Revive Espanola is a 15-week summer mission in Espanola, Ont., to 鈥渞evive anyone who has fallen asleep in their faith,鈥� said Angele Sweeney, a fourth-year health sciences student at the University of Ottawa.
鈥淚t鱿鱼视频app part of the New Evangelization in the sense of those who are already baptized, getting to have a personal encounter with Jesus,鈥� said Sweeney.
The seeds for Revive Espanola were planted when Sweeney and two friends, third-year psychology and philosophy student Marc- Andr茅 Veselovsky and third-year nursing student Marie-Claire Hoffman, attended Impact 2012, a Catholic Christian Outreach summer mission.
鈥淥n that mission, there was 57 of us from across Canada leading this same faith study, basically evangelizing in the different parishes in the archdiocese of Halifax. And so that鱿鱼视频app where we got most of our training,鈥� said Sweeney.
鈥淎fter that summer ended, I think all three of us were kind of thinking 鈥榳here do we go from here and what do we do now?鈥� And God really put it on my heart from that point to bring everything that I had learned back to my hometown. That鱿鱼视频app why we chose Espanola, because that鱿鱼视频app where I鈥檓 from.鈥�
Veselovsky and Hoffman agreed to stay in Espanola for the summer and the trio convinced St. Jude鱿鱼视频app, the only Catholic parish in town, to let them announce their presence at Mass, build relationships with parishioners and invite them to faith study.
Sweeney, Veselovsky and Hoffman led Revive Espanola with Discovery Faith Study, also developed by the CCO, which consisted of study and discussion of the Gospel, testimony and praise and worship. Sweeney ran faith studies back at school, but her largest group was four people.
The Revive Espanola group was much larger. The adult faith study started in May with the final session in August. For the first six weeks Sweeney and Hoffman led a total of 26 women between ages 27 and 30 in the study and Veselovsky lead about eight men between the ages of 22 and 75.
鈥淭here鱿鱼视频app sort of a different dynamic. A lot of people who are older are really set in their ways and something like reading the Bible is almost foreign to them. And so it was really exciting to see them start to open up to new ways of living their faith, for them to have heard the Gospel proclaimed clearly and simply. A lot of them had not heard that before,鈥� said Sweeney.
After a two-week break, the second six weeks of faith study was lead by participants who attended the first. That鱿鱼视频app how Revive Espanola is meant to spread and thrive once Sweeney, Veselovsky and Hoffman return to school and move on with their lives. Sweeney hopes it will create a multiplication effect.
鈥淏eing at St. Jude鱿鱼视频app for the summer, we kind of reached our maximum amount of people we could invite to take the study. And by asking new people to then go forth and invite people they know 鈥� their neighbours, friends, family 鈥� to come out and take this study, the Gospel becomes much more accessible to people,鈥� she said.
During week 15, CCO founder Andr茅 Reiner will give a talk at an event where people can share their testimony on what God has done in their lives this past summer.
The Revive Espanola founding team also began a youth group out of St. Jude鱿鱼视频app for students in Grades 7 to 9. They started with eight kids and now have about 15 members attending activities regularly.
鈥淚t鱿鱼视频app such an interesting dynamic because these are kids that don鈥檛 go to Mass on Sundays. Their parents don鈥檛 go to Mass and they鈥檝e had little to no faith formation, but for whatever reason, they鈥檝e been coming out to our youth group,鈥� said Sweeney.
They also held a youth retreat that included youth hearing the Gospel for the first time, eucharistic adoration and reconciliation. 鈥淢ost of the kids prayed... and opened their hearts to God for the first time,鈥� she added.
The youth group will continue with two new young adults in the community once Sweeney, Veselovsky and Hoffman move back to Ottawa.