Proclaim

In this episode, Eric interviews John Acosta - Director of Pastoral Services for the Archdiocese of Winnipeg. John grew up in Vancouver and was introduced to Couples for Christ (CFC) through a youth retreat. Growing involvement formed his missionary heart, which led to 14 years of missionary work with CFC. John shares his journey and experience, lessons learned, and breaks down some of the ways CFC has been engaged in evangelization and missionary formation.

Eric has a discussion with Joseph San Jose from All Saints Parish in Coquitlam. Joe shares some practical ways that his Alpha team successfully invited close to 50 people in their proximate periphery. His passion to proclaim Jesus comes forth and he offers words of encouragement for all of us who desire to grow as missionary disciples.

Eric interviews Daniel - a missionary disciple in our Archdiocese of Vancouver with big dreams for our Catholic parishes and communities. Daniel shares his experiences with Couples for Christ, Catholic Christian Outreach, the Companions of the Cross, and St. Benedict's in Halifax. Eric and Daniel explore topics such as spiritual conversations with family and friends, the awkwardness of learning how to pray with others, authentic community, and the primacy of evangelization. He challenges each of us to be protagonists in the evangelizing mission of the Church.

Eric interviews Rachel Wong live on the Proclaim Facebook Group. Rachel shares her story of encountering Jesus in Adoration and how God invited her into a unique mission, resulting in the launch of the Feminine Genius Podcast). Rachel shares some insights on how to get the most out of live streaming mass at home, how the Upper Room conference inspired her, and how we can all be encouraged to be lights in the world.

Rachel Wong is a Catholic writer, creative, speaker and podcaster. Though she was born into the Catholic faith, Rachel had a re-conversion back to the faith in 2016. Since then, she's been on a beautiful journey of learning more about her faith and role as a Catholic woman, and she shares it with others through writing and speaking.

Megan and Nathan share how they encountered faith and community through others accompanying them, and how they are now in turn accompanying other young couples in their journey of faith. They discuss the impact of faith studies, relationships, and how conversations over brunch can be important missionary moments. Megan shares some exciting opportunities with Marriage and Family ministries - through mentorship and The Marriage Course.

Eric and Julia talk about opening "Holy Grounds" Coffeehouse at St. Patrick's Parish in Maple Ridge, and how the community began to grow. The coffeehouse wasn't just a novel idea but part of an overall parish strategy to call and form missionary disciples. Holy Grounds is the name of the space but the approach to community is seeing one another as holy ground, as Pope Francis stated in para. 169 of Evangelii Gaudium.

Eric talks with Julia Hanley from St. Patrick's Parish in Maple Ridge and Tim Glemkowski, Director of Strategy for the Archdiocese of Denver in Colorado. They discuss St. Patrick's discipleship pathway and parish culture. Having a discipleship pathway is one of the main principles outlined in Tim's book Made for Mission: Renewing Your Parish Culture. They discuss how the Holy Spirit moved Julia and St Patrick's disciples to formulate their pathway from principles, and the opportunities and challenges in parish life when it comes to evangelization.

In this episode, Eric sits down with Brian Joel, a parishioner at St Matthew's in Surrey. Brian shares with enthusiasm his journey towards discipleship through men's retreats, CCO faith studies, and with encouraging mentors. Brian has been involved in leading many ministries at St. Matthew's, including Alpha and the CCO Faith studies. He shares how he sees missionary discipleship as allowing God to work through him to help others.

Brian Joel has been a parishioner at St. Matthew's for the past 20 years. He grew up as a Protestant and converted to Catholicism in 2001. He is very active in his church participating in many ministries, including Bible study, Discovery Discipleship and Alpha. One of his favorites is Man’s Destiny which just held it’s fourth conference this year. He is a long-time Surrey resident where he lives with his wife and family, he owns a software development company for over 25 years and likes to run marathons.

Brett and Eric discuss the importance of hospitality in our communities. Some simple actions like paying attention to the details, focusing on the person, and extending authentic curiosity, can help our communities in being hospitable to our proximate periphery. Hospitality isn't just a strategy, it's the privilege and responsibility of each of us as members of our parish communities.

In this episode, Brett and Eric discuss the missionary dimension of the home. There are many opportunities in our everyday living that allow us to witness to our faith. This episode was recorded earlier in the year, but it has impact and relevance for us today. Proclaim is about inviting disciples to proclaim Jesus in their homes and communities and we can take small steps towards growing the missionary dimension of the home.