
CV NEWS FEED // A group of Catholic evangelists went to downtown Detroit this week to share the Gospel with hundreds of thousands of people gathered to learn the picks for the 2024 NFL Draft.
On April 25, the St. Paul Street Evangelization team was present on the outskirts of the NFL Fan Zone in Detroit, offering to pray with football fans and share with them about Jesus Christ. The team also had rosaries and miraculous medals available for anyone interested, according to Detroit Catholic.
Bob Wilson, the director of St. Paul Street Evangelization, told Detroit Catholic that even sporting events and celebrations can be an opportunity to share the good news.
“We want to spread the Word, and this is a good place where we are going to get a lot of foot traffic. We have our table with a lot of sacramentals and we employ our ‘listen, befriend, proclaim and invite’ method. When somebody is inspired by the Holy Spirit to listen, we chat,” Wilson said.
Michael Miller of St. Paul Street Evangelization told Detroit Catholic that he has seen firsthand the fruits of the team’s efforts.
“I’ve witnessed people weep when we pray for them and we reach a part of their heart that they need desperate help for,” Miller said. “They are so grateful, changed for that day and hopefully for the rest of their life that God loves them; they feel His presence come over them.”
Detroit Catholic noted that non-Catholic Christians also come to these events to evangelize, and they occasionally interact with the St. Paul Street Evangelization team.
“When you run into a preacher who isn’t Catholic, you try to find common ground and talk about the Gospel, and you might ask whether they’ve ever considered Catholicism,” Wilson said. “With the Catholic Church, you get the sacraments, the communion of saints, the Gospel.”
When speaking with passersby at the event, Wilson said the team asks questions about salvation, life after death, the Holy Spirit, and what it means to have a relationship with Jesus.
“When you just ask questions about what the Holy Spirit means to them, you can see the Holy Spirit work in their hearts,” Wilson said.
He also highlighted an analogy about sports and the Faith in talking about what is important in life: knowing Jesus Christ.
“Football is about wanting to win. We all want to win, to experience the excitement that comes from winning. We want to win at life, and to know Jesus is how we win at life,” Wilson said. “At St. Paul, we like to use sports analogies, like running a race. You have to train your body to win at sports, and you have to train your spirit to walk with the Lord. And if you do that as a team, with a church, you are more likely to succeed.”
