“I sense that the moment has come to commit all the Church’s energies to a new

evangelization and to the mission ad gentes.

“No believer in Christ, no institution of the Church can avoid this supreme duty:

to proclaim Christ to all peoples.”

Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris missio, No. 3 (1990)(On the permanent validity of the Church's missionary mandate)

Who Has Been Entrusted To Our Care?

1. Practicing (and Quasi-Practicing) Catholics

2. Inactive Catholics

3. The Unchurched

4. Other Christian Believers

5. Non-Christian Believers

6. Agnostics, Atheists, New Agers…

The Whole World!

Who must we reach?Target Audiences according to

Degree of Participation in and Relationship with the Church

Target Audiences

Practicing and

Quasi-Practicing Catholics

InactiveCatholics

Other Christians

Non-Christian Believers

Non-Believers

Practicing and

Quasi-Practicing

Inactive

Practicing and

Quasi-Practicing

Inactive

Agnostics

Atheists

New Agers

YoungAdults

Adults

Youth

Children

Youth

Children

AdultsYoungAdults

Unchurched

 

1.Practicing (and Quasi-Practicing) Catholics

23% of US Population is Catholic

An estimated two-thirds of Catholics in the United States

stop practicing their faith for a portion of their lives.

(Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate-CARA 2005)

Some never return…

 2.Inactive Catholics

In the United States, the second largest body of Christians is

comprised of Catholics who no longer practice their faith,

an estimated 17-21 million.

Many of these are people who are dear to us:former parishioners, neighbors,

relatives and friends…

43% Unchurched18% Inactive Catholics; 14% No Religion

23% Catholic

3.The UnchurchedPopulation in the U.S.

The Catholic Population in the U.S.Churched and Unchurched…

Catholic population: 23% of the U.S. population = 69,135,254

Number of Unchurched:43% of Americans are “unchurched” (Gallup Poll, September 2005)Not members, have not attended church, synagogue, mosque in past 6 months

Number of Inactive Catholics:Approximately 21,000,000 of the unchurched in America are inactiveCatholics. (18%)

New Adult Catholics: 154,501 in 2006 (0.06% of population… slow growth)

(The American Religious Identification Survey 2001: Graduate Center of the City University of New York.)

The Population in the U.S.This analysis is based on responses to the question, “How often do you attend church or synagogue—at least once a week, almost every week, about once a month, seldom, or never?”

Responding to this question in Gallup Poll surveys between January 2004-March 2006:Americans who said they attended church, synagogue, mosque… • 31% once a week (Practicing)• 11% almost every week (Quasi-practicing)• 13% once a month (Quasi-practicing)• 27% seldom (Inactive, Unchurched)• 16% never (Inactive, Unchurched)

Practicing and Quasi-practicing: 42% said they attend weekly or almost weekly. 55% if you add the “once-a-monthers”.Inactive and Unchurched: 43% seldom or never attend Church, synagogue, mosque.

Church Attendance Varies by State: Church attendance is highest in the South and lowest in New England. Attendance varies widely by state. Five states with the highest weekly/almost weekly church attendance are Alabama (58%), Louisiana (58%), South Carolina (58%), Mississippi (57%), and Utah (55%). Five states with the lowest weekly/almost weekly church attendance are Massachusetts (31%), Rhode Island (28%), Nevada (27%), Vermont (24%), and New Hampshire (24%). Source: Gallup Poll News Service, April 27, 2006.

The Catholic Population in the U.S. Churched and Unchurched…

Decline in Weekly Mass Attendance:Declined from 75% in the 1950s to about 34% in 2005

(Dr. Mary Gautier of CARA). The 34 percent figure is derived from phone surveys of 875 lay Catholics in 2005 by the Gallup Organization. “American Catholics from John Paul II to Benedict XVI” by William V. D’Antonio, Dean Hoge, James Davidson, and Mary Gautier, The National Catholic Reporter, September 30, 2005)

Increase in Those with No Religion:An increasing number of adults in the U.S. do not identify with any religion.

1972: 5.1% of the adult population did not identify with any religion.

1993: 9.0%

2002: 13.8%

(Winter 2006 issue of The CARA Report published by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, Georgetown University)

The Catholic Youth Population in the U.S

The Religious Experience of Catholic Teens

10% of Catholic teens say religious faith is extremely important in shaping their daily life

11% respond that their faith is extremely important in shaping their major life decisions.

9% of Catholic teens say they feel extremely close to God.

“Compared both to official Catholic norms of faithfulness and to other types of Christian teens in the United States, contemporary U.S. Catholic teens are faring rather badly.

On most measures of religious faith, belief, experience, and practice, Catholic teens as a whole show up as fairly weak.” (National Study of Youth and Religion.)

The study is reported in the Fall 2005 issue of The CARA Report published by the Centerfor Applied Research in the Apostolate, Georgetown University.

3.The Unchurched (inside and outside Catholicism)

“…more pressing than ever in our postmodern age… the need is felt for a new evangelization, which needs

masters of faith andappropriately trained heralds and witnesses of the Gospel.

The Church's evangelizing mission requires, not only that the Gospel message be spread everywhere, but that it penetrate deeply into the way people think,

into their criteria for making judgments and their behavior.

In a word, the entire culture of modern man must be permeated by the Gospel.“

Pope Benedict XVI,

Greeting to Students of the Roman Pontifical Universities, St. Peter's Square (October, 2007)

Parishes have to recognize their capacities to evangelize.

Welcome, invitation and intentional evangelization outreach

must be hallmarks of all our parishes, where there is:

Consistent evangelization of active Catholics.Consistent invitation to inactive Catholics.Consistent invitation to those without a church.Caring invitation to other believers.

