Representatives of clergy, sisters and laity from the five dioceses in the Atlanta Province gathered with their bishops in Charlotte last weekend to discuss ways of promoting effective evangelization. The meeting was convoked by Bishop Michael Begley of Charlotte, a member of the bishops' ad hoc committee on evangelization.

Bishop Begley explained that the Ad Hoc Committee was established last year to guide the bishops in implementing Pope Paul's apostolic exhortation on "Evangelization in the Modern World." Each of the bishops on the ad hoc committee is sponsoring a mini-conference for diocesan leaders in his area this year to surface ideas for nationwide implementation of evangelization.

Father Alvin Illig, CP, executive director of the ad hoc committee, addressed the participants. He emphasized that the bishops want to focus the Church's evangelizing effort on the unchurched and the alienated Catholics in the United States. He informed the group that there are eighty million unchurched persons in the United States -- persons who do not voluntarily participate at least twice a year in a church, a synagogue, or a temple. Twelve million of these are functionally inactive Catholics.

Father Illig stated that, as the Catholic Church enters the third century of the nation, its focus is changing from one of nurture and maintenance of an immigrant population to one of outreach and sharing with the unchurched. He stressed the importance of this new focus in light of the fact that the number of functionally inactive Catholics in the United States has tripled in the last 10 years.

A new Gallup Poll, to be released shortly, points to several reasons for the number of inactive Catholics, including marriage outside the Church, deterioration of family life, deterioration of Catholic practice, ineffective preaching, poor liturgy and the mobility of our people. Father Illig said that the poll indicates reasons why the unchurched remain so -- lack of knowledge and concern about the unchurched within the churches, no felt need for a church among the unchurched, the poor example of Christians, ignorance regarding churches, religious excesses, and tension between Christian values and culture.

The representatives shared different models for evangelization in use in their diocese. Father Daniel O'Connor, pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Roswell/Alpharetta, spoke about the outreach program he and his parishioners had implemented last year--"Operation Homecoming." This is an effort to reach "Roman Catholics retired," through coordinated mailings, home visits, and special evangelistic preaching and teaching. Father Richard Kieran, Secretary for Education of the Archdiocese, shared the "Parish Evangelization Planning Guide" he has developed.

The delegation from the archdiocese of Atlanta was: Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan; Sister Barbara Harrington, GNSH; Larry French; Mrs. Ruth Maguire; Father Daniel O'Connor; Father Ray Horan, and Father Richard Kieran. The delegation plans to meet again to find ways of sharing what was learned in Charlotte with the parishes of the Archdiocese.