Pastor finds much to like in The Evangelist

Rev. Charles Gaffigan, pastor of Holy Infancy parish in Lake Luzerne and Immaculate Conception Church in Corinth, has nothing but good things to say about The Evangelist.

For years, he has been promoting the weekly newspaper as a means of communication, information and educational opportunity.

"I know I can always rely on The Evangelist to report about any Catholic issue as it happens. When you pick up The Evangelist, you can always expect to read timely, interesting articles."

Education

In 1995, Father Gaffigan got a great idea on how to increase attendance at weekly parish religious education classes, thanks to an article in The Evangelist.

"The article explained federal guidelines for approved religious activities in public schools," he said. "After reading the article, I sent a copy to our local school district. As a result, I was able to meet with Catholic students from the entire student body.

"I prepared some information for the Catholic children that described our religious education program, and I included an application form. They took it home to their parents. We increased our enrollment by 35 children."

Young people

Over the years, he has also gleaned homily ideas from editorials that he reads.

"In 1999, The Evangelist published an editorial on the shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado," he said by way of example. "I remember the editorial stressed the need for renewed religious formation. For me, it really hit home.

"At that time, I was writing a newsletter to families; some weren't coming to church on a regular basis. I put that editorial in the newsletter and included an application form for religious education classes. I added 158 names to the mailing list because of that one editorial."

Each November, Father Gaffigan also requests extra copies of the annual teen issue. "We give this issue to our high school students to use as part of their faith formation program," he noted.

For adults, too

In addition, he also uses the newspaper as a tool for ongoing adult education.

"I commend The Evangelist for publishing timely articles on world, national and local issues," he said. "Education of our adults is an ongoing process, and the paper consistently reports on current issues that affect all Catholics.

"It never forces its opinion on readers; rather, completely and in an interesting way, it informs them of what is going on in the world from a Catholic perspective."

(Father Gaffigan often uses ideas from Kate Blain's weekly column, "Good News for Kids" for his homilies. "She breaks the weekly Gospel message down in simple and very effective ways," he noted.)

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