A number of parishes made an effort to “re-engage” Catholics in the South Vicariate and beyond, so they invited people in the region to join them for a presentation on enlivening their faith and becoming more dynamic as Catholics.

On March 4, a Dynamic Catholic Team made a presentation at St. Joseph in Marion to what turned out to be almost 280 people.

The team included speaker Jonathan Fanning, author of “Who are you BECOMING?” Jonathan was voted best speaker at a recent TED talks conference and has been coaching Fortune 500 executives for over 15 years. Fanning began by asking his audience: “Are you willing to let God transform you?”

After time for reflection, Fanning began to speak on Matthew Kelly’s book, “The Four Signs of a Dynamic Catholic”: the four signs being prayer, study, generosity and evangelization.

Fanning spoke of how his life changed when he began the journey to becoming a more dynamic Catholic.
“This was truly a great way for us to come together as a community to rekindle our faith,” Cindy Jong said.

Jong is coordinator of parish ministries at St. Joseph.“We realize that as individuals and community, we need to grow into better versions of ourselves, and that the consequences of that transformation will echo in our families, marriages, parishes and beyond to people and places in the future,” Jong said.
The event in March was sparked by an earlier event in evangelization.

The parishes of St. Paul in Johnston City, St. Francis Xavier in Carbondale, St. Andrew in Murphysboro, Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Herrin and Holy Spirit in Carterville chose to introduce some of Dynamic Catholic’s book to their parishes and are co-hosting the speaking engagement.

To see more photos of the event, and more about what is happening in the parish, please visit St. Joseph’s website: www.stjoseph-stpaul.com/