Fun Evangelization Stuff

A quick round-up of good stuff that has crossed my desk.

We can thank the Bishop of Charleston, SC, for sparing us the weighty topics this week. So we’ll give him first billing in today’s collection of fun evangelization items, but also we’ve got:

• New Catholic gardening book is out

• Lego Church season 26 is ready to tour

• Some Leah Libresco Sargeant links in case you need things to argue about despite yourself

• Christina Chase’s phenomenal It Is Good You Are Here (now on clearance, woah!)

Then we finish with a word from our sponsors, the cats.

Via Fidelis

So this Sunday at the end of a superb Mass, presider runs through the announcements, flips the page, and here we are, letter from the bishop. Y’all know the feeling. Not be to cranky, but when the opening lines mentioned a “five year plan” I did sorta flinch. What are we fundraising for this time?

Reader, I was so wrong.

So, so very wrong.

I guess I have a bishop-crush now, because here is the five year plan for where Bishop Jacques wants us to focus our communal efforts as a diocese:

• Year 1: Evangelization

• Year 2: Catechesis

• Year 3: Sacraments

• Year 4: Outreach and Service

• Year 5: Share the Faith

Y’all. This is spot on. Spot. On.

Sure, quibble away. It wouldn’t be a room full of two Catholics if there weren’t a three-way argument about anything anyone in the Church ever does. But the individual resources hit the spot for basic evangelism, the the parish resources are rock solid.

If you want to do the thing, here you go. Do the thing.

Planting with Prayer

I remember when Margaret Rose Realy’s book A Garden Catechism showed up in the mail. I had been laid out sick for so long that I stared at the book for a moment and then thought: Oh that’s right. I used to do that.

It was like I needed a reminder that there was this major part of my life that had gone so dormant I had forgotten it existed, but it was still there. Waiting for me.

That’s about where I was, again, when OSV sent me a complimentary copy of Planting with Prayer recently. What had once been the spot I would have pointed to as our “prayer garden” (though it isn’t formally one, it’s more a garden where praying often happens) had grown so desperate and chaotic and that the SuperHusband, not a gardener, undertook a major renovation this winter.

Poor guy. He had no idea how much work he was signing up for, and he did it at a time when I was not available to pitch in, even though in normal life there are few things I love more than moving dirt.

Praise God in all things, but happily the thing I get to give thanks for this month is that I’m back in the dirt-moving game.

About the book: It’s a companion volume to A Garden Catechism. The first book gives you lots of ideas for different plants to put in your prayer garden that have a spiritual meaning of some kind. Fun stuff! Planting with Prayer is a quick primer on planning a prayer garden (or any garden), basic gardening skills, and then a huge section that is record-keeping and journaling space for keeping track of your efforts.

I mean, not that digging up what you think might be a dormant native plant your loving husband surprised you with a couple years ago and neither of you can remember what it is, but it wasn’t entirely dead last fall and maybe now that you’re installing irrigation it could survive in a better location this year . . . that’s another way to do it. Or you could keep records.

So anyway, there we go. Great little get-started-prayer-gardening book from someone who knows what she’s talking about. Good stuff.

Lego Church 2025

Season 26 of the Lego Church Project is ready to launch. Michigan folks, now is the time to line up a display date.

If you’re farther afield, zoom tours & interviews are par for the course. Could be a fun way to finish off your religious ed year, catechists. If you’d like to do a Lego Church VBS program this summer, this post contains the quick start guide I put together for that.

The Dignity of Dependence

Pre-orders are open for Leah Libresco Sargeant’s upcoming book The Dignity of Dependence, coming out in October. I don’t always agree with her policy takes (an extensive sampling can be found on her blog Other Feminisms), but I always find them to be insightful, well-reasoned, and firmly grounded in the wholeness of the Catholic faith.

Since One Soul at a Time has a no-politics rule, how does someone who writes extensively on legislation and public policy fit into the Jesus-Evangelization-Discipleship topic here at the stack?

Here is the thing, and it is of central-most importance to evangelization: There is an overwhelming tendency in our culture to think that a person’s worth as a human being is tied to their usefulness.

This will lead us into some darker topics down the road, but for now let’s rest with the fact that God loves you, and finds worth in you not because of what you can accomplish but simply because you are.

The essential thrust of Sargeant’s work is that women, children, the elderly, the disabled, and, well, everyone, have worth and value even when they are dependent on others. Furthermore, human interdependence is a feature not a bug. We as humans are better, happier, and more ourselves when we are in a position of caring for others and being cared for by them.

I have not seen a preview of the book, but I would say to check out the Other Feminisms blog if you are undecided on whether the reading level and intellectual focus of The Dignity of Dependence is your speed.

If it’s more than you’re ready for, so be it. Back up to my favorite Bible study lady, a longtime school and catechetical volunteer, who when we’d talk about evangelization would say, “I just think children need to know that God loves them so much.”

100%. But I’ve found over and over again that people who can say that and fully believe it when they are the one caring and sacrificing for others . . . struggle to believe in their own value and belovedness when suddenly they are thrust into the unwanted position of having to impose on others because they cannot make it on their own.

It’s difficult. So I’m grateful for anyone who is filling that void.

Related: Christina Chase’s It Is Good to Be Here is a phenomenal meditation on the reality of God’s love in the context of suffering and vulnerability. I see it's on clearance, so scoop up a copy while you can.

The book assumes a working knowledge of Catholicism, and I would say if you are comfortable reading this newsletter, you’re good. Excellent for people who have a lot of “head knowledge” but struggle with the heart of Jesus. Read best if you start at the beginning and work through a section, pause and reflect, then move on to the next. It’s on my shortlist of must-have books.

Spiritual Guidance from Cats

Final though for today: God just wants to be with you.

Since the nest has emptied, my chief occupation of late is running a rest home for retired cats, and I know that horrifies a few of you, but stick with me. Cats, especially old ones, aren’t social the way dogs are. It’s easy to think they are anti-social, or strictly self-centered in their interactions.

But I have a pretty big yard, for a cat, and a lot of different places to sit outside. Invariably if I go sit down someplace where a cat is not, one or two or sometimes all three will wander over. They will come even if they want nothing. They won’t even check in. Silently they will find a spot nearby that isn’t uncomfortable, and they will just be there.

And that’s it.

Over and over again they do this. They want nothing else than to carry on with their daily business of sleeping all day, only near their person.

May I suggest that God wants this relationship with you? And you want it with Him? Yes, the active interactions are big. Prayer, sacraments, Bible, all that stuff matters. But also God just wants to share your day with you. He is with you, silently hanging out and following along, all the time, for no other reason than that He loves you and wants your company.

Even if your Lent has completely fallen apart, or never even really got together in the first place, God is still there. Wanting your company. Wanting you to glance around and realize He’s present and think, “Hey, this is nice. God is here with me. Thanks.”

Photo: Broccoli blossoms lighting up the Superhusband’s new garden. I like broccoli as food, but I’ve learned this year I like it even better as flowers.