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Prince William County Catholic
Fr. Thomas’ heart and he quickly connected with the core group of TMIY men and began thinking about the next chapter in the spiritual growth of the men of OLA. He began hosting weekly “Theology Non-Tap” sessions where he taught the men the principles, ideas and spirituality behind his “Seven Pillars of Catholic Discipleship.” In the foreword to Fr. Thomas’ book, “How to Win Friends for Christ - One Conversation at a Time, Fr. John Horn, SJ writes: “As Christian disciples on a mission, we need to learn how to identify and surrender to the light of the Holy Spirit so that we can enjoy, in friendship with Jesus, the spiritual inheritance that he has gained for us. The more we learn to live in this friendship and receive the Holy Spirit, the more we will attract others through the contagion of hope. This is the hope that evangelizes the world!” In explaining the Seven Pillars and how they can help us evangelize the world, Fr. Thomas writes: “Evangelization is as important as prayer to the spiritual and human health of the disciple, because each pillar is integral
to the integrity of the structure of intimacy with the Person of Jesus Christ.” Growing in friendship with Christ and evangelizing those around us became the mission for what would become the “Defenders of the Faith” Men’s Discipleship group at OLA. Fr. Thomas graciously agreed to answer some questions about the men’s ministry for this issue of Prince William County Catholic: How did the OLA Defenders of the Faith come about? What was the inspiration? ”Really it started with the men reaching out to me and asking me to help them with this. It started long before I arrived, maybe two or three priests before me. So it’s a long standing tradition in the parish, between the men and the priests of OLA, it is a culture of Defenders of the Faith. So the name really came from just seeing the identity of the men’s discipleship culture of the parish. While I did have men’s groups in my past assignments, this one seems to be the most robust in terms of the longstanding culture for our men here at OLA.” What are the general goals of the group?
EVANGELIZATION IS AS IMPORTANT AS PRAYER...
