Evangelization Committee Meeting Notes – December 2, 2011
1. Meeting called to order at 7:00pm by all singing “Open My Eyes Lord”
2. Miriam Gorjian volunteered to take notes for the meetings.
3. John Mitchell welcomed everyone. He said this is just the beginning of a long process. He
acknowledged that we all come with preconceived notions of what Evangelization means. He asked everyone to open their minds and hearts. Only by doing this, can we come to consensus as to the full meaning of Evangelization. At this time he is not clear as to how we will proceed toward Evangelization, but with study and discourse, it will become clear. By doing so, we will experience a growth in faith. He gave his background at Mary Queen and related an evangelization experience he recently experienced. Each of those attending introduced themselves and related from their hearts, their experience and why they were at the meeting.
4. Attending were John Mitchell, Stephanie Beeken, Mariam Gorjian, Mike Allen, Barbara Damron, Jim Cloud, Laura Hack, Reno Sartori, Ron Hoctor, Cindy Hellinger, Fr. Dan Noll, Becky Estep, Ginger Osteen, and Joe Osteen. Absent were Bill Longworth, Jeanne Singh, Jeanne Suhanek, and Paulette Domingo.
5. Mike Allen, co-chair for the Diocesan Evangelization Commission spoke on how the Diocese is just now embarking on a course of Evangelization. He presented an outline of “Go and Make Disciples”. He talked about why we evangelize; definition of evangelization; goals of evangelization; and the role of the Diocesan Evangelization Commission.
6. John Mitchell said we will study about the ‘new’ evangelization as presented by the Vatican today. He reiterated that this will not be a quick process. Much study will be involved. All who are interested in spreading the “Good News” are invited to participate with this committee. Once we come to a consensual understanding of evangelization, the group will make recommendations to our Pastor as to how we want to proceed as a Parish.
7. Our homework for the January meeting will be to study “Go and Make Disciples”. This is available as a link from the back page of our agenda along with a link to our evangelization webpage for the Mary Queen website. Copies were passed out for those who are not connected to the Internet. We will be asked to discuss what struck us as meaningful and how it helps us understand evangelization.
8. The group decided, after discussion; that our January meeting will be at 7:00pm on Thursday, the 19th. The meeting place will be announced when the agenda is sent for that meeting.
9. Fr. Dan asked us to:
a. ground ourselves in a firm foundation based on the documents we will be studying
b. read the handout from Mike to see how evangelization happens
c. work together to achieve unity of witnessing for our group
10. Meeting adjourned at 9:30pm with a closing prayer from “Go and Make Disciples”.