Offices & Services

Providing support and service of parishes as centers for the New Evangelization

“Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction […] Since God has first loved us (cf. 1 Jn 4:10), love is now no longer a mere ‘command’; it is the response to the gift of love with which God draws near to us.”

- Pope Benedict XVI, Deus caritas est, 217, 218

The efforts of the Office of the Episcopal Vicar for the New Evangelization are centered on promoting and training individuals in the parishes to seek personal conversion in order that they might become conduits of God’s love – dynamic witnesses of a joy-filled, Catholic life – for their families, friends, co-workers, neighbors and fellow parishioners.

The focus of these efforts will be guided by the vision of the universal Church and our Archbishop, Cardinal Seán O’Malley, as well as the recommendations from recent archdiocesan task forces and committees.

In particular the office will strive to:

• Promote Cardinal Seán’s vision for the New Evangelization, especially in helping parishes to become centers for the New Evangelization.
• Encourage a continuing renewal of catechesis in the Archdiocese, with a particular emphasis on the training of all those who teach the Catholic faith and adult faith formation.
• Serve as a vehicle of collaboration for other Archdiocesan offices in seeking to assist parishes as centers for the New Evangelization.
• Establish opportunities for celebration of the Year of Faith, the fiftieth anniversary of the beginning of Vatican Council II, and the forthcoming Synod of Bishops for the New Evangelization for the Transmission of Christian Faith.

These efforts will require prayer (first and foremost devotion to the Eucharist), patience, humility and whole-hearted collaboration for all involved.

In the end this work is, as Pope Benedict XVI continues to remind us, the work of the mustard seed – the conversion of souls, one person at a time.  It can only be accomplished through a true spirit of communio – recognizing our need to be in communion with the Triune God and subsequently with each other in the Body of Christ.

Disciples Called to Mission: The New Evangelization