At age 30, Steve Dawson had hit rock bottom. With a bottle of Jack Daniels in his hand, he fell to his knees in a field of grass behind his parents’ house and prayed his first real prayer of his life: “God if You are real, You’ll have to show me.”
God broke powerfully into his life and within a month, Steve went to confession for the first time since second grade. As a testament to the kind of life he had been living up until this point, his confession took an hour and a half, and his penance was to say 30 rosaries!
Soon after his dramatic conversion, Steve had a hunger to share with the world the treasure he found in Jesus and His Church. And he lamented the fact that he never saw any Catholics evangelizing. He had seen Bible-waving Protestants, bicycling Mormons and smartly dressed Jehovah’s Witnesses, but no Catholics. He became determined to do something about it.
He heard about St. Maximilian Kolbe who evangelized strangers by offering them a blessed Miraculous Medal. St. Maximilian called the medal, “Our Lady’s Silver Bullet” because it was a channel of grace, and God oftentimes used it to bring about a conversion in someone’s life. Steve decided to begin evangelizing using this medal. The method was simple. He would start a conversation by asking someone if they would like a free Miraculous Medal. Then He would tell them about it and ask if they were a Christian. The conversations happened supernaturally from there.
St. Paul Street Evangelization (SPSE) is a grassroots ministry, dedicated to responding to the mandate of Jesus to preach the Gospel to all nations by taking the Catholic Faith to the streets. Christ’s call to evangelize was made to every Catholic Christian, and the Second Vatican Council reiterated this need, urging each of the baptized to bring the Gospel, found fully in the Catholic Church, to a culture that has largely reverted to paganism.
The Orange Diocese has its own ministry of St. Paul Street Evangelization. Since late 2022, we have provided training and activation out on the streets. There are several young adults that are taking part in this new ministry of the Diocese. Our hope is to help train and equip many individuals from parishes, lay and religious. There will be seminars held over the weekend of March 26: All are welcome to attend a two day seminar for Basic Training, Saturday, March 25, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Healing in Evangelization Workshops Sunday, March 26, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Participants are welcome to register for one or both days. Register here: https://qrco.de/bdki6Y
Full story at OC Catholic.
Thank you Jesus.
Amen! Sometimes we forget that Mass is primarily for believers, not the primary way to evangelize. To be salt and light, as our Lord Jesus says, we need to be out in the world and cannot remain in our churches waiting for unbelievers to come. Saints Peter, Stephen, Paul, Francis, Dominic, Venerable Fulton Sheen and countless saints throughout the ages have shown us that. May God bless and protect these brothers and sisters.
The term mass is derived from the ecclesiastical Latin formula for the dismissal of the congregation: Ite, missa est (“Go, it is the sending [dismissal]”).
You are correct. “Mass” is a popular Latin term for the worship service of Word and Eucharist. In Greek, it’s Liturgy. We (Greek Catholics) call ours the Divine Liturgy. May the Lord send us out to be salt and light for a world in desperate need of His love and mercy.
Please be sure to type a capital “M” for the sacred word, “Mass.”
A long tine ago, the Legion of Mary used to have people go out in pairs to knock on doors, and try to bring lapsed Catholics back to the Faith, and convert newcomers. They sometimes had tables set up in public places, with Catholic literature, and talked to passersby about the Catholic Faith. They seemed to disappear after Vatican II. What a shame.
The St. Paul Street Evangelists should go and try to evangelize and help the homeless, drug addicts, and veterans– and give them Miraculous Medals, and a copy of the Bible.Today, it was announced that the Edwin M. Lee affordable housing apt. complex in Mission Bay, in San Francisco, which has many veterans, as well as families with children, has plans to install a vending machine in the lobby, with free items– clean syringes, condoms, First Aid kits, etc.– plus, a safe place to dispose of used syringes. 15 of these free vending machines are going to be installed at low-income apt. complexes where veterans reside, in Northern CA. Many residents, including parents as well as veterans, do not want these machines to be installed in their apt. complex lobbies. The SF Veterans’ Affairs is supporting this. The FDA-approved, over-the-counter version of the opioid overdose antidote, Narcan, is available behind lobby counters, in these apt. complexes. I think the VA is greatly mistaken. These sick, dope-addicted vets do not belong in apt. complexes with normal people, including families with children. They need to be placed in drug rehab. centers– and kept there. Religious faith in God is just what these struggling, dope- addicted vets need. Nothing else seems to work.