An international model of faith-based small groups is finding a home in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis less than a year into its implementation as part of Archbishop Bernard Hebda’s vision in his 2022 pastoral letter, “You Will Be My Witnesses: Gathered and Sent From the Upper Room.”
The model –– Parish Evangelization Cells System (PECS) –– is designed to strengthen parish life through small groups and encourage people to share their faith and hope in Jesus Christ with each other –– and then the broader community.
Rick Goulart of Our Lady of Grace (OLG) in Edina said he knows one person in his small group who began talking with his postal carrier about Jesus’ love, and over time, the postal worker asked about joining the Church at OLG through its Order of Christian Initiation for Adults (OCIA) program.
“That’s spreading the good news door to door,” Goulart said.
Popular in parts of Europe, South America and Africa, the archdiocese’s approach to PECS marks the first time the model has been introduced across an entire diocese. More than 1,220 small groups with over 16,000 participants were established in the archdiocese during Lent this year.
The goal at OLG is to have everyone in the parish be part of a small group, said Jessica Balzarini, the parish’s associate for discipleship. It will take time, Balzarini said, but some foundations are being laid.
PECS provides a structure that is fruitful when used consistently, while also allowing flexibility to meet the needs of any number of small groups, archdiocesan officials have said.
Seven elements of a PECS meeting are: Praising God with songs and prayers; sharing recent experiences of God and participants’ responses to him; a teaching element and discussion, with content depending on a group’s focus; parish announcements; intercessory prayer for people in and outside the group; and prayers for one another’s petitions within the group.
“The way that our international partners have talked about it is the seven moments of a PECS small group are like the skeleton of a body,” said Gizella “Gizzy” Miko, PECS group facilitator in the archdiocese’s Office of Discipleship and Evangelization (ODE). “They help give it the structure that protects what’s essential.”
There is flexibility to minister to a particular need in a special way in a small group, while maintaining the seven elements that together make PECS effective, Miko said.
Miko traveled to Milan, Italy, at the end of May with Laura Haraldson, the ODE’s facilitator of implementation, to talk about the archdiocese’s experience with PECS at the 34th International Seminar of Parish Evangelization Cells. They learned from other groups around the country as well, Miko said (see below).
Danielle Blanshan, 28, a member of Epiphany in Coon Rapids, leads a small group of about seven women in their 20s and 30s who organized out of the Catholic Softball Group in the archdiocese. In addition to softball, Blanshan’s small group meets once a month to more deeply explore their faith in a PECS-based group.
“I love the community and talking about my faith,” Blanshan said.
The PECS model is effective, in part because it provides a variety of entry points for people to participate, and a framework in which to keep the conversation going, she said. It is a blessing to hear several viewpoints while steering the meeting forward, Blanshan said.
FIND A SMALL GROUP
The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Office of Discipleship and Evangelization is making it easy for people to join small groups that promote prayer, community and evangelization.
An interactive website map can be searched by parish and small group types, topics, times, locations, days and targeted stages of life.
People who are quiet or shy might not offer a lot of small talk, but they could be ready to share as a conversation takes a more theological turn, Blanshan said.
“It rounds out the opportunity for everyone,” she said. “That, and I love the prayer at the end, the healing prayer or the intention prayer. That’s pretty cool.”
At first, Blanshan said, she asked people to write down their prayers so they could be read to the group. That was not popular with everyone, so “then I opened it up to a more ‘popcorn’ style of conversation and people were more willing to share,” she said.
“There is structure, but there is still some flexibility,” to the PECS model, Blanshan said.
Goulart, 71, said he leads a small group of about 12 people at OLG.
“The power of the PECS model, I think, is its design to regularly connect with people on their personal journey of faith outside of Sunday services, to meet them where they are emotionally, spiritually,” he said.
Goulart said he titled his group Be Calm Amidst the Chaos, and it has helped people from their late 30s to early 40s and into their late 70s share life’s stressors, such as family conflicts, anxiety or loss. Studies have included St. Gregory of Nyssa’s fourth century homilies that centered on the Lord’s Prayer and the Beatitudes, he said.
