Pope Francis has a way of putting things.  

Back in 2013, he called on his priests to be “shepherds living with the smell of sheep." He said, "A church that limits itself to just carrying out administrative duties, caring for its tiny flock, is a church that in the long run will get sick. The pastor who isolates himself is not a true pastor of sheep, but a 'hairdresser' for sheep who spends his time putting curlers on them instead of going to look for others."

Every parent encounter is an opportunity for evangelization! If you are planning a parent session at your parish, you may find the following suggestions helpful.  

Isn’t the world ready for a little more joy?

It has been a year since Pope Francis shared his vision for Christian discipleship in The Joy of the Gospel.  Wouldn’t it be great if this text continued to set the course for conversations about evangelization and catechesis throughout the year?

The Church exists to evangelize. I remember when, in 1975, Paul VI, in On Evangelization in the Modern World, taught that “the task of evangelizing all people constitutes the essential mission of the Church” (par. 14), I was taken by surprise. I had never thought of myself as an evangelizer. I had thought of myself as a teacher. Therefore, as a teacher, I gave much thought to what Paul VI said later in the document: “Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses” (par. 41). So, I began to realize that if I wanted to be an effective teacher of the Gospel, I would have to become an effective witness, too.