Father John Hurley, CSP

Moving from believer to disciple – that is the key to the New Evangelization, according to Father John Hurley, CSP.

“Discipleship happens when we have a personal encounter with Christ,” said Father Hurley, who launched New Evangelization Strategies in 2014. “We are all sinners, but we all have the call to discipleship. When we answer that call, we are compelled to share the grace of discipleship with others.”

Father Hurley has taken evangelization – a key component of the Paulist charism and an essential mission of the Church – to more than 80 dioceses through speaking engagements, consultations and parish missions.

“[New Evangelization Strategies] is a ministry to help create cultures where people can encounter Christ,” he said. “The thrust of consultation and missions is to renew or re-awaken a sense of purpose for us as individuals in the Church and to do the same in our ministries and institutions.”

Consultations or missions can offer unique opportunities for leaders to engage a process first for themselves and then with their key leadership on pastoral councils and pastoral staffs, according to Father Hurley.

“So often, we just keep adding to busy schedules and we sometimes feel like we are on a merry-go-round and wonder if it will every stop,” he said. “Sometimes we need something like New Evangelization Ministries to assist and further the discernment in taking charge of the mission entrusted to us as leaders among the disciples.”

newevangelizationstrategies.org is one of the tools the ministry uses to connect with pastoral leaders

New Evangelization Ministries may be just celebrating its first birthday, but Father Hurley is no mere private in the trenches of evangelization.

Ordained a Paulist in 1977, Father Hurley holds a doctor of ministry degree from the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, Calif.

“Part of what drew me to the Paulist community is the commitment to evangelization and the ability to be a missionary,” he said.

In addition to serving on the staff of several Paulist parishes, Father Hurley was the founding director of the Paulist Center for Evangelization in Portland, Ore. (1978-84); executive director of the USCCB Secretariat for Evangelization (1997-2005); and executive director of the Department of Evangelization for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, Md. (2010-14). He served as a consultant to the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis from 2008-2014. Since moving back to San Francisco, Father Hurley was named an adjunct faculty member of the Academy of Church Leadership at the Santa Clara University in California .

The New Evangelization represents a paradigm shift in terms of evangelization, according to Father Hurley.

“Before evangelization meant spreading the Gospel to those who had not heard Jesus’ message of salvation,” he said. With so many Catholics distanced from the Church – whether it be because of the abuse crisis or the Church’s stance on divorce, homosexuality, contraception and other hot-button issues – the New Evangelization seeks to reach out and invite back Catholics on the fringe.

“The credibility of the Church depends on how we reach out to those on the margins,” Father Hurley said.

On a more formal note, New Evangelization “invites each Catholic to renew their relationship with Jesus Christ and his Church,” states the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The USCCB states: “The New Evangelization calls each of us to deepen our faith, believe in the Gospel message and go forth to proclaim the Gospel. The focus of the New Evangelization calls all Catholics to be evangelized and then go forth to evangelize. In a special way, the New Evangelization is focused on ‘re-proposing’ the Gospel to those who have experienced a crisis of faith.”

The New Evangelization can trace its roots back to 1983, when St. John Paul II called for a New Evangelization during a trip to Haiti. “This marked the first time Saint John Paul II used the term ‘New Evangelization’ as the theological concept of proclaiming the Gospel anew to those already evangelized,” according to the USCCB.

In 2010, Pope Benedict XVI not only called on the Church “to evangelize by entering into dialogue with modern culture and confronting the cultural crisis brought on by secularization,” but created the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization.

The New Evangelization has kindled the fire of faith in many Catholics since it has become a high-profile topic since the election of Pope Francis.

“Evangelizing means bearing personal witness to the love of God, it is overcoming our selfishness, it is serving by bending down to wash the feet of our brethren, as Jesus did,” Pope Francis said to the millions of young people who gathered for World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro in July 2014. “Be creative. Be audacious. Do not be afraid.”

Pope Francis, “exemplifies the New Evangelization himself through his witness to the marginalized,” Father Hurley said. “He is a role model for discipleship, which gives the Church direction filled with zeal, passion and a sense of mission. He is a true pastor.”