Roman Catholics are becoming loud and proud.Now that Pope Benedict XVI has declared this the Year of Paul, local residents can expect to see some stepped-up advertising — including ads on signs around town — from Catholic officials.
That's because St. Paul — the Apostle Paul, who famously converted on the road to Damascus — was known for evangelizing.
"Paul was not embarrassed to wear his faith on his sleeve. He was not hesitant to invite others to meet Christ. He was not reticent to let people know what Christ had come to mean to him," Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson wrote in this month's edition of the diocesan newspaper, The New Vision.
The Year of Paul began in June and will go through June 2009.
In an interview Friday, Kicanas recalled a sign on a church in a Chicago suburb where he once lived. It invited alienated Catholics to "come back home."
"It was amazing, the response to that sign," Kicanas said.
"People would come in — some were disgruntled, hurt and angry — and they would involve themselves in a series of meetings about the church and the church's teachings," he said.
The Rev. Bill Remmel of Tucson's West Side Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church can attest to that.
For several years now, he has placed a sign out in front of the church that says, "Interested in becoming Catholic?" It then gives a phone number.
The sign is consistently effective in attracting people through a church program called the Rite for the Christian Initiation of Adults, he said.
"It gets the word out, you know? Sometimes people need an invitation — it's certainly one way of doing it," Remmel said.
Kicanas hopes that the Year of Paul will inspire signs like Most Holy Trinity's around the local diocese.
A diocesan task force is expecting to create a program of reconciliation during Lent in 2009 — inviting Catholics, particularly those who are angry at the church, to return.
The diocese also expects to enhance education for adults and to do more teaching about sacramental practices.
"We do quite a bit for children and teens, but this will be more on trying to strengthen adult faith formation," Kicanas said.
"For those who have been baptized and perhaps never really learned their faith or immersed themselves in the church, we are concerned about deepening their faith."
"For those who have been baptized and perhaps never really learned their faith or immersed themselves in the church, we are concerned about deepening their faith."
Kicanas says Paul exhorted his communities to be joyful and thankful — something the bishop will be asking of the local diocese's 350,000 Catholics.
"Nothing kept Paul from preaching Christ: not imprisonment, shipwreck or any other adversity," Kicanas wrote.
"He traveled the known world, from Corinth to Rome to Ephesus to Thessalonica. Just as he had turned his life around on the road to Damascus, he invited others to meet Christ. He was not always successful, but he was undaunted in his mission."
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