Hundreds gathered to celebrate the first Parochial Congress for the New Evangelization process

Friday, Nov. 28, 2014

OREM  — Hundreds  of people gathered at Saint Francis of Assisi Parish Nov. 22-23 to learn more about their faith and how to lead others to it.

They celebrated the first Integral System of the New Evangelization (SINE) Congress, “Global Vision of the Integral System of the New Evangelization.”

Speakers were Amparo Navarro and Carmen Yeperi from the SINE office in Laredo, Texas; and Salvador and Katy Cervantes of Saint Francis of Assisi Parish. 

The congress, which was presented in Spanish, was designed to inform and teach new SINE members; there are about 300 in the parish. Members of SINE form small communities among themselves to study the faith and evangelize. 

“We wanted them to know a bit more about the work that we do in SINE because this system involves a lot of branches and information,” said Alfredo López, who was one of the first parishioners involved with SINE; he also helped organize the congress.

Salvador Cervantes talked about the grace of living as Catholics in this time and world.

He also spoke about the difference between Catholics before and after Vatican II, and the teachings of Pope Francis.

“We have to thank God for living after Vatican II; this makes a huge difference to us,” said Cervantes. 

The Congress continued with talks from Navarro and Yeperi, which were centered on SINE’s missionary efforts and the Pastoral Plan.

Yeperi talked about the difference between doing and being.

“When we are in our small communities we are all doing, but sometimes we forget about being,” said Yeperi. “Being is being who we are; it’s serving our brothers and sisters, sharing, taking care of who we are. … Doing is more working, achieving,” she explained.

The New Evangelization process is based on kerygma, a Greek word meaning the proclamation of the Gospel.

The SINE program is meant to result in catechists who are well-formed in the faith and who will be able to participate in various parish ministries, serve as resources for other Catholics, and lead others to the faith.

The program so far has resulted in 31 small communities at Saint Francis of Assisi Parish.

SINE started when Father David J. Bittmenn, pastor, and Father Fernando Velasco, parochial vicar, invited a group of lay people to undertake the program. 

As of now SINE has created numerous new parish ministries, including  adult faith formation/catechesis,  evangelization  and those for family and youth. A faith school ministry  that will start in March.

“The small communities are little by little growing to be able to reach all the people,” said López.