By Rose O’Connor | Correspondent

Reiterating that faith is caught, not simply taught, presenter Collen Kelly Rayner addressed Catholic high school administrators, campus ministers and religion department chairpersons in a pre-Lenten presentation on evangelization March 4 in the diocesan Chancery, Lawrenceville.

Sponsored by the diocesan Ministry of Catechesis and Evangelization, the morning program served as an opportunity for participants to network and engage in a lively discussion on evangelization prior to the start of the Lenten season.

Rayner, co-founder of Simple Faith Retreats, shared her conversion story, how she “fell in love with God,” and encouraged the teachers and administrators to create an atmosphere in their school community that is authentically Catholic.

“Our kids want authentic faith, they want authentic love,” she offered to participants.

Rayner acknowledged the different responsibilities that educators “juggle” in their daily lives and challenged the teachers to juggle actual tennis balls in groups.  Through coordination, teamwork and keeping their eyes on the ball, the groups managed to go a few rounds keeping their balls in the air.

“Keep God as your focus as you juggle your responsibilities with your families, your job and pressures from the outside world,” she suggested.

Rayner stressed that catechesis and evangelization “go hand in hand,” and that teachers not just teach the faith, but live the faith by their own example, as well.

She urged the educators to show their students that “Jesus is someone they can humanly love and that God can be here today with them.”

She also emphasized the importance of helping the adolescents to develop their own prayer life, noting that when prayer occurs, “things happen that wouldn’t normally happen if you didn’t pray.”

In order to create such a relationship, educators and campus ministers need to create meaningful prayer opportunities and experiences in their own schools.

Through her quick wit and candor, Rayner suggested offering more significant opportunities to deepen the faith of the students including adoration before the Blessed Sacrament and occasions to receive the Sacraments of Reconciliation.

She suggested that the penitential season of Lent provided the necessary time for self-reflection.

“It is a time to clean out our hearts,” she said of the liturgical season preceding Easter. “We need to give our students authentic faith at this time and remind them to keep their eyes fixed on Jesus.”

Rayner called special attention to  Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know well the plans I have in mind for you – oracle of the LORD – plans for your welfare and not for woe, so as to give you a future of hope,” a Scripture passage she often has retreatants memorize.

‘When we know the promises of God, we know love,” she continued. “The Incarnation gives us hope – our God came to be with us.”

And even though our lives are full of challenges with bumps in the road, “we can turn our mess into a message,” she said assuredly. “We all have a Good Friday but Easter’s coming.”

Campus ministers and department chairpersons also worked together in groups to share experiences and consider questions for personal assessment posed by Rayner.

“Catechesis without evangelization is just hollow,” echoed Jill Kerekes, associate director for Parish and School Catechesis for the Diocese. “We need to be the evangelizers in the room when we are teaching the faith.”

The topic of evangelization is certainly a pertinent one to those who minister in parishes and schools, observed Geraldine Green, a religion teacher from Red Bank Catholic High School, adding, “We need to be great educators and more importantly, great evangelizers.”