Don’t you wish the Church had a response to all those “… and I’m a Mormon” ads running on national television? I know I do. And so does Tom Peterson.
Peterson, founder of Catholics Come Home, was a guest on Teresa Tomeo’s radio show this morning where he made the following announcement (my transcription):
For the first time ever Catholic evangelization ads are going to be airing on national, network, prime-time television. Over 400 ads on CBS, NBC, Fox News, CNN, USA, TBS, TNT, on 60 Minutes, the Today Show, on Jay Leno, on Letterman, on the NBC Evening News, on all the popular shows, from December 16 to January 8.
In other words, we’re finally going to have Catholic ads on national network TV reaching 250 million television viewers in over 10,000 cities in every diocese across the United States.
Later in the day the same news appeared on the organization’s web site …
FIRST TIME EVER…
CATHOLIC EVANGELIZATION ADS
ON NATIONAL, PRIME-TIME NETWORK TELEVISION!
CATHOLICS COME HOME® COMMERCIALS AIRING NATIONWIDEAtlanta (Roswell), GA, November 2, 2011—Catholics Come Home® announces a major, national, prime-time network television evangelization initiative, for the first time ever in the 2,000 year history of the Catholic Church, to air from December 16, 2011 through January 8, 2012.
This invitation of the New Evangelization highlights the history, beauty, spirituality and accomplishments of the Catholic Church. The positive message will reach 250 million television viewers in over 10,000 U.S. cities and every diocese throughout the United States, airing over 400 times during the three week period spanning before Christmas through the Feast of the Epiphany, January 8, 2012.
More information here.
Tags: Orthodoxy at Work
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Glory and praise to our God! This is FANTASTIC news!
Now this is assertive! ! !
Terrific!
To quote Dick Vitale, AWESOME BABY!
Thanks Be To God
In John Paul II’s Encyclical MISSION OF THE REDEEMER we read in part:
The Initial Proclamation of Christ the Savior
44. Proclamation is the permanent priority of mission…… “Evangelization will always contain-as the foundation, center and at the same time the summit of its dynamism-a clear proclamation that, in Jesus Christ…salvation is offered to all people, as a gift of God’s grace and mercy……(which introduces us)into the mystery of the love of God, who invites him to enter into a personal relationship with himself in Christ and opens the way to conversion. Faith is born of preaching, and every (church) community draws its origin and life from the personal response of each believer to that preaching.
The subject of proclamation is Christ who was crucified, died and is risen: through him is accomplished our full and authentic liberation from evil, sin and death; through him God bestows “new life” that is divine and eternal.
This is the “Good News” which changes man and his history, and which all peoples have a right to hear. This proclamation is to be made within the context of the lives of the individuals and peoples who receive it. It is to be made with an attitude of love and esteem toward those who hear it, in language which is practical and adapted to the situation. In this proclamation the Spirit is at work and establishes a communion between the missionary and his hearers, a communion which is possible inasmuch as both enter into communion with God the Father through Christ.
45.
Proclamation is inspired by faith, which gives rise to enthusiasm and fervor in the missionary. As already mentioned, the Acts of the Apostles uses the word parrhesia to describe this attitude, a word which means to speak frankly and with courage. This term is found also in St. Paul: “We had courage in our God to declare to you the Gospel of God in the face of great opposition” (1 Th 2:2); “Pray…also for me, that utterance may be given me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the Gospel for which I am an ambassador in chains; that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak” (Eph 6:18-20).
(The missionary) knows that he is not proclaiming a human truth, but the “word of God,” which has an intrinsic and mysterious power of its own (cf. Rom 1:16).
The supreme test is the giving of one’s life, to the point of accepting death in order to bear witness to one’s faith in Jesus Christ. Throughout Christian history, martyrs, that is, “witnesses,” have always been numerous and indispensable to the spread of the Gospel. In our own age, there are many: bishops, priests, men and women religious, lay people-often unknown heroes who give their lives to bear witness to the faith. They are par excellence the heralds and witnesses of the faith.
46. The proclamation of the Word of God has Christian conversion as its aim: a complete and sincere adherence to Christ and his Gospel through faith. Conversion is a gift of God, a work of the Blessed Trinity. It is the Spirit who opens people’s hearts so that they can believe in Christ and “confess him” (cf. 1 Cor 12:3); of those who draw near to him through faith Jesus says: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him” (Jn 6:44).
From the outset, conversion is expressed in faith which is total and radical, and which neither limits nor hinders God’s gift. At the same time, it gives rise to a dynamic and lifelong process which demands a continual turning away from “life according to the flesh” to “life according to the Spirit” (cf. Rom 8:3-13). Conversion means accepting, by a personal decision, the saving sovereignty of Christ and becoming his disciple.
The Church calls all people to this conversion, following the example of John the Baptist, who prepared the way for Christ by “preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Mk 1:4), as well as the example of Christ himself, who “after John was arrested,…came into Galilee preaching the Gospel of God and saying: ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the Gospel'” (Mk 1:14-15).
….. every person has the right to hear the “Good News” of the God who reveals and gives himself in Christ, so that each one can live out in its fullness his or her proper calling. This lofty reality is expressed in the words of Jesus to the Samaritan woman: “If you knew the gift of God,” and in the unconscious but ardent desire of the woman: “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst” (Jn 4:10, 15).