The Certificate in Evangelization: Believing the Beauty and Truth of Christianity
Jul 14, 2025
Fr. Ignacio Llorente
In the past few decades, the Catholic Church has been waking up to the need for evangelization. The call to evangelize can be traced back to the Great Commission of Matthew 28, so it is not something new. However, as Catholics, we are gaining a greater awareness of the need for making disciples through the proclamation of the Kerygma.
Among many factors, this realization is driven by the wave of secularization that is affecting Western society. We live in a less Christian world, and fewer people come to Church. Consequently, like the Good Shepherd of Luke 15, we are compelled to go out in search of the lost sheep.
Because the Catholic Church is like a big ship, we can attest that any change in direction takes quite a bit of time. We are witnessing the first stages of this turn: (1) The last few popes have spoken about the need for evangelization; (2) we are seeing, at least in the US, a proliferation of new apostolic activities (FOCUS, Acts XIX, Divine Renovation, Alpha, St. Paul Outreach, etc); (3) and many parishes are becoming more intentional about being mission-oriented.
We should not forget that the Holy Spirit is the main agent of evangelization. He is the one influencing all these changes, but we are called to accompany this movement of grace.
There are many things that we can do as Catholics to help the Church move from a Christendom mentality to an Apostolic mentality.
First, we need to strive to be holy. Only the saint can evangelize. Second, we need to develop communities of faith that tell the Great Story of Jesus. Third, we need to foster a missionary culture among our parishes or communities. Fourth, we need to intercede for those who are far away from the faith. Fifth, we need to train lay people to be evangelizers.
Another ingredient that might go unnoticed is the need for intellectual formation. If Catholics want to evangelize the world, they need to be convinced of their faith. We need to undergo, in the words of St. Paul, that transformation of the mind (Romans 12:1-2).
This process of transformation is twofold. First, we need to abandon the mentality of the world. Second, and most importantly, we need to embrace a biblical worldview. This transformation of the mind is accomplished by an act of faith, praying with the Scriptures, participation in a Christian community, attending the Sacred Liturgy, and the study of our faith.
We need Catholics who know and believe their faith. We need to learn the story of salvation, the reasons for our faith, the connections between the diverse truths of our creed, etc. Only those who believe with all their hearts the beauty and truth of Christianity will be able to share it with others.
The Certificate in Evangelization, a partnership program between the Saint John Society and St. Bernard’s School of Theology and Ministry, seeks to be an instrument of the Holy Spirit to help Catholics evangelize their minds in order to evangelize the world. This is done primarily through intellectual formation and study, allowing students to be luminous witnesses to Christ in the world through deepened conversion of the mind. Graduates from this Certificate are equipped to share the Gospel in a world so desperately in need of hearing the Good News.