resources of the parish; particularly, the talents of the laity;

-- Developing in the members of the parish a new awareness of their responsibility to share faith;

-- Enabling the laity to become directly involved in making Christ’s message of salvation known and accepted by their alienated Catholic brothers and sisters and by the churchless.

The archdiocese will provide assistance to the parishes in the form of information regarding successful outreach programs, resources for evangelization, and model programs for reaching youth through peer ministry. A special series of continuing education programs for the priests will be offered during 1979-80 to assist them in improving the effectiveness of their preaching and their celebrating. In addition, the archdiocese will conduct a limited, diocesan wide media campaign to support the efforts of the parishes.

Plans for the Year of Outreach were developed by the Archdiocesan Committee on Evangelization, which is made up of clergy, laity, and Sisters.

The clergy conference last Wednesday began with a keynote address by Bishop Bernard Law of Springfield-Cape Girardeau. Bishop Law acknowledged the fact that frequently priests are overburdened with the many demands made upon them today. However, he stated that, in his experience, evangelization serves to integrate pastoral ministry and focus it on the essential mission of the Church. Drawing upon the teaching of Pope Paul VI in his apostolic exhortation on “Evangelization in the Modern World,” the Bishop emphasized that evangelization is at the heart of the Church’s mission.

Bishop Law pointed out that for priests to be effective as evangelizers, they must be constantly undergoing personal renewal -- a process of constantly being more open to the Word of God in their own lives. He pointed out that according to the teaching of the Second Vatican Council, the proclamation of the Word of God is essential to priestly ministry. He stated that priests have no choice but to be evangelizers.

Bishop Law also encouraged the priests to be open to the various renewal movements in the Church, to look upon them as resources for evangelization, and to provide spiritual leadership to them.

Archbishop Donnellan addressed the priests on some special local needs for evangelization in the Archdiocese of Atlanta. He also emphasized the fact that the success of the Year of Outreach will depend on the initiative taken by each priest under the leadership of its priests.

The priests were provided with a package of materials to help them implement the Year of Outreach. The package included models for parish evangelization efforts and materials to help with parish use of the mass media.

Larry Melear, Communications Consultant to the Archdiocesan Committee on Evangelization, showed the priests a slide and sound presentation he had developed to help communicate the goals of the Year of Outreach to the people of the archdiocese. This presentation will be available for use by parish committees.

The parishes of the archdiocese are asked to name a lay outreach coordinator prior to Pentecost Sunday (June 3). This person will be responsible for coordinating parish planning for outreach to alienated Catholics and churchless persons.

Each parish is asked to celebrate the beginning of the Year of Outreach on Pentecost Sunday by focusing the liturgy on the responsibility of all members of the parish to reach out to share their faith. At that time, the lay outreach coordinators are to be commissioned.