by Father Frank DeSiano, C.S.P.
August 31, 2009

The Paulist National Catholic Evangelization Association will again present an online conference Oct. 19-23 titled, “Proclaiming Christ 2009: Sharing the Gift of Our Catholic Faith.” The conference is funded in part by a grant from the USCCB Catholic Communication Campaign. The inaugural 2008 conference drew more than 500 people from around the country. We hope for more to attend Proclaiming Christ 2009.

Speakers will include Bishop John M. Smith of Trenton, who will talk about “Awakening Missionary Consciousness, Building Communities of Faith.” Many Catholics do not understand the missionary mandate built right into parish life; Bishop Smith will help us.

Ken Johnson-Mondragón, director of Research and Resource Center for Hispanic Youth and Young Adult Ministry, will address a key issue today: “The Gift of God’s Love Reaching Every People and Culture.” As the Paulists have been reflecting on our outreach to Hispanics and other cultures in the United States in preparation for our upcoming Assembly (May 2010), so we all need to reflect on the growing diversity of American/Canadian culture and how we respond to that as believers and citizens.

The third major presentation will be given by Dr. Catherine Vincie, RHSM, from the Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis, MO, who will talk about “Sacraments, Powerful Signs of God’s Love,” exploring the important roles of participants and the assembly in giving witness to God’s love to those who are present and beyond.

In addition to these major presentations, a whole range of guest presenters will offer 15 additional online presentations on a wide range of topics, touching on evangelization in parish and church life today.

The beauty of online conferences is that participants not have to buy a plane ticket and pay for a hotel room, thereby making the online conference very cost-effective for dioceses and parishes. People can also listen to the talks, write questions and responses, and share insights with others any time during the week while the session is running. This makes it possible for very busy people to get involved in the conference on their own time line.

Estimates were that the conference we had last year saved over $500,000, given what it would have cost to have all its participants present in one location physically.

PNCEA is also upgrading its web site, given us greater capacity to communicate and dispense a range of resources, using various kinds of media, to further the work of evangelization.

Here at the Paulist National Catholic Evangelization Association, we use the Web in a variety of ways, in collaboration with other groups that partner with us. For example, Our Sunday Visitor has given us resources so that we can periodically offer “On-Line Speakers,” experts in various fields who can reach hundreds of church professionals at one shot.

This past June, PNCEA was happy to bring Father Martin Pable, OFM Cap, a widely noted speaker and writer, who gave a stirring presentation on a topic that continues to gnaw at us Catholics, “How to Help Catholics Share their Faith (Unobnoxiously).” Catholics are notoriously shy about their faith, so Father Pable’s online talk was a great contribution.

Father Frank DeSiano, CSP, serves as president of PNCEA.