In my book, A Church on the Move: 52 Ways to Get Mission and Mercy in Motion, I propose that parishes need to continually help people find connections between the Catholic faith and daily living, including hobbies or activities that people engage in: “This approach can be a wonderful form of pre-evangelization, a way of inviting people to begin getting a flavor of the Catholic way of life without being overwhelmed by anything that smacks of being ‘churchy’ too early on.” With that in mind, I’m glad to learn that there are some parishes and even dioceses that are trying to make the most of the current Pokémon GO craze to engage young people in exactly that kind of pre-evangelization.
I won’t take up space here explaining what Pokémon GO is, because this link to the Diocese of Green Bay provides that along with some suggestions for how parishes might engage young adults who venture onto their parish campus when it is identified as a PokéStop. Thanks to my friend Julianne Stanz and her Department of New Evangelization in the Diocese of Green Bay, Wisconsin, for providing this handy primer for engaging in Pokévangelization!
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