About Us

About Our Mission
Reaching the unreached in faith

On behalf of the wider Church and the Paulist Fathers, the mission of Paulist Evangelization Ministries is to develop effective methods for inviting people to believe in Jesus Christ as Catholics or to become active again in the Catholic faith, and to equip Catholics with the tools to further this invitation.

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Washington, DC 20017
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The Early Years

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The Early Years

The Paulist Fathers established Paulist Evangelization Ministries in 1977 as its apostolic arm to foster Catholic evangelization in North America. Fr. Alvin A. Illig, CSP, a dynamic and talented Paulist priest, served as the founding director until his death in 1991.

Servant of God Fr. Isaac T. Hecker, CSP, founded the Paulists in 1858, the first order of Catholic priests established in the U.S. Today the Paulists serve Christ and the Catholic Church through the ministries of evangelization, reconciliation, ecumenism, and interfaith dialogue.

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 live their faith enthusiastically, share it freely, and bring gospel values to everyday life.

A History of Reaching Out
From 1977 until his death in 1991, 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 the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Committee on Evangelization from 1977-1982, Fr. Illig visited nearly three-quarters of U.S. dioceses, introducing evangelization to thousands of priests, religious, and laity.

Equipping parishes, preparing the laity, and helping Catholics grow in faith.
Through the years, the Paulist Evangelization Ministries has carried out its mission in various ways.

From 1979-1986, then-PNCEA sponsored national Lay Celebrations of Evangelization.
Share The Word magazine offered enlivening evangelization-based reflections on the Sunday Scripture readings and the daily Mass readings.
Another Look, a national ministry to inactive Catholics offered from 1984-1999, included a series of five newsletters that gently invited non-practicing Catholics to again explore their Catholic faith. In 1990, PNCEA launched a major outreach to Americans with no church family - The Catholic Way of Life.
In 1995, PNCEA published Yes, I Can Believe, a new method of reaching out to inactive Catholics and the unchurched. This book remains a popular title today.
Disciples in Mission, a three-year, parish-wide experience of evangelization begun in 1996, has touched the lives of 4,500,000 Catholics in 3,600 parishes in 42 dioceses throughout the United States.
PNCEA Parish Missions, from 1998 to 2007, provided dynamic and effective preaching through the lens of Catholic evangelization.
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. Workbooks for ENVISION remain available, though program support has been doscontinued.
PNCEA keeps evangelization leaders informed of new opportunities and emerging trends through the Evangelization Exchange, a free electronic newsletter which began in late-2005.
In 2006, Paulist Evangelization Ministries began quarterly webinars, called Catholic Speakers Online, which feature live, interactive, hour-long presentations by experts in various ministries.
Best Practices for Parishes, completed in 2008, is an online self-study tool that enables parishes to assess and implement seven dimensions of parish life using best practice statements drawn from church documents, pastoral experiences and ministry experts.
In 2007, Paulist Evangelization Ministries began the Paulist Evangelization Training Institute online which offers courses in Catholic evangelization and its many practical applications over the internet.
Launched in 2009, Awakening Faith, Reconnecting with Your Catholic Faith, equips parishes to welcome and invite inactive Catholics.
The Evangelization Resources Catalog, published yearly, offers readers a broad array of resources and materials to foster parish-based evangelization.

Special ministries. In 1994, the late Fr. Thomas Comber, CSP, founded Paulist Evangelization Ministries Prison Ministries to help prison chaplains and volunteers provide inmates with solid Catholic literature. From serving 190 prisons that year, Prison Ministries has grown to sending newsletters, Bibles, adult faith education books, and prayer cards to over 900 prisons and jails in the U.S.

Applied research. Throughout its history, Paulist Evangelization Ministries 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.

Presentations and consultations. Paulist Evangelization Ministries staff members give presentations throughout the United States and serve as consultants to dioceses and parishes seeking 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.

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About Us

The Early Years