I get tired of all the bad news, so it is time for some good news. In particular, some good news about the Catholic Church and what I am seeing and hearing. My desire is that this might help you become more aware of God’s active work in the world, through his Church and what is going on.

If you want to be a great evangelist, you have to be a saint. If you want to be a saint, you have to evangelize. This is because holiness and mission are inseparable.

Recently, I have been blessed to have some great professional moments, including: *Leading priest assemblies & convocations for dioceses. Generally, I am the only lay person in the room. *Coach / train / form Catholic professionals from across the country and internationally. *Have deep conversations with folks that are struggling and be able to help them. *Been an instrument God used to...

Have you ever actually read the entire terms of use for a new app on your phone? If so, did you understand everything in it? Even if you didn't, you probably still checked that you would “read and agree” to everything in the document. This kind of half-hearted consent is similar to what happens for a lot of Catholics every Sunday.

Pew Research Center has issued a new report which aggregates data they have collected over the last few years on Catholics in the USA. The date within the report is insightful for those of us who are watching trends in the Catholic Church as well as in the wider culture. While I recommend a close reading of the entire report, I want to highlight some of the things that I find most interesting and add my own comments....

Periodically, I post in an online ministry forum that discusses evangelization and discipleship. A recent post asked this question (paraphrased by me): "We have many youth and young adults in our parish. We know they are not engaging with traditional advertising / marketing (bulletins, announcements, etc.) How should we advertise our programs and events in a way that engages them?"

The Pope doesn’t exist to merely affirm your politics or worldview. He exists to lead God’s Church and pastor you. If you don’t allow him to challenge you, you are rejecting his God-given role and making yourself into a pseudo-magisterium of self.

The problem is - too many Catholic parishes and dioceses are aiming for the wrong thing and miss the target. Then when questions arise about why the results they expected aren’t happening, they are puzzled.

Decline. Scandals. Confusion. Herein lies the noise which currently undergirds the Catholic Church in the eyes of our current Western culture. We certainly have problems. But all these problems (and many more) are merely the outward symptoms of a much deeper issue. The deeper issue is found in...

There is a large and growing distrust with institutions in the US. In fact, it has reached record lows according to a new Gallup poll. Trust in “the church or organized religion” is at 31%, down from 37% a year ago. Read another way...

Ash Wednesday is a good day to share your Catholic faith with others. In fact, Ash Wednesday Masses generally have more people attend that even Christmas and Easter - which shows a high level of engagement. Below are some suggestions on how to evangelize on Ash Wed.

Beauty bypasses the intellect and goes straight to the heart. This is why it is the secret weapon of Catholic evangelization. It entangles you in an invisible net that you don’t even know you are caught in. I first experienced this as a child, while attending one of the most beautiful churches in the USA...

Everyone needs an ultimate reason for their existence. This hard-wired reality in humans can be seen in the multitude of ways that we try to answer the questions about our existence with meaning. This includes...

Nobody intentionally welcomed us in. Nobody reached out to us. Nobody initiated a relationship with us. We tried to get our foot in the door and were pushed out. Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon experience for those trying to crack into a new Catholic parish. Even so...

In my last post, I asked Catholic lay professionals what they wanted their pastors to know. So, I thought it only fair that I let the priests have a turn. Therefore, I recently surveyed (anonymously) some of the priests that I know and asked them the following question: "What do you want your staff (lay Catholic professionals in parishes / dioceses / schools / etc.) to know, but either you have never told them or you don't think you "could" say it?"

I recently crowd-sourced others who work in parishes, dioceses, Catholic schools, and apostolates. I asked them the following question: **What do you want your pastors (bishop / parish pastor / boss) to know, but either you have never told them or you don't think they have "heard" you say it?** Below are the responses

She no longer went to church, yet she told me, “I don’t believe, but I miss having a church community.” She may not have believed any longer, but she still missed the support of a church community and the friendships that came with it. I believe this is not only a problem, but an opportunity.

The Catholic Church has many methods of discernment for individuals. Yet, few modern Catholic institutions have a way to discern together what God’s will is for their organizations. Working with Catholic leaders for many years now, I have found ...

The meeting started like a lot of meetings at Catholic dioceses (or parishes, schools, ministries, etc.) - with a prayer. We bowed our heads and the leader said, “Lord, please bless our meeting as we pray, Hail Mary…hour of our death. Amen.” The closing prayer was an Our Father. In between, we took care of the REAL business....

Several of my friends and family are what you could describe as high-achievers. Still, some of these high-achievers cross over into being workaholics too. In conversation with one of them recently, I mentioned that even Jesus took a day of rest every week (he took the Sabbath rest very seriously). The response of my friend was that Jesus didn’t have kids....