Who are they?Ethnicity / Cultural Self-Identification:

White, Black, Hispanic, Asian…

Primary…Only…Preferred Faith Language:

English, Spanish, Polish…

Family Make-up:Two-parent homes,

Single parent homes,Grandparent-raised children,

Childless couples…

Marital Status: Never married, divorced, widowed…

Married once, remarried…

Age:Children, Adolescents,Teens, Young Adults,

Adults, Elderly

Socio-Economic Status:Lower, middle, upper income…

Elementary, high school, college education

Why Catholics Become Inactive or Leave the Church?Bishop Michael Saltarelli

In the United States, the second largest body of Christians is comprised of Catholics who no longer practice their faith - over 17 million.

Some of these are our relatives and friends; people who are very dear to us.  

In January of 2001, Bishop Michael Saltarelli gave Nine reasons why Catholics leave the Church (Origins, 2001)  

 Reason 1: Did not experience the power or presence of God in Catholicism.  Reason 2: Did not experience warm, personal, caring relationships. Services seemed boring.   Reason 3: Did experience the complex religious system as unrelated to their lives.  Reason 4: Were hurt in some way by Catholics, clergy or laity, and have not been reconciled.   Reason 5:  Are in conflict with the teaching of the Church on…matters of faith and morality.   

Why Catholics Become Inactive or Leave the Church?Bishop Michael Saltarelli

Nine reasons why Catholics leave the Church (Origins, 2001)

Reason 6:  Never knew their faith well or were ignorant of the basics.  Easily misled. Reason 7: Away because of a marriage outside the Church.   Reason 8: Got lazy. Got busy. Did not make the time to be involved.   Reason 9: Moved and never got around to finding a church.

  Unless we reverse the tide, there is likely a large number of Catholics who do come to church that

could one day fall into one or more of these same categories.   

We who are passionate about the Catholic faith need to do something about this.

Where do we find them?Quasi-Practicing, Inactive Catholics

On our rosters

Beside us - in the

pew!

In the Church

Hall

CatholicSchools

Youth Ministry,

CYO Events

Religious Ed

Quinceañeras

Confirmation

First Communions

Ash Wed,Good Friday

Easter,Christmas

Funerals

Baptismal Prep

& Baptisms

Marriage Prep &

Weddings

InChurch!

Where do we find them? Inactive Catholics, Unchurched,

Other Believers and Non-Believers

YOUTELL ME…

Incasual

encounters

Amongservice

providersIn person, on phone

Wherewe play

Where we

shop

Amongour

neighbors

At work

Amongour

Friends

In our families

In ourlives!

How are we to serve them?What are we to do when we encounter

them?

WIN

BUILDTRAIN

SEND

How are we to serve them? What are we to do when we encounter

them?

WINFacilitate encounterFoster conversion

BUILDDeepen conversion

Make disciples

TRAINDevelop skills

Equip missionaries

SENDEntrust outreachOngoing projects

How are we to do this?Go and Make Disciples:

A National Plan and Strategy for Catholic Evangelization in the United StatesUSCCB

Goal Two:To invite all people in the United States, whatever their social and cultural background, to hear the message of salvation in Jesus Christ so they may come to join us in the fullness of the Catholic faith.

Goal Three:To foster gospel values in our society, promotingthe dignity of the human person, the importance of the family, and the common good of our society, so that our nation may continue to be transformed by the saving power of Jesus Christ.

Goal One:To bring about in allCatholics such anenthusiasm for theirfaith that, in living their faith inJesus, they freely share itwith others.

Goal Two:To invite all people in the United States, whatever their social and cultural background, to hear the message of salvation in Jesus Christ so they may come to join us in the fullness of the Catholic faith.

How do we reach them?With… (ATTITUDE / SPIRITUALITY)

• Respect

• Caring

• Understanding

• Knowledge

• Contagious faith

• Enthusiastic hope

• Undying love for God and neighbor

How do we reach them?Through… (PEOPLE / MINISTERS)

• Everyday Evangelized Evangelizers

• Parish staff

• School staff

• Preachers – priests and deacons

• Liturgical ministers

• Religious educators

• Youth ministers

• Parents

• Peers

How do we reach them?

Through…

(CONTENT / FORMATION)

• Convincing kerygmatic proclamation

• Sound catechetical instructional

• Ongoing discipleship

How do we reach them?Through…

• Our Preaching

• Our Teaching

• Our Congregating

• Our Worship

• Our Ministering

• Our Service

• Our Training

• Our Missioning

How do we reach them?Via… (MEANS / PROGRAMS)

• Christian initiation and sacramental life

• Well-planned liturgical celebrations, especially Mass

• Vibrant community life and support systems

• Meaningful prayer and retreat experiences

• Classes, talks, and seminars

• Practical Bible studies

How do we reach them?Via…

(MEANS / PROGRAMS)

• Mailings

• Phone calls

• Home visits

• Festivals and recreational events

• Parish Missions

• Books, CDs, DVDs

• Internet

• Counseling

• Material assistance

Office for Evangelization

Helping the Archdiocese of San Antonio become an increasingly evangelized and evangelizing community of faith!

Equipping Catholics to become everyday evangelized evangelizers!

1. Educate

2.Enthuse

3. Equip

4. Entrust

5.Evaluate

“The Church exists in order to evangelize.”

Pope Paul VI, Evangelii nuntiandi, No. 14 (1975)

Questions for Discussion• What would I identify as the greatest

evangelization needs in the Archdiocese?

• What kind of evangelization is most effective in my parish at this time?

• What things should we... START, STOP, and KEEP doing in order to reach our target audiences in the most systematic and effective way?