Evangelization is focus of priest convocation

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Diocese of Salt Lake City priests gathered for the fall priest convocation Oct. 10-13 at Homestead Resort in Midway.

MIDWAY — The fall clergy convocation brought the priests of the Diocese of Salt Lake City together for fellowship and workshops on the topic of evangelization. The convocation was held Oct. 10-13 at the Homestead Resort in Midway. The speaker was Fr. Frank DeSiano, CSP, president of Paulist Evangelization Ministries.

Bishop Oscar A. Solis chose the convocation’s topic, said Fr. Martin Diaz, rector of the cathedral, who organized the event. Fr. Diaz heard of Fr. DeSiano from Deacon André Sicard, a seminarian studying at Catholic University, who had the Paulist priest as a teacher, “and I found out that he is an excellent speaker,” Fr. Diaz said, noting that evangelization is a Paulist charism.

Fr. DeSiano gave presentations titled “The Evangelizing Homily,” “The Pastoral Practice of Accompaniment” and three on “The Practice of Evangelization.” He focused much of his presentations on the words of Pope Francis, and suggested that the priests read the pope’s 2013 encyclical Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel) at least once a year, because “the poor and my relationship with the poor opens the reality of the Gospel in such a unique and powerful way that this becomes a key touchstone on the Church’s thinking of what evangelization is.”

The pope’s words “orient us to a pastoral vision that is much more patient,” he noted, and added, “Pope Francis is really pushing us to be a church that articulates itself less in terms of institutional structures and more in terms of relationships and personal connections.”

The Church has been missionary since its beginnings, when it was “not defined by nationality, not defined by blood, not defined by language, but defined by its ability to welcome and to embrace, to enrich and to be enriched by anyone who comes to belong. … The Church’s life is shaped by the engagement of ‘the other.’ And that’s why I think it’s so important for us to be missionaries today, because unless we’re missionaries today, we don’t know exactly how God is inviting us to be reshaped.”

Fr Diaz said the cathedral, as a parish, has been looking at how they offer welcome and faith formation, particularly in view of the results of the local synod listening sessions and the diocesan Pastoral Plan. He said he will review Fr. DeSiano’s PowerPoint presentation with the cathedral’s parish council to help guide them on how to welcome various groups to the parish, how to provide adult faith formation for Catholics, and other outreach.

“There’s no one thing to do that will make everything perfect,” Fr. Diaz acknowledged, but the parish council will consider how the cathedral will grow as a parish community over the next few years, using both the Pastoral Plan and the synod report.