By Father Richard A. Kieran

On the Southern Crescent - One of the largest delegations from any diocese to attend the First National Catholic Lay Celebration of Evangelization was the group from the Archdiocese of Atlanta. Forty-eight evangelization leaders traveled to Washington on the Southern Crescent. They were joined by 13 others who arrived by air and automobile.

Most of these “pilgrims” were sponsored by their parishes. In all 24 of our parishes were represented.

The majority of the group stayed in the dorms of Catholic University and moved around the nation’s capitol on public transportation. Early mornings, long walks to and from subway stations and cafeteria lines were part of the daily routine. Besides keeping the cost down, these inconveniences drew the Atlanta group together as a community and gave us an opportunity to be of service to one another in love.

One of the highlights of the pilgrimage was the final Eucharistic Liturgy for the Atlanta group in one of the chapels of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on Sunday morning. There was an enthusiastic spirit of unity and celebration. The members of the group were asked to make the liturgy a celebration of their commitment to bring back to their parishes what they had received in the celebration and to be available as leaders in the evangelization effort in the archdiocese. Their response was resounded through the National Shrine in song and praise.

The celebration consisted of four general sessions dealing respectively with evangelizing the 49,000,000 active Catholics; the 12,000,000 inactive Catholics; the 80,000,000 unchurched; and evangelizing within an ecumenical and inter-religious framework. The general session on the inactive Catholic featured the successful Operation Homecoming created by St. Thomas Aquinas parish in Roswell/Alpharetta. George Clements, who has been the key leader in Operation Homecoming, addressed the 1,500 member gathering. His humor and conviction will be remembered.

Each of the general sessions was followed by “how-to-do-it” workshops conducted by Catholic lay leaders. They offered a wide variety of possibilities for use in parishes, from very complete programs such as RENEW in the Diocese of Newark, to a simple and effective outreach in Sylvania, Georgia.

After three days of exposure to so many enthusiastic Catholic lay leaders in evangelization from many dioceses and to such a variety of approaches to evangelization, the members of our group feel the need for time to sort out what will be appropriate for their parish. All the members of the group agreed that the pilgrimage to Washington was a valuable experience and that it will help in their parish efforts for the Year of Outreach.