Taking Evangelization Door-to-Door | William L. Patenaude | Catholic World Report
Catholics in the Diocese of Providence are doing what may have seemed unthinkable: knocking on doors and talking about their faith with total strangers.
Growing up in the 1970s, many in the Church urged me to care for the poor, work for justice, and love God. But I don’t recall being told to “go and make disciples.” For whatever reasons, efforts by Catholics to personally share the fullness of the Gospel seemed absent, even when other faiths were hitting the streets and knocking on doors.
But thanks to the encouragement of His Excellency, the Most Reverend Thomas J. Tobin, bishop of Providence, and the work of dedicated members of the Legion of Mary, since 2010 six parishes within the Diocese of Providence have held a “Day of Evangelization”—an event that includes prayer, Eucharistic Adoration, and going door-to-door within parish boundaries. In total, these days have resulted in the visitation of about 7,500 homes and conversations with some 3,500 people, with about 370 asking for follow-up, such as requests for visiting the homebound, rides to Mass, information on annulments, or how to have their children baptized.
“These door-to-door events grew in a special way out of our Year of Evangelization,” said Bishop Tobin, referring to an initiative in 2009 and 2010 in which he encouraged parishes to reach out to their neighbors. “One important response was that parishes began going door-to-door, which makes evangelization a personal event. You can have all sorts of billboards, bumper stickers, and pamphlets to help evangelize, but as helpful as all that can be, evangelization must be a personal encounter.”
Father Edward J. Wilson, Jr., pastor of Saints Rose and Clement Parish in Warwick, Rhode Island, echoed the bishop’s words. In June, his parish held a Day of Evangelization using the expertise and assistance of the Legion of Mary and a small army of parish volunteers and others from across New England and as far away as Illinois. To date, this was the largest such event in the diocese, with some 130 people knocking on doors, dozens in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament (or at home), and many more helping with daycare, the kitchen, or registration tables.
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