Posted November 14, 2014 Book: Growing in Faith: A Bible Study Guide for Catholics Author: Fr. Mitch Pacwa, S.J. Our Sunday Visitor, Huntington, IN. 2014. Pp. 93 An Excerpt from the Jacket: Fr. Pacwa's groundbreaking Bible study, The Year of Faith: A Bible Study Guide for Catholics, has now been updated to include reflections on faith by Pope Francis. In Growing in Faith: A Bible Study Guide for Catholics, Fr. Pacwa uses Pope Francis' themes and reflections to illuminate each of the six sessions, in which readers will understand faith as it relates to our relationship with Christ, what we profess as Catholics, and the ultimate goal of evangelization. An Excerpt from the Book: Faith and the New Evangelization "In virtue of their baptism, all the members of the People of God have become missionary disciples. All the baptized, whatever their position in the Church or their level of instruction in the faith, are agents of evangelization, and it would be insufficient to envisage a plan of evangelization to be carried out by professionals while the rest of the faithful would simply be passive recipients. The new evangelization calls for personal involvement on the part of each of the baptized. Every Christian is challenged, here and now, to be actively engaged in evangelization; indeed, anyone who has truly experienced God's saving love does not need much time or lengthy training to go out and proclaim that love. Every Christian is a missionary to the extent that he or she has encountered the love of God in Christ Jesus: we no longer say that we are 'disciples.' If we are not convinced, let us look at those first disciples, who, immediately after encountering the gaze of Jesus, went forth to proclaim him joyfully: "We have found the Messiah!" The Samaritan woman became a missionary immediately after speaking with Jesus and many Samaritans come to believe in him 'because of the woman's testimony'. So too, St. Paul, after his encounter with Jesus Christ, 'immediately proclaimed Jesus.' So what are we waiting for?" Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium Table of Contents: Introduction: Growing in Faith 1. Faith in Jesus Christ 2. Assent to the Creed 3. Conversion 4. The witness of charity 5. Faith, works, and worship 6. Faith and the New Evangelization