The group will meet Year Two’s focus on the Mass and the Eucharist this year as it helps implement the archbishop’s pastoral letter, and it is laying the groundwork for an effective Year Three focus on parents as the primary faith educators of their children, Goulart said.
Patty Beissel, 71, leads a small group using the PECS model at St. Raphael in Crystal. At 8:30 a.m. Sunday Mass Aug. 4, all 13 members brought up the offertory gifts. “That draws attention to small groups,” Beissel said.
“When I asked my small group (about bringing up the gifts) the hands went up” in affirmation, Beissel said. “Nobody commented. The hands just went up.”
At first concerned about forming a small group because “we did that years ago and I didn’t like it,” Beissel said she responded after a homily at her parish that stressed God’s presence to those who might be afraid.
She is happy she did. The PECS format encourages people to share without putting them on the spot and making them uncomfortable, Beissel said. It also helps the group leader keep participants on track when the conversation begins to veer off topic, she said.
“In my group, there is an order to it,” Beissel said, explaining that she honors people’s time by starting promptly at 10 a.m. on Saturdays and ending promptly at 11:30 a.m., with an open invitation to stay longer as people might desire.
“I play songs, it sets the tone for the meeting,” Beissel said. “I write the intercessions. There is trust in our group, and organization.”
Other small groups at the parish also are doing well, Beissel said, and she sees the benefit as people know each other better and are naturally kinder, more open, caring and sharing. Beissel herself plans to start a second small group, this one for couples.
Beissel said she is grateful to the archbishop. “I believe in his dream,” she said. “I believe this is how we get more people excited about the faith.”
DRAWING CLOSER TO JESUS CHRIST
Gizella “Gizzy” Miko and Laura Haraldson of the Office of Discipleship and Evangelization (ODE) are primary facilitators of small groups and implementing Archbishop Bernard Hebda’s pastoral letter in the archdiocese. They traveled to Milan, Italy, around Memorial Day weekend to share experiences with about 125 people from around the world at the 34th International Seminar of Parish Evangelization Cells, May 24-26.
Haraldson said she came away with at least three important points to emphasize.
“We know that Parish Evangelization Cells must come from that soil that begins with adoration, regular prayer in adoration of our Lord, and then also that infusion of the Holy Spirit,” Haraldson said.
“Another exciting takeaway for me was … that PECS (groups) are really ideal ways to approach small group ministry with our youth,” she said. “That was an affirmation that this can go in so many different directions.”
And third, the importance of drawing more people into the formation, sharing and evangelizing that PECS is designed to facilitate through pastors continuing to work with parish executive cell teams and with parishioners, Haraldson said.
In addition, people at the conference appreciated hearing from representatives of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, which is the only diocese in the world that is encouraging all parishes to be involved with PECS, Haraldson said.
Bishop Joseph Willians –– then an auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese and now coadjutor bishop of Camden, New Jersey –– was at last year’s conference with Deacon Joseph Michalak, director of ODE, and others. The backing and presence of a bishop and other archdiocesan leaders has been important to the international movement, Haraldson said.
“Gizzy was able to speak to how parish evangelization cells were rolling out in our archdiocese coming off of Lent,” Haraldson said. “She was able to give an inspirational message of hope, of how this might look when an entire diocese dives in.”
Miko said she, too, was excited about the PECS model being effective among the youth, with priests from Uganda and Spain explaining their experiences in that area.
Another important realization for Miko during the conference was that the PECS model, chosen by Archbishop Hebda for the archdiocese, has been approved by the Vatican and is effective in countries around the globe.
“This is successful in France, Ireland, England, Uganda, Guatemala, Spain and so many places,” Miko said. “It’s not something we made up. It’s international. There are so many small group systems that are awesome, and I’ve used many of them in the U.S., but I’ve never seen any of those go beyond the U.S.”
Another key point is PECS helps form missionary disciples who can bring the good news of Christ to others.
“We know the Church exists to evangelize,” Miko said. “And so, if these small groups evangelize, then they will help us become more of what we are.”
