Sharing the Charisms of Preaching and Evangelization
Connie Koch, OP
Mary O’ Driscoll, OP, has said that there is no doubt that to be called to be a Dominican is to be called to be a preacher. In the Primitive Constitutions of the Order we have been told: “This Order was founded to preach the Gospel.” In the Bologna Document, we as the Dominican Family were reminded that “Our particular mission is the proclamation of the Word of God.” Mary describes a preacher as someone who knows she has been entrusted with God’s Word for others—someone who is driven to speak the word of truth, love, mercy and justice, which she herself has received from God in Jesus Christ. Someone who, like St. Paul, knows that she dare not refuse to speak it, even when she feels inadequate or sinful.
In 1858 in New York City, Fr. Isaac T. Hecker and four friends founded the Missionary Society of St. Paul the Apostle. Their mission was to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all Americans. Today, the Paulist Fathers continue this work through various ministries of evangelization, reconciliation, and ecumenism.
In 1977 the Paulist Fathers established the Paulist National Catholic Evangelization Association in Washington, DC. Founder and first director, Paulist Father Alvin Illig, encouraged active Catholics to invite people with no church family to join the Catholic family of believers and also to invite inactive Catholics to return to the church. PNCEA programs and resources support these faith-sharing goals. One of the major efforts of the PNCEA is to equip Catholics to carry out the evangelizing mission of the Church. The Paulist Parish Mission has become an important part of this ongoing work.
I was invited to be a part of this renewed missionary effort by Fr. Thomas Jones, a Paulist who was a weekend associate in my parish while he was serving on the leadership team of his congregation. The Paulists are delighted to welcome lay and religious collaborators to this historic mission endeavor. I was delighted at this opportunity to combine our charisms for the sake of the mission! Since then, two other Dominican Sisters of Hope have responded to the invitation – Sisters Pat Peters and Mary Ella Morrison.
As missionaries we come together once a year for training under the leadership of Fr. Robert Rivers, CSP, and prepare with a partner to conduct two missions per year. The Paulist Parish Mission is offered particularly to the dioceses currently participating in Disciples in Mission, a PNCEA program designed to help parishes implement Go and Make Disciples, the bishops’ national plan and strategy for Catholic evangelization in the United States.
I enjoy the challenge of being creative and imaginative in the task of preaching and evangelizing. This missionary effort is a communal undertaking, inviting us to share our gifts and talents as women and men, encouraging and supporting each other as we proclaim God’s Word, make disciples, and celebrate the gifts of all!
I am truly grateful for these experiences of being “called and sent” to preach the Word in season and out of season, to stand in awe of the power of the Word! I have journeyed to Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Alabama, New York and Ontario, Canada and remain ready to serve wherever we are sent. There is an energy stirred up within us as we pray and prepare. I am convinced that it is the power of the Holy Spirit on whose gifts we depend for guidance and inspiration. We rely on the intercession of Paul, Catherine, and Dominic as we claim our charisms from such a rich heritage and discover again the spiritual gifts of the many we meet on this journey. I continue to stand in awe of the “miracles of the mission.” So many people are hungry for the Word of God, so many in need of healing. Others need to be invited back into the loving embrace of our God. Together we discover the gift of our baptismal call and the priestly, prophetic and royal dimensions of that grace. We share our stories and our faith and discover how intimately we share in the story of Jesus.
“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:19-20