The Archdiocesan Plan

Spreading the Holy Fire

A Plan and Study Guide for Catholic Evangelizing in the Archdiocese of Chicago. Developed by the Archdiocesan Office for Evangelization and the Committee for Evangelization.

In June of 2001, the Archdiocesan Office for Evangelization marshaled an advisory committee to draft an evangelization plan for the Archdiocese of Chicago. From the summer of 2001 through May of 2002, the plan entitled Spreading the Holy Fire, A Plan and Study Guide for Catholic Evangelizing in the Archdiocese of Chicago, was drafted, reviewed, revised, approved, and readied for publication. You may now view this plan here online.

Table of Contents

• Acknowledgments
• Foreword by Francis Cardinal George
• An Introduction
• PART I: Catholics as Evangelizers:
• What Does Catholic Evangelization Mean?
• Catholic Evangelization is Rooted in the Gospel and Mandated Anew by the Second Vatican Council
• Pope Paul VI - The Essential Mission of the Church
• Pope John Paul II - The New Evangelization
• Francis Cardinal George - Primary, Secondary, New Evangelization
• Evangelization and Proselytizing
• Go and Make Disciples, A National Plan and Strategy for Catholic Evangelization in the United States
• PART II: Our Reality:
• New Cultural Situations, New Fields of Evangelization
• The Reluctance of Catholics to Evangelize
• The Archdiocese of Chicago
• PART III: Objectives, Strategies, Visible Signs:
• Spreading the Holy Fire: Vision and Collaboration are Essential
• The Personal Mandate: Becoming a Disciple
• The Parish Mandate: Becoming an Evangelizing Parish
• The Archdiocesan Mandate: Becoming An Evangelizing Church
• Conclusion