Motown Evangelization

Book excerpt: What happens when “the rubber meets the road” for Catholic evangelization? Motown evangelization—an evangelization with wheels, an evangelization on the go, an evangelization with soul! Featuring contributions by several of the leading scholars on Catholic evangelization in the twenty-first century, Motown Evangelization: Sharing the Gospel of Jesus in a Detroit Style invites the reader to contemplate the meaning of the New Evangelization within the disorienting context of the postmodern and post-pandemic world of today. Numerous central themes are treated throughout the book’s potent chapters: the charity of Christ, the urgency of evangelization, redemptive suffering, liturgical sacrifice, the Black Catholic experience, parish life, the communion of saints, contemplative prayer, and practical suggestions for sharing the gospel of Jesus with friends and strangers alike. Tracing the contours of evangelization as at once merciful, urgent, sacrificial, diverse, and sanctifying, this book opens to the world with hope and healing. While oftentimes evangelization can stagnate in wishful thinking with little follow-through, Motown Evangelization encourages the reader to press on toward the finish line of faith wherein the end is the beginning, and the beginning is the end. It is because of the paradoxical twists that flood the life and teachings of Jesus that evangelization is ever old and ever new. Motown Evangelization will help to empower its reader to share the gospel of Jesus with renewed vigor and vitality.