Lay Evangelization From the Trenches

By Joe Sullivan, MJ • Phoenix, AZ

Every first Friday evening of the month, the Miles Jesu men’s community in Phoenix takes out a group of teens to do street evangelization. The Phoenix Art Walk attracts people from every walk of life and lines Roosevelt Street in Uptown Phoenix with art, artists, street performers, food, and anything else that can be promoted in a booth or right on the sidewalk. The teens who have participated in our Miles Jesu Challenge Retreat love to evangelize at this event. A large poster of Jesus is erected on the sidewalk with the words, “Catholic Truth”, “Free Catholic Information”, and “We answer any question.” We also pass out rosaries, miraculous medals, crucifixes, brochures, and pamphlets.

After about three hours of hard evangelization, we drive home and share the evening experiences over pizza. There have been some incredible and, if you will, miraculous experiences.

For example, the first Friday after the Supreme Court decision striking down Roe vs. Wade, we and our teens were out there evangelizing, knowing there would be some pretty aggressive pro-abortion groups; and there were. They were quite loud, aggressive, and vulgar. They were on the other side of the street, but we saw them loop around and were headed right for us. This is when we asked Fr. Nicoletti for a special blessing. After the blessing, we loaded up with rosaries and miraculous medals and turned toward them. We could hear them yelling as they approached us with their signs. The moment our group met their group, something amazing happened. One of the teens in our group waved a rosary in the air and said “Free Rosary!” It was a beautiful, colorful one. A few seconds of silence followed. You could cut the tension in the air with a knife. Then suddenly a young, pro-abortion woman, exclaimed “Really? For free? Thank you! It is beautiful!” Most of them took rosaries and were very happy and kind.

Praised be Jesus and Mary!