A popular meme portrays Jesus as always judgmental, always making a sales pitch. But as a human being, he enjoyed friendship for its own sake.

We laypeople are failing in our mission. We have outsourced evangelization to a few paid members of staff and a collective of volunteers.

“A good youth ministry program in a multicultural space can be where you integrate communities together and allow for them to really have an appreciation for different cultures.”

Recognizing and celebrating diversity does not threaten unity in the church. Instead, it strengthens the ability of evangelizers to embrace people on the margins of society.

Cathedrals and basilicas have become a part of urban culture and are fertile ground for creatively sharing the faith, as seen in Montreal’s Basilica of Notre-Dame.

On his second day in Bratislava, Pope Francis called Slovakia “to be a message of peace in the heart of Europe” and the church to evangelize with “freedom, creativity, and dialogue.”