“Evangelization is one of the most wonderful things about Glenmary,” says Tasha Haverkamp, former director of evangelization for Glenmary Home Missioners.
“Glenmary has been going out to the unchurched since its inception,” Haverkamp explains. “Glenmary’s entire foundation and mission is based upon evangelization.”
During her time as director, Haverkamp provided Glenmary’s mission parishes with much-needed resources while also connecting with national movements in evangelization.
“I would help on the ground and also bridge the gap with the larger Church to oversee and support our on-the-ground lay evangelizers with anything they needed,” she explains.
That support included presentations and retreats in mission parishes around requested topics such as family life.
Haverkamp recalls how she also provided discussion guides for parish book studies and even organized book discussions on Zoom.
“Part of my role was helping others see what Glenmary has long done and think creatively about evangelization,” the former director says.
Haverkamp also explains how other innovations have helped her in evangelizing: “Another part of this job is testing resources that might work in the mission field. She specifies,
“I helped a group get Alpha—an interactive tool for evangelization—off the ground as an option in our mission parishes.”
Noting that Glenmary ministers in areas where there is no Catholic Church, she adds, “The only option is to be missional and to go out.”
“In many ways, they’ve set the bar for the Church on how to evangelize,” Haverkamp says. She finds hope in Glenmary’s lay evangelizers entering counties with no Catholic presence—even at a cost.
“You have to be very committed to move yourself—and sometimes your entire family—to a small town, build relationships with residents, and introduce them to Jesus and the Church,” she highlights.
Haverkamp acknowledges that the work isn’t easy.
“I find hope in the laity who have given their lives to the mission of the gospel and sacrifice a lot to do that—just as our priests and Brothers do,” she says.
“It’s really exciting to see people taking on that call.”
She also stresses the importance of patience in evangelization. “In some ways, we can over-strategize when it comes to evangelization,” she explains. “It’s not about a new formula or a new program—it’s about people,” she adds.
“That process is a slow one, and sometimes we get impatient,” Haverkamp admits. “Glenmary understands that you can’t speed up the process of conversion.”
She mentions, “It has to be on the Holy Spirit’s time.”
Throughout her experience, she sees that those who come to the mission parishes as evangelizers are planting seeds that may not sprout for 20 years.
“Evangelization is showing up over and over again, meeting people where they are, and loving them the way Jesus did,” she reflects. “It’s just walking through life with them and pointing them to Jesus. It can be a very slow process—but a beautiful one, too.”
一Mary Ellen Pellegrini
