Pentecost Project to train Catholics to apply message of the Gospel in New Evangelization

PATERSON  Through its upcoming Pentecost Project, the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist here seeks not only to motivate Catholics to become “missionary disciples” as part of the New Evangelization, but also aims to inspire parishioners to preach the Gospel by reaching to the unchurched in the cathedral community and out in the surrounding neighborhoods in Pater­son and beyond.

A committee at St. John’s that has devised and coordinated the Pentecost Project will soon put together plans for participating members of the parish community — both English- and Spanish-speakers — to spread the “Good News” close to home. They will focus on a simple message: that God loves us and, because of that, sent his son, Jesus, to save our souls. Those evangelization initiatives will begin in either this summer or this fall, said Msgr. Geno Sylva, St. John’s rector and diocesan vicar for special projects.

First, participating Catholics will receive religious formation in the basics of the faith and leadership skills needed to evangelize through Pentecost Project, a series of weekly workshops in both English and Spanish to be held from Lent to May 28. The sessions will be held at the cathedral — the mother church of the Paterson Diocese — on Satur­days starting March 5. Topics will include the Person of Jesus Christ, the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Revelation, and the Blessed Virgin Mary, to help attendees evangelize with greater knowledge, ability, and zeal. Regis­tration is still open for those interested, Msgr. Sylva said.

“The Pentecost Project is a type of school of the New Evangelization wherein we will work to form and encourage Catholics in how best to encounter, invite, and accompany those who are indifferent to religion or who have drifted away from the Church to an active sacramental life. There are tens of thousands of people in the City of Paterson waiting to be asked to belong to a community of faith that is striving to reach out and to reflect the merciful face of God. We have to find the ways to meet them where they are at and then to invite them to their new home,” said Msgr. Sylva.

Priests, deacons, and laypeople, including staff members of the Diocese and St. John’s, will conduct the sessions that will be presented at the same time separately in English and Spanish, starting at 9:30 a.m. with coffee and welcome. That will be followed by a workshop from 10 to 10:45 a.m. and a question-and-answer period with the speakers from 10:45 to 11 a.m. The Spanish track of the Pentecost Project will conclude with a retreat, from Friday to Sunday, June 3–5 to be led by Archbishop Jose Ruiz Arenas, former Secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization in Rome, who is now retired in Colombia, Msgr. Sylva said.

One member of the Project Pentecost committee, Deacon Guido Pedraza, told The Beacon that the Pentecost Project trains Catholics to apply the saving message of the Gospel in the New Evangelization to “this time at St. John’s and to these men and women today.

“It’s simple. We start with the message of the love of God and the consequences of sin. We often respond to God’s love with disobedience, so Jesus brings us the ‘Good News’ of salvation. The Holy Spirit touches the Church, as it did on Pentecost, and touches us and invites us to come back to God,” said Deacon Pedraza, who has served as coordinator of activities for the New Evangelization for the Spanish-speaking community at St. John’s for about 10 years. “We must continue the mission of the Church to reach out to people inside and outside the parish, especially people on the margins of society, to re-enrich their lives,” he said.

The New Evangelization calls each of us to deepen our faith, believe in the Gospel message and go forth to proclaim the Gospel, and focuses on “re-proposing” the Gospel to those who have experienced a crisis of faith, according to the U.S. Catholic Confer­ence of Bishops. The formation provided by the Pentecost Project and the outreach it seeks to inspire is based on “kerygma,” which is related to the Greek verb κηρύσσω (kērússō) (pronounced “kay-roos’-so”) meaning to cry or proclaim as a herald. It is the message of the Gospel: the apostolic proclamation of salvation through Jesus Christ — core and heart of our faith, which Pope Francis wrote about in “Joy of the Gospel” apostolic exhortation.

