Sorting Fish: A Task at the Beginning (Part 3)

Baptized Christians.  Debbie and Ernest are both baptized Christians.  Debbie is a young professional, single and searching for “something more” in her life.  Although baptized in the Methodist church as an infant, her family was not active in any church.  She has had no formal religious training.  Because of some conversations with a Roman Catholic colleague, she is interested in Catholicism.

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Sorting Fish: A Task at the Beginning (Part 2)

Sorting Fish

The Gospel of Matthew records Jesus’s parable about the reign of heaven being “like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind” (13:47).  I suggest that a parish evangelizing outreach is like a net that may collect “fish” of every kind:  unbaptized adults and children of catechetical age, baptized uncatechized Christians, baptized catechized Christians, baptized Catholics needing Confirmation and Eucharist, baptized Catholics needing only Confirmation, fully initiated Catholics who have been alienated from the Church and seek to return, and Catholics seeking an update. 

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