Even During a Pandemic, the Gospel Needs to be Proclaimed
“Even with a pandemic, the Gospel still needs to be proclaimed,” said an East Coast campus ministry director to me recently. We were chatting about how ministry would look differently in the next few months.
I was struck by his comments. In the midst of an uncertain Fall, we’ve used a lot of energy on any combination of the following:
Virtual orientations
Virtual training for student leaders
Virtual opens houses
Trying to get clear direction from our campuses re: Covid-19
Trying to get information about incoming students
Trying to polish our live-streaming liturgical offerings
Helping our staff help guests when it comes to social distancing
Did we mention that there’s also still a pandemic in play? And finally, we have the continuing conversation about racial justice. Yes, we are preparing for a Fall unlike any other.
In the blur of all that is on our plate, we can forget that we are still called to share the Gospel with those on our campus. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops puts it this way:
Ten years after the close of the Second Vatican Council and a year after the 1974 Synod of Bishops, Pope Paul VI issued Evangelii Nuntiandi. Pope Paul VI stated that the Church “exists in order to evangelize, that is to say in order to preach and teach, to be the channel of the gift of grace, to reconcile sinners with God, and to perpetuate Christ’s sacrifice in the Mass, which is the memorial of his death and glorious Resurrection.”Evangelii Nuntiandi describes the essential aspects of evangelization as well as its effects on the one evangelizing and the one being evangelized.
Our role in campus ministry- even with a pandemic and an ever-changing conversation about race, is ultimately to evangelize. This is not to exclude any of the bulleted items above. Rather, it’s a reminder that our students still long for Christ, even if they don’t know it.
How will your campus continue to place evangelization in the forefront this Fall?