Christ the Cornerstone

Go forth in joy and hope as missionary disciples

Let us develop vibrant parishes within which missionary disciples are called, formed through a personal encounter with Jesus Christ, and sent out to proclaim the Gospel and minister to the needs of all God’s people through word, sacrament, and service. (Pastoral charge, Archdiocese of Indianapolis 2026 Pastoral Plan)

Tomorrow, Saturday, April 25, is the feast of St. Mark, one of the four Evangelists along with Saints Matthew, Luke and John.

Referred to as “John Mark” in the Acts of the Apostles, St. Mark is the traditional author of the shortest and earliest Gospel (written AD 65-70). Although not one of the 12 apostles, he was a follower of St. Peter and a companion to Saints Paul and Barnabas on their missionary journeys. Tradition holds that St. Mark based his Gospel on the firsthand testimonies and teachings of St. Peter.

The Church calls Mark and the other three authors of the Gospels “evangelists.” An evangelist, in the Christian understanding, is a person who proclaims the Gospel—the “good news” of Jesus Christ—and plays a significant role in evangelization, the Church’s mission to spread the faith and bring others to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The term “evangelist” derives from the Greek word “euangelion,” meaning “good news.”

All baptized Christians are called to be “Spirit-filled Evangelizers,” a term favored by Pope Francis. Everyone who desires to be a missionary disciple of Jesus Christ has received the Great Commission given by Jesus to his disciples as he ascended into heaven: “Go into all the world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature” (Mk 16:15).

This is the mission of the Church in its simplest and most powerful expression. It is also the most effective standard by which we can assess the effectiveness and vibrancy of parishes and other Church institutions and ministries: Are we forming and empowering missionary disciples and Spirit-filled Evangelizers? Or are we simply maintaining the status quo?

In light of the Great Commission that we missionary disciples have received, all parishes, schools and ministries are called to be vibrant centers of worship, faith formation, pastoral care, responsible stewardship of all God’s gifts and outreach to the poor and vulnerable.

Evangelization—sharing our faith in the person of Jesus Christ—is the key to vibrant parishes and, indeed, to the vitality of the Church as it is lived concretely, day in and day out, here in our 38 counties of southern and central Indiana and throughout the world.

The 2026 Pastoral Plan for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, “Go Forth in Joy and Hope as Missionary Disciples,” places strong emphasis on evangelization. This is the heart of who we are, and what we are called to do, as individual Christians and as an archdiocese.

As Spirit-filled Evangelizers, we are invited, and challenged, to collaborate with the Holy Spirit in proclaiming the good news of our salvation in Jesus Christ.

We carry out this sacred responsibility by our active participation in the Church’s ministries of word, sacrament and service, which are designed to proclaim the Gospel to all our sisters and brothers everywhere and to facilitate the personal encounter with Jesus Christ that is God’s supreme gift to all believers.

The 2026 Pastoral Plan, which was the result of extensive consultation with Catholics in all regions of our archdiocese over a two-year period, asks the question: What is a vibrant parish?

Of course, there are different ways that this question can be answered, but here is how a 2020 Vatican document titled “The pastoral conversion of the Parish community in the service of the evangelizing mission of the Church” responds to this question using the words of three recent popes:

Saint John Paul II specified that: “Whilst the Parish is perfected and integrated in a variety of forms, it nevertheless remains an indispensable organism of primary importance in the visible structure of the Church whereby evangelization is the cornerstone of all pastoral action, the demands of which are primary, preeminent and preferential.” Subsequently, Benedict XVI taught, “the parish is a beacon that radiates the light of the faith and thus responds to the deepest and truest desires of the human heart, giving meaning and hope to the lives of individuals and families.”

Lastly, Pope Francis recalled how “the parish encourages and trains its members to be evangelizers” (#12).

To these reflections, we can easily add this insight of Pope Leo XIV: “To hope is to bear witness that the Earth can truly resemble heaven.”

On the feast of St. Mark the Evangelist, we are right to bear witness to hope and to carrying out the Church’s evangelizing mission. Through the intercession of St. Mark, may we always be faithful missionary disciples. †