Program credited with bringing people back to sacraments, ministries



Detroit — Randy Husaynu, director of evangelization and youth ministry at Holy Family Parish in Memphis, considers the ChristLife program to be “the most amazing thing I’ve ever encountered.”

His pastor, Fr. Joseph Horn, mentioned to Husaynu after running the program’s first series, “Discovering Christ,” that he started seeing people in confession who had never attended before.

“That was probably one of the main ones,” said Husaynu of the Catholic evangelization program founded in 1995. “Then I noticed individuals who were in the program were in ministries that they hadn’t been in prior. You could tell that the Holy Spirit was in them and moving them.”

These are just a few examples of the many spiritual benefits seen by the cluster parishes of Holy Family and St. Augustine in Richmond after presenting the ChristLife evangelization program last year.

Soon, the Archdiocese of Detroit will help make ChristLife available for any parish that’s interested.

ChristLife started as an apostolate in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, as a response to the Church’s call to the New Evangelization. Today, the program is available with DVD courses and has been implemented in parishes across the U.S.

Dave Nodar, director of ChristLife, said the ministry was created to offer Catholics the formation they need to spread the love of God and the beauty of the Catholic faith.

“Three key elements of the New Evangelization are encounter, discipleship and sharing our faith in Christ with others,” said Nodar, adding that each course, which lasts seven weeks, is “a form that’s doable for Catholics.”

The classes are “very practical” and usually last two hours per weekly session.

“We’re not trying to proselytize others,” said Nodar. “We want to simply tell others how Jesus has changed my life and why I’m part of the Church.”

He said the program is accessible for anyone who wants to foster a deeper faith life, including those who may not be Catholic, those who are divorced or those who struggle with addictions. ChristLife also incorporates small group discussion, he said.

“The most common way people are evangelized is in the context of relationships,” Nodar added, explaining that ChristLife emphasizes a context where people can feel safe and be candid with their thoughts  — “even if it’s contrary to what we’re teaching” — to help answer their questions correctly.

Spearheading the initiative for the Archdiocese of Detroit, Auxiliary Bishop Michael J. Byrnes called ChristLife “a tool for bringing the Gospel to people who may have grown bored or unused to hearing it.” The program will be available for interested parishes, but there is no requirement to use it.

“One of the things that, especially for the first of the three (series), is that it really focuses on the essential core messages of the Gospel,” Bishop Byrnes said. “Namely, God loves you, and he has a plan for your life.”

He said ChristLife does a lot of what Pope Francis has encouraged, especially in his apostolic exhortation “Evangelii Guadium” (The Joy of the Gospel).

“A lot of us as Catholics are inclined, especially after appreciating the depth of our faith, to ‘hit people with the fire hose,’” he said, but that Catholics need to remember the “source of our joy, which is the liberation from sin.”

At Holy Family Parish and St. Augustine Parish, one less traditional ChristLife group is a Bible study that meets in a parishioner’s home. The parishioner is the only Catholic in the group, and Husaynu said he was “dumbfounded” at how well it went, with all of the members excited to learn.

“The room was filled with so much love and energy, they absolutely loved it,” he said. “I’m just convinced that the ChristLife program is in the early stages of burning like a brushfire through the archdiocese, with the flames of the Holy Spirit reaching out to everyone and touching their hearts.”

 

ChristLife at
your parish

What: Informational evening for archdiocesan parishes

When: 7-9 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 26

Where: Sacred Heart Major Seminary (Cardinal Mooney parlor)

Who: Speakers include ChristLife founder Dave Nodar, Bishop Michael Byrnes and Fr. Joseph Horn

To register: Call (313) 237-4683, email [email protected] or visit www.christlifedetroit.eventbrite.com.

More info: www.christlife.org