In a tranquil retreat center in Northern Ireland, Gizella “Gizzy” Miko and Regina Mancilla of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis were reminded to listen to the Lord, listen to people around them, and speak from a place of faith.
“One of the most striking realizations for us was that evangelization is not about adding more activities to the parish calendars. It is about relationships. It is about friendship. It is about the quiet influence of a life transformed by Christ,” Mancilla wrote in a reflection about their March 25-31 journey to Larne, north of Belfast (see sidebar below).
There, they attended Ireland’s March 28-29 national seminar for small groups that are following the model of the Parish Evangelization Cells System (PECS), which Archbishop Bernard Hebda has encouraged as part of implementing his 2022 pastoral letter, “You Will Be My Witnesses: Gathered and Sent From the Upper Room.”
The seminar’s theme was From Encounter to Mission: The Lord God Has Given Me a Disciple’s Tongue (Is 50:4). Speakers stressed that mission begins with listening to God, then speaking, Mancilla said.
For example, Anne McFerran — a co-leader of a PECS small group at St. Nicholas parish in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland — shared an encounter she had with the Lord. McFerran told those at the seminar that once when she was ill and in the hospital, she found herself praying and singing with a roommate. In a place of vulnerability God created an encounter, which led to evangelization expressed in prayer, Mancilla said.
Miko and Mancilla learned that in Ireland, PECS has been around for more than 30 years. It is nurtured, and it grows — through evangelization — as friendships are built around prayer and sharing.
“Small groups aren’t about learning, and then you just share what you learned,” Miko said in a joint interview with Mancilla. “It’s about your encounter with Christ. You spend time with Christ, and because of that relationship, now you share with others what you heard God speak to you.”
“It is evangelization rooted in that encounter” with Christ, Miko said, allowing the Holy Spirit to find the right words when it is time to share God’s work in our lives.
A central part of encountering Christ is spending time in regular prayer before the Eucharist, such as a committed Holy Hour, Miko said.
In the archdiocese, Miko is the PECS and small groups facilitator in the Office of Discipleship of Evangelization. Mancilla is small groups supporter for the archdiocese.
The PECS model stresses seven moments in any small group meeting: Praising God with songs and prayers; sharing recent experiences of God and group members’ responses to him; a teaching element, with content depending on the focus of the group; discussing the teaching; parish announcements; intercessory prayer for people in and outside the group; and a healing prayer ministry within the group.
More than 2,000 small groups have been formed in the archdiocese since Archbishop Hebda encouraged that kind of relationship in parishes. More than 16,000 people are participating in 138 parishes.
In addition to her efforts in the archdiocese, Miko was elected in November as the English-speaking promoter of the global PECS movement. She and Mancilla traveled to Northern Ireland in part because the international organization is encouraging all countries to run a national seminar. Mancilla said they wanted to learn the essentials of running a national gathering as they prepare to make that happen in the United States — at some point down the line.
As the movement grows in the archdiocese, Miko and Mancilla said they plan to emphasize the importance of staying grounded in Christ and relationships, evangelizing through love and hope, which promotes peace and healing. It is not a program. It is a way of life — one lived by some people in Ireland for more than 30 years, Mancilla pointed out.
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From encounter to mission: A reflection from Northern Ireland
By Regina Mancilla
For The Catholic Spirit
There are moments in our journey of faith that gently reorder something within us. Our time in Northern Ireland for the National Seminar, From Encounter to Mission (March 28-29), was one of those moments.
From the very beginning, we were received with a warmth that cannot be manufactured, only lived. There was genuine care in the way people welcomed us, spoke with us, and shared their lives. Many of them have been walking this path of the Parish Evangelization Cells System (PECS) for over 25, even 30 years. That kind of faithfulness humbles you. It is not built overnight. It is the fruit of years of quiet “yeses,” of showing up, of trusting that God is at work even when the results are not immediately visible.
The theme of the seminar — inspired by the words of Isaiah 50:4, “The Lord God has given me a disciple’s tongue” — invited us into something both simple and profound: Mission flows from encounter. As Margaret Webb, assistant promoter for PECS in Ireland, reflected, this verse reminds us that mission begins with listening. God opens the ear; we listen. Only then does the tongue speak. Before we are sent, we must first meet him, not as an idea, nor as something to learn, but as a Person to know.
Building on this, Webb emphasized that we listen first and accompany. A disciple’s tongue is not about speaking loudly or impressing others, but about sharing the love, encouragement and hope we ourselves have received from God. Then, when the time comes, we speak, not to offer something new, but to awaken what God has already placed within the hearts of others.
One of the most striking realizations for us was that evangelization is not about adding more activities to the parish calendars. It is about relationships. It is about friendship. It is about the quiet influence of a life transformed by Christ.
Father Michael Hurley, PECS promoter in Ireland, reminded us that today, we are the story of Jesus for others. That invitation carries both responsibility and beauty. It means that our lives, our ordinary conversations, our listening, our forgiveness, and our love come to the place where others encounter the Lord. And yet, what made this message so powerful was not only the teaching, but the people who embodied it.
We listened to heartfelt testimonies filled with genuine faith. Anne McFerran, a PECS co-leader at St. Nicholas parish in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland, shared how, amid her own illness, she found herself praying and even singing with a hospital roommate. In a place of vulnerability, God created an encounter.
PECS leaders Ann and Noel Thompson shared their faith journey as a couple. Ann first responded, and Noel followed in his own time. During an unexpected moment of beauty in the liturgy, something awakened within him, and he found himself saying, “Heaven must be something like this.” In that moment, what he experienced was, as Webb expressed, “first understood and then accepted,” opening his heart to a deeper encounter with God. Simon Lang, another small group leader, spoke about feeling “left out” when his family went to receive the Eucharist. That longing became the beginning of his journey into the Catholic Church.
In each of these stories, no one was forcing anything. No one was trying to convince. They simply lived, listened and responded to the moment God placed before them.
There was also a deep emphasis on prayer, especially Eucharistic adoration, as the source of mission. Echoing the words of Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa, Father Paul Fenech, president of the international PECs movement, reminded us that evangelization begins before the tabernacle. Before we speak of Christ, we remain with him. It is there that our hearts are formed in the love we are called to share.
As we reflected on these experiences, it became evident that there are both meaningful similarities and notable differences between Ireland and Minnesota.
In Ireland, the spread of PECS often happens parish by parish, through the initiative of both priests and laity working closely together. There is a beautiful sense of co-responsibility, with lay people who commit their lives to the service of the Church participating in its various ministries, and in doing so, continually being formed.
In Minnesota, we are living in a moment where Archbishop Bernard Hebda has invited pastors and their communities into this vision. At the same time, the Church’s structure often relies more heavily on parish staff to lead and organize ministry.