Araceli Ordaz often likes to evangelize with the powerful and direct “Bronx style” of preaching. She “breaks down” her message about living a life of joy and hope in Christ into small parts that are understandable and relatable to people.
In 2021, this Sacramento, Calif., Catholic flew to the Bronx, N.Y., for the Missionary Formation Program, where she learned this technique along with Catholics from around the country. This weeklong training inspires young adults to become compelling preachers and authentic witnesses to Christ, especially in the Hispanic community.
A new $1.25 million grant will enable the Missionary Formation Program to be presented in locations across the United States — far beyond the Bronx. The training was developed by Corazón Puro, an organization that seeks to energize Catholic young adults in their faith and in spreading the Gospel. It has an outreach in the Paterson Diocese. The Bronx-based Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, which also serve the diocese, founded the group.
“I learned the tools to evangelize and how to become a leader in the Church,” said Ordaz, 30, who was inspired to service in the Church. She is starting a Corazón Puro group in California. “The training was a time of prayer and community with others from around the country. It changed my life.”
Recently, Lilly Endowment Inc. awarded Corazón Puro, Spanish for “Pure Heart,” the grant through its Compelling Preaching Initiative.
For the past seven years, the Missionary Formation Program has been molding bilingual and bicultural preachers of the Gospel, especially to the growing Latino demographic.
Participants learn to be Christ-centered, joining together for Mass, adoration, and prayer. They take classes in preaching techniques, using music and social media in evangelizing, starting a young adult group, and about Theology of the Body. They also spend time serving the poor.
“Compelling preaching must be informational and transformational in people’s hearts,” said Holly Wright, former board member of Corazón Puro. Locally, the group is located in the Bronx and in Jesus Christ, Prince of Peace Chapel in North Haledon, which also houses the Catholic Campus Ministry of William Paterson University in Wayne. “With the Missionary Formation Program, we are raising missionaries who speak the language of the young to lead the Church.”
The grant will enable Corazón Puro to present a shortened version of the program around the country. The organization will also create an online community to accompany preachers in ongoing learning and mentorship and network them with preaching engagements.
“The grant is confirmation of the work that’s been honed year after year. It is a testament that the Church is not dying but, in fact, alive and well and creative. What has been honed here now has the opportunity to impact the nation,” said Franciscan Father Agustino Torres, founder and president emeritus of Corazón Puro and chaplain of William Paterson University. “I have seen young people transformed [in the program]. Priests, religious brothers, and religious sisters will always have a special place, but there’s something about receiving the Good News from one of your peers.”