In the annual autumn meeting of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) this month, we bishops voted to set the national priorities for 2025-2028, as guideposts for our pastoral work.
Usually, we choose three or four areas of focus. This year, we embraced only one priority and it was all about evangelization!
I was thrilled because we need to be laser-focused on proclaiming the Gospel and making disciples, the focal point of both our Go Make Disciples and Into the Deep initiatives.
Here is the text of our singular priority:
“Responding even more deeply to the call to proclaim the Gospel and form Missionary Disciples, the Committee and Staff of the USCCB will prioritize the work of the Conference to help equip bishops, clergy, Religious, and the laity in evangelizing those who are religiously unaffiliated or disaffiliated from the Church, with special focus on young adults and youth.”
Presence and primacy of Christ
As we enter into the season of Advent, the Church turns our eyes and hearts once again to the primacy of Christ, incarnate in the flesh 2,000 years ago, always present to us in this current moment of grace in a new liturgical year, and looking forward to the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God at the end of time.
The Gospel of this First Sunday of Advent points us to the apocalyptic vision of the end of the world and the triumph of Christ Jesus in the glory of His second coming.
This reading reminds us that this life is short and the Lord is calling us to conversion and evangelizing action now, to do His work in the brief earthly time which we have been given.
As a diocese, we are intent on bringing every person into a saving and personal relationship with the Lord and His Church.
I sense a tremendous spiritual energy, with an increase in Mass attendance and the number of persons entering the Church, in the dynamism of family-based catechesis in our parishes and our campus ministry at Madison and Platteville, and in the beautiful growth of faith-filled young families.
Both our diocesan initiatives and the national Eucharistic Revival are helping to drive this tremendous growth.
‘Walking with One’
A current initiative of the Eucharistic Revival is “Walking with One,” an invitation to all practicing Catholics to discern one person in their lives who needs the Lord and the Church, to intensively pray for that person, to engage him/her in conversation and friendship, and to mentor them into the practice of the Catholic faith.
I wholeheartedly embrace this proposal because a deeply-held prayer of mine has been that every practicing Catholic brings one person either back to the practice of the Faith or into the Church every five years.
If this hope found its realization, we would be doubling the number of practicing Catholics every five years!
While we rightfully rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to do the work of evangelization in the hearts of those around us, we know that God uses human instruments to plant the seeds of faith. That is where we come in!
I encourage and ask every Catholic in the diocese this Advent to embrace and put into practice the Walking with One initiative.
If you are with us in this bold endeavor, you only need to do one simple thing this week: Prayerfully discern who in your life needs Christ and the Church.
It could be a family member, a friend, a co-worker, or a neighbor.
Maybe God has already placed who that person is on your heart, or maybe it will take some reflection to discern who it is.
Hands-down guaranteed an abundance of people in your life have either drifted away from the Church and the sacraments or have no affiliation with religion.
Prayerfully, choose one of them whom you will intercede for, engage with, and seek to accompany into a relationship with Christ and the Church.
This effort may seem a little daunting or even scary to us if we are not used to sharing our faith with others, but we are called and empowered to do so through the mighty graces we each received in Baptism. Be bold!
Pray for the grace and the courage to be more public and forthright about your Catholic identity and practice.
What do we have to lose, except the chance to bring the soul of a loved one closer to Jesus and the precious gift of eternal life? The stakes are high.
Let’s pray for each other in this season of Advent, that we be renewed in our love for the Lord Jesus and know the grace from on high to befriend, accompany, and evangelize the people God has placed in our lives.