Evangelium Ireland

“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation.” 

If we are to fulfil Christ’s command to preach the gospel to the people of own time, we must first attain a comprehensive and authentic knowledge of the Catholic Faith. For this reason, the Second Vatican Council encouraged lay people to “devotedly strive to acquire a more profound grasp of revealed truth.” Furthermore, this striving for deeper knowledge benefits our own salvation as well as that of others. Jesus tells us, “Eternal life is this: to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”

To attain deeper knowledge, however, requires good teaching. Such teaching needs to communicate authentic Catholic truth in effective and inspiring ways. Yet the provision of such resources is a challenge. Our society is suffering from an ‘educational emergency’  and “the failure of catechesis, over the past three decades, to provide a sufficiently solid and integral presentation of the doctrine and practice of the Catholic faith.” Yet there are also many opportunities today. New technologies, for example, have greatly facilitated communications, especially of beautiful images that illuminate the eternal truths of the gospel.

The Evangelium project has been established to provide resources to address these challenges and benefit from these opportunities. ‘Evangelium’ is the Latin word for ‘gospel’, a word expressing both proclamation of the faith and fidelity to the Catholic tradition. In partnership with the Catholic Truth Society, the project published the EVANGELIUM catechetical course in 2006, principally to assist parish catechesis. In 2007, the CREDO pocket catechism was published as a tool for mission and ready reference. In 2008, a first summer conference for young people was held to assist in explaining the faith in the modern world. In 2009, the APOLOGIA pocket apologetics booklet was published as a tool for answering difficult questions about the faith. Future plans include the development of a DVD version of the EVANGELIUM course, a post-RCIA course on Church history and a course for teenagers preparing for Confirmation.

The Evangelium project welcomes feedback aimed at improving the quality and range of resources.

The Evangelium project was founded by Fr. Marcus Holden of the Archdiocese of Southwark and Fr. Andrew Pinsent of the diocese of Arundel and Brighton. Both were ordained in September 2005.

The first annual Evangelium Conference was held in Ireland in July 2014 in St Patrick’s College, Maynooth. The conference is now in its fifth year in Ireland and we hope to organise another residential conference soon.