TESTIMONIES FROM PRIESTS & BISHOPS

The following are samples of comments made by Catholic Church hierarchy and priests:

Auxiliary Bishop Christopher Prowse in the Melbourne Archdiocese stated:

“The School of Evangelisation is taking seriously the Catholic Church’s call for a New Evangelisation. It is equipping people, especially young people, with some important tools for making Jesus known and loved in our confusing times. I recommend this for your consideration.”

Bishop Jeremiah Coffey, Bishop of Sale

“I am always enthused by the ability of the School of Evangelisation to gather a goodly number of disciples of Jesus to participate in different courses on evangelisation. It is the Holy Spirit who initiates and inspires such courses. My prayer is that through the Holy Spirit, we may continue to proclaim the Good News boldly.”

Fr. Herman Hengel, Parish Priest Warragul parish, Victoria.

“The average Catholic today seems to have lost confidence and finds it difficult to verbalize their faith. The School of Evangelisation courses are very effective ways of teaching participants to grow in knowledge and appreciation of God and give skills to share that knowledge and appreciation. I have seen many Catholics fired up for their faith through participation in a School of Evangelisation course.”

Fr. Brendan Lane, Parish Priest of St. Francis of Assisi parish, Mill Park, Victoria, (tel. (03) 9404 3865) who introduced the School in his parish in June 2004, made the following comments about the New Life Course, which attracted 50 participants:

“Brilliant talks, punctuated by simple experiences and power point displays have made the message accessible to the simplest. We are going to continue throughout the year with these weekend training days to form people in themselves and equip them with skills to be evangelizers. There is no doubt a substantial group of trained people is needed to spread the Good News in Mill Park. We hope to welcome more people into our small groups and cells, so that when they come to the Lord, they come to a community of faith as well. I believe that this is a work of the Lord and so it will certainly succeed. The Kingdom is coming and nothing can stop that. But we can be a part of it or not. Here is a great way for parishioners to take the Good News to the world today.”

The Mill Park parish completed the Parish Evangelisation and Formation Program in April 2006. The 25 people who completed the course became members of small parish cell groups of 6-12 people that meet weekly to reflect on and discuss the Sunday Gospel readings with Scripture comments from Fr Brendan Lane. The groups continue to grow by constantly inviting other parishioners and people evangelized to join them. Groups split when they grow too large. In 2007 there were 22 cell groups in the parish. Evangelistic outreach events are planned by the groups throughout each year, especially targeting non-practising Catholics who are continually re-invited back into the community.