The Catholic School of Evangelisation was brought to Australia from Mexico by the late Bishop Joe Grech and established in Melbourne in 1994. Since then courses have been conducted and Schools established throughout Australia. We have also conducted courses in NZ, PNG and the Philippines. As of July 2011 there are seven diocesan schools conducting courses throughout Australia.
The content is based on the courses of St Andrew’s School of Evangelisation (Mexico), the Koinonia John the Baptist Community (Italy) and International Centre Kerygma (Italy), but the presentation and packaging of the courses have developed to meet Australian needs.
The School is based on the KeKaKo principle: effective evangelisation requires three elements to be in place: Kerygma-Karisma-Koinonia.
Kerygma: The evangeliser has to have had a personal encounter with Jesus and has to know how to share this Good News with others.
Karisma: When a committed Christian community proclaims the Gospel with boldness then the Holy Spirit is present with power to bring about conversions and build up the People of God.
Koinonia: The evangeliser has to be a committed, active member of an evangelising Christian community.
The content is based on the courses of St Andrew’s School of Evangelisation (Mexico), the Koinonia John the Baptist Community (Italy) and International Centre Kerygma (Italy), but the presentation and packaging of the courses have developed to meet Australian needs.
The School is based on the KeKaKo principle: effective evangelisation requires three elements to be in place: Kerygma-Karisma-Koinonia.
Kerygma: The evangeliser has to have had a personal encounter with Jesus and has to know how to share this Good News with others.
Karisma: When a committed Christian community proclaims the Gospel with boldness then the Holy Spirit is present with power to bring about conversions and build up the People of God.
Koinonia: The evangeliser has to be a committed, active member of an evangelising Christian community.
DESCRIPTION:
The School is an education and evangelisation resource that, through its formation courses, offers dioceses and parishes a means to develop a mission mentality among our Catholic people. While acknowledging the wider aspects of evangelisation the School has a twofold focus:
A. Individual:
(i) to help Catholics to grow in their relationship with Jesus so as to give an authentic witness of faith in their own life;
(ii) to train Catholics to evangelise as part of a community based on their own testimony of lived faith, in a style which suits their own particular personality and talents.
B. Community:
The focus of the School is very much on parish evangelisation based on the belief that if our Church is to be an evangelising Church then our parishes have to be evangelising parishes. For most people their experience of Church is through their local parish or parish school.
Also we have found that it is not enough to train individuals to evangelise, we need to train parishes to evangelise. It is only when the parish as a whole is focused on evangelisation that the gifts of each person are fully utilized
A. Individual:
(i) to help Catholics to grow in their relationship with Jesus so as to give an authentic witness of faith in their own life;
(ii) to train Catholics to evangelise as part of a community based on their own testimony of lived faith, in a style which suits their own particular personality and talents.
B. Community:
The focus of the School is very much on parish evangelisation based on the belief that if our Church is to be an evangelising Church then our parishes have to be evangelising parishes. For most people their experience of Church is through their local parish or parish school.
Also we have found that it is not enough to train individuals to evangelise, we need to train parishes to evangelise. It is only when the parish as a whole is focused on evangelisation that the gifts of each person are fully utilized
Catholic evangelisation flows from a lived real experience of Christian community which goes out and invites people into an environment of love where they meet the Risen Lord Jesus.