Evangelization Supplement 2008

Adult faith formation programs helps Catholics evangelize

During an adult faith formation event on April 24 at St. Bartholomew Parish in Columbus, Kathy Davis-Shanks, right, a pastoral associate at the parish, speaks with, from left, Greg Andrews, who was received into the full communion of the Church at the parish at the Easter Vigil; Isabel Hernandez, a member of the parish; and her husband, Enrique Hernandez, who was also received into the full communion of the Church during the Easter Vigil. (Submitted photo)

By John Shaughnessy

Lynn Hansen remembers how desperate the woman was, how she longed to embrace a faith that could make a difference in her life.

As Hansen listened to the woman share her story and her struggles, the director of religious education at St. John the Apostle Parish in Bloomington saw the connection to her own search for faith—and how Catholics led Hansen to the Church and to the feeling that she had “finally made it home.”

For Hansen, born into a Presbyterian family, there was a defining moment from her childhood when her mother was struggling for her life in a Catholic hospital.

“I was too young to go to my mom’s room so I had to stay in the waiting room with my younger brother,” she recalls. “There was a statue of St. Francis in the waiting room. This [religious] sister came over and asked me if I was OK. She asked if I knew who that statue was. She told me that St. Francis is watching over me and he’ll always watch over me.”

There were also the times as an adult when Catholics influenced her, from the devout faith of a dentist she worked for to the caring example of her neighbors who were Catholic.

“There was something drawing me constantly to becoming a Catholic,” Hansen, 53, recalls. “When I was 44, all the pieces fell into place. I think it was the Holy Spirit telling me it was time.”

Hansen shares her own story of becoming a Catholic to show the different ways that Catholics can help draw others to the faith. She notes that adult faith formation programs can be effective in evangelization.

“Obviously, the more one knows about a subject, the more comfortable and confident one will be in discussing that subject with others,” Hansen says. “What seems more important than comfort and perhaps even more important than confidence, however, is desire. I think a good adult faith formation program can pique interest and thus stimulate desire—the desire to know Jesus and the fullness of his truth as well as the desire to spread the Good News.”

The leaders of adult faith formation programs in the archdiocese realize that process can take time.

“At first, people aren’t willing to open up, but once you get them to do it, it makes it easier to share their faith with others,” says Barbara Black, the pastoral associate at Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Terre Haute and the director of religious education at St. Benedict Parish in Terre Haute.

Black has seen the power of small faith-sharing groups at Sacred Heart Parish in the past 10 years.

“Some of them had the courage to get up and give ‘witness’ talks to the community,” Black says. “This Lent, we had retreats once a week. When we were getting near the end, they wanted to keep meeting because it was filling a need. We had one person who came who was not Catholic. One of the people took her under her wing and fostered her. We’re hoping she might come into the Church next year.”

Even as Catholics become more comfortable in evangelizing, they shouldn’t press people to join the faith, say the leaders of these programs.

“Be positive and open-minded,” advises Kathy Davis-Shanks, a pastoral associate in charge of adult faith formation and pastoral care at St. Bartholomew Parish in Columbus. “Be loving and kind because that opens the door for a much better conversation. Actions speak volumes, too.”

Black and Hansen agree.

“Once you see them opening up, you have to help them, but give them time,” Black says. “A lot of it is just the work of the Holy Spirit. We offer what we can and trust the Spirit to do the rest.”

Hansen recalls the space and the care that Catholics gave her as she tried to decide to join the faith.

“If it wasn’t right for me, they were still praying for me,” Hansen says.

She uses that same approach as she guides people involved in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults programs.

“I see a little bit of myself in them,” she says. “I see the longing, the confusion, the hunger and the thirst, and the frustration. I tell them they’re on the right path. It’s normal to have questions, to be a little bit scared, a little bit confused. When I finally came into the Church, I finally made it home.”

She helped create the same feeling of home in the Church for the woman who is mentioned at the beginning of this story, the woman struggling to find a faith she could embrace.

“She spoke carefully at first, but was very open and honest about her past and her struggle,” Hansen says. “As truths were revealed to her and old ideas disproved, she began to blossom. Since she came into full communion with the Church, she has taken on a variety of tasks in and around the parish as well as evangelizing to all she encounters in her daily work. She truly let Jesus into her heart and soul. You can actually see him in her.”

For Hansen, it’s just continuing the work of others who led her to become a Catholic.

“It’s very life-giving to me,” she says. “That’s what we’re called to do. There are many ways to do that. You don’t have to go in the middle of town and preach. Invite them to church with you. Invite them to other functions. Don’t hide your faith. Just live it.” †