In these sessions, the experience of these speakers “in the field of the New Evangeli­zation will help us to be formed and thus to become effective agents of the New Evan­geli­zation here in our local Church of Paterson,” said Father Cesar Jaramillo, a parochial vicar of St. John’s and Defender of the Bond in the diocesan Tribunal, who is coordinating the Pentecost Project. Last month, he announced the initiative in separate videos in English and Spanish on the Cathedral’s website, www.patersoncathedral.org, which has more information about the series. See related story for a list of sessions.

A member of committees for St. John’s Pentecost Project and New Evangelization for Spanish-speakers, Carlos Meizoso, said the cathedral’s latest evangelization initiative “goes back to the basics of our faith: the way people can relate to it.

“The point of the Pentecost Project is to help people come back to the Church to pay homage to God,” Meizoso said.

Carlos’ wife, Mirta, also a member of the Pentecost Project committee, said the initiative will inspire participating Catholics to “proclaim the foundation of our faith: the love of God and the passion, death, and resurrection for the salvation of our souls — and the souls of our children and grandchildren.”

The following is the schedule of sessions and presenters for the Pentecost Project, to be held in English and Spanish at the Cathe­dral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson on Saturdays, from March 5 to May 28, starting at 9:30 a.m.:

March 5: “What is the New Evangeliza­tion?” by Msgr. Geno Sylva, St. John’s rector and diocesan vicar for special projects and the cathedral, and “¿Qué es la Nueva Evangeli­zación?” by Father Jaramillo.

March 12: “Man: Imago Dei [In the Image of God]” by Father Paul Manning, executive director of the Evangelization Center at St. Paul Inside Walls in Madison and diocesan vicar for evangelization, and “El Hombre: Imago Dei” by Deacon Germán Vargas of St. John’s.

March 19: “Jesus Christ: True God and True Man” by Father Jaramillo, and “Jesucristo: Verdadero Dios y Verdadero Jombre” by Angie Vargas, graduate in the Spanish track of the Certificate in Catholic Evangeli­zation program at St. Paul’s and the St. Elizabeth University in Convent Station.

March 26: “Holy Spirit: Gifts and Charisms” by Father John Calabro, chaplain and teacher at Pope John XXIII Regional High School in Sparta, and “Espíritu Santo: Dones y Carismas” by Father Luis A. Hernandez, a parochial vicar at St. Peter the Apostle Parish in Parsippany.

April 2: “The Church: Sacrament of Salvation” by Father Jared Brogan, director of the diocesan Office of Worship, and “La Iglesia: Sacramento de Salvación” by Deacon Luis Gil of St. John’s.

April 9: “Revelation” by a speaker to be determined, and “Revelacion” by Father Jorge Castaño, parochial vicar at St. John’s.

April 23: “The Word of God: Mystery and Tradition” by Teresa Kalousie, a catechist in English for St. John’s Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults program, and “La Palabra de Dios: Misterio y Tradición” by Deacon Guido Pedraza of St. John’s.

April 30: “Sacraments: Visible Signs of Invisible Realities” by Ivannia Vega-McTighe, director of Family Faith Formation at St. John’s, and “Sacramentos: Signos Visibles de Realidades Invisibles” by Father Danny Pabon, a priest of the Newark Archdiocese.

May 7: “Discipleship: Call to Mission” by Msgr. Sylva, and “Discipulado: Llamados a la Mission” by Father Jaramillo.

May 14: “A Church that Goes Out: En­counter and Dialogue” by Pilar Ruiz-Pedraza, chairperson of St. John’s “From Mercy to Hope” Committee, which is in charge of social outreach, and “La Iglesia en Salida: Encuentro y Diálogo” by Maria Moncaleano, director of the diocesan Office for Hispanic Ministry.

May 21: “Christian Joy: Evangelii Gaudium [The Joy of the Gospel]” by a speaker to be announced, and “La Alegria Cristiana: Evangelii Gaudium” by Father Yohan Serrano, parochial vicar of St. Lawrence the Martyr Parish in Chester.

May 28: “Mary: Star of the New Evangeli­zation” by Vega-McTighe, and “Maria: Estrella de la Nueva Evangelización” by Juan Fernando Zapata, a catechist of St. John’s Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults program.