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Foreword
by Francis Cardinal George

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

“Every dimension of the Church’s life and ministry, whether directly or indirectly, must have evangelization as its goal...everything else is secondary. Unless our efforts -- at every level, but especially that of the parish – are consciously aimed at conversion, both inward and outward, through the power of the message entrusted to us, we will only spin our wheels.” This passage from the Archdiocesan Decisions document makes local the call to evangelize first given by Christ, proclaimed anew in the Second Vatican Council and sounded insistently by Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II. Evangelization is the essential mission of this and all local Churches.

Our society has become a place where many do not know how to be truly human and where great numbers are overwhelmed by the pain, loneliness and helplessness of lives without God. All around us people are starving for faith and love, for hope and meaning in their lives. More urgently than ever, we are called to evangelize.

Since 1992, the Church in the United States has been helped to evangelize by the U.S. Bishop’s letter Go and Make Disciples, A National Plan and Strategy for Catholic Evangelization in the United States. Now, I am pleased to present our organized approach to evangelizing set forth in Spreading the Holy Fire, A Plan and Study Guide for Catholics Evangelizing in the Archdiocese of Chicago. This Plan is a timely and necessary instrument for formation and action in evangelization. This document should be read and studied by all pastors and laity, by parish leadership, by all engaged in faith formation and education and in projects of evangelization, and by those who serve in parish and archdiocesan ministries.

Within the next five years, each parish in the Archdiocese should be touched and changed by this Plan. May it stimulate each of us to work at evangelizing: to commit ourselves to the Holy Spirit who is at work in the world and in our lives; to believe more deeply by personally knowing and trusting Jesus Christ; to share our faith by acting upon the Spirit’s promptings to show others the face of Christ; and to cooperate in transforming society. In adopting the Plan’s objectives and implementing its strategies, we shall be faithful stewards, sharing what Jesus has given us in His Church.

This Jesus we love wants us to introduce people to Him so that the spiritual gifts He left His Church can be shared universally. My prayer is that each of us, signs and agents of God’s universal love in our Archdiocese, will burn more brightly and spread the Holy Fire.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I.
Archbishop of Chicago

PART I: Catholics as Evangelizers
PART II: Our Reality
PART III: Objectives, Strategies, Visible Signs