Evangelizing Catechesis / Deacon Tom Hosty

Our faith calls us to equip leaders to go and pastorally encounter God’s people

As Catholics, we often talk about how important it is spread the Gospel message of Jesus across our communities.

In serving as the director of the archdiocese’s Department of Pastoral Ministries, I have been privileged to witness the many instances within this department of how our Church prepares and equips the people of God to do this very thing. Here are just a few examples of this important work.

—This past January, more than 1,400 Catholic youths from across our state gathered at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis to celebrate life. Speakers and musicians addressed the range of Catholic teaching on respecting life from natural conception to natural death in an entertaining and energy-filled rally. Dozens of priests also came and heard more than

400 confessions from our youths. And then in the climax of the day at the Mass for Life, bishops of Indiana, including Archbishop Charles C. Thompson, sent the youths forward to go boldly back into the world as leaders and to answer Christ’s call to stand up for each person’s inherent human dignity and right to life.

—Every week, struggling mothers of babies and small children turn to our archdiocese’s Birthline ministry in Indianapolis trying to meet the most fundamental needs of their children, including diapers, formula, clothing and, when available, safe sleeping and eating furniture necessities, such as a crib and highchair. They receive not only these material items, but are also sent forth equipped by the power of prayer and love of the many volunteers and donors who work in this ministry.

—Every year across the archdiocese, hundreds of engaged couples, under the pastoral leadership of their pastor, seek marriage preparation for their planned sacramental marriage. And after attending one of the archdiocesan-supported or approved programs, the couples leave stronger and better equipped to be the leaders of their own future domestic Church, going forth with the hope that should God bless them with children, they will be the first to lead their children to Christ.

—This past January, on a bitterly cold evening, dozens of Catholics from around the archdiocese, along with other Christians from different denominations, gathered for the annual Prayer for Christian Unity. Those gathered celebrated our oneness under Christ, recognizing the beauty of how much we share in common as Christians, and then leaving, having been lifted by the Holy Spirit, to go and continue to build greater unity among all Christians.

—Every Thursday evening, between 60-100 Hispanic/Latino Catholic adult students drive from different parts of central and southern Indiana to gather at St. Andrew the Apostle Parish in Indianapolis to learn and grow in their faith in the archdiocese’s Intercultural Pastoral Institute, a program that awards a certificate in pastoral leadership to the graduates after completing two years of study. Equipped with this formation, the students go back to their parishes to serve our Church as pastoral leaders, with some of the graduates going on to become permanent deacons, parish catechists and leaders of lay apostolates.

It is important to note that each of these instances was directly supported by donors to the archdiocese’s United Catholic Appeal. These are just a few examples of the beauty, power and reach of our Church, where every day we strive to stay centered in Christ while giving voice to those on the margins and equipping leaders to go and pastorally encounter all God’s people.
 

(Deacon Tom Hosty is director of the archdiocese’s Department of Pastoral Ministries. He can be reached at thosty@archindy.org.) †