The Paulist National Catholic Evangelization Association (PNCEA) builds up the body of Christ by equipping Catholics to evangelize.

Our pioneering founder, Fr. Alvin A. Illig, CSP, established the Paulist National Catholic Evangelization Association in 1977 as an apostolate of the Paulist Fathers. The Paulists, the first order of Catholic priests established in the U.S., had been founded by Fr. Isaac T. Hecker, CSP, in 1858. The Paulists today work for evangelization, reconciliation, ecumenism, and interfaith dialogue.

Fr. Alvin A. Illig, CSP

Fr. Isaac T. Hecker, CSP

Renewal of the Catholic Church in the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) brought intense focus on Jesus’ command to “Go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19) as a duty of the Church and its members “so that people can believe and be saved,” wrote Pope Paul VI in 1975. In 1992, the U.S. bishops responded with a national plan for Catholic evangelization to help Catholics to live their faith enthusiastically, share it freely, and bring gospel values to everyday life.

Fr. Kenneth Boyack, CSP

Today headed by Fr. Kenneth Boyack, CSP, PNCEA is a national leader in Catholic evangelization. Fr. Boyack, president of PNCEA, author or editor of 13 books including The New Catholic Evangelization, was general coordinator of the U.S. bishops' evangelization plan.

Sr. Susan Wolf, SND

Executive director and senior vice president Sr. Susan Wolf, SND, author of junior high school religion texts and teachers’ manuals in the Christ Our Life series and Go and Make Disciples planning documents, created PNCEA’s new ENVISION ministry of Christ-centered pastoral planning for parishes.

Fr. Robert Rivers, CSP

Vice president Fr. Robert Rivers, CSP, after 20 years in campus and parish ministries, is a national preacher, teacher, Disciples in Mission consultant, and leader of PNCEA Parish Missions. His new book, Insights into Evangelization, will be published in January 2005 by Paulist Press.

Fifteen lay and religious collaborators staff the PNCEA office, developing and managing its programs, resources, and publications. God’s grace and the generosity of our benefactors and donors make all of PNCEA’s work possible.

In 1977 and the years following, Fr. Illig planted the seeds of evangelization in America, encouraging active Catholics to invite inactive Catholics to return to the Church, and the unchurched to join the Catholic family of believers. Also serving as executive director of what is now the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Committee on Evangelization, he visited nearly three-quarters of U.S. dioceses, introducing evangelization to thousands of parish priests and laity.

Through the years, PNCEA has carried out its mission in various ways. PNCEA is constantly developing new methods and resources to equip Catholics to evangelize.

Equipping parishes, preparing the laity, helping Catholics grow in faith.

• From 1979-1986, PNCEA sponsored Lay Celebrations of Evangelization, large gatherings (and teleconferences in 1987 and later). These events trained Catholics in evangelizing and in prayer for the spread of the gospel. Published portraits of successful evangelization programs and guidelines, a national magazine, training films, and the newsletter Evangelization Today, helped other parishes adopt the effective models.

• Share The Word magazine offered enlivening evangelization-based reflections on the Sunday Scripture readings and the daily Mass readings. It was one of the first Bible study resources for U.S. Catholics, and ran for 27 years beginning in 1980.

• A national ministry to inactive Catholics, ANOTHER LOOK, through a series of five newsletters gently invited non-practicing Catholics to again explore their Catholic faith. And in 1990, a major outreach to Americans with no church family was launched - The Catholic Way of Life. This 25-part introduction to the Catholic faith, designed to draw unchurched persons into dialogue with PNCEA and their local parish, was later published as a book. Following Jesus Day by Day, a series of six eight-week meditations on Scripture and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, began in 1994 and is distributed today through Prison Ministries. In 1995, PNCEA published a new method of reaching out to inactive Catholics and the unchurched, Yes, I Can Believe.

• Week-long training institutes from 1989-1999 introduced parish leaders to the methods, materials, and theology of Catholic evangelization. In 2006, PNCEA began offering on-line training seminars and workshops on the internet for arch/diocesan and parish leaders as well as interested individuals.

• Disciples in Mission, a three-year, parish-wide experience of evangelization has since 1996, equipped 2 million Catholics in 34 dioceses and 2,000 parishes to share their faith with others.

• ENVISION, Planning Our Parish Future, is a Christ-centered pastoral planning process that engages all parishioners in developing and implementing a faith-based vision for their parish. It began in 2002.

• I am E3 - Evangelizing Everyday Everywhere, is a parish resource that stimulates one-on-one faith sharing through conversation-starting faith stories on attractive, easy-to-use cards.

• New resources developed in 2005 help Catholics reach out to others. Invite! assists Catholics extend an invitation to those with no church family and Catholics Reaching Out helps them invite inactive Catholics to return to the practice of the faith. The Reconciling Community helps active and returning Catholics experience the blessings of the sacrament of penance.

• PNCEA helps keep evangelization leaders informed of new opportunities and emerging trends through the Evangelization Exchange, a free electronic newsletter which began in late-2005.

Special communities. In 1994, the late Fr. Thomas Comber, CSP, founded PNCEA Prison Ministries to help prison chaplains and volunteers provide inmates with solid Catholic teaching. From serving 190 prisons that year, Prison Ministries has grown to sending newsletters answering inmates’ questions, Bibles, adult faith education books, and prayer cards to over 1,500 prisons.

Applied research. Throughout its history, PNCEA has participated in and encouraged research around the questions of church participation and affiliation. PNCEA led an ecumenical coalition that sponsored the first major Gallup study on the unchurched American in 1978 and its follow-up study in 1988. PNCEA uses professional research tools to develop and evaluate its own resources. ENVISION, Planning Our Parish Future, includes a professional survey instrument developed in collaboration with the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate to help parishes set their priorities and plan their future around an evangelizing perspective.

Consultation. PNCEA staff members also serve as consultants to dioceses and parishes as they seek to carry out the evangelizing mission of Christ.

New resources. PNCEA continues to develop new resources and seek new ways to equip parishes and prepare the laity for evangelization, as well as to help Catholics grow in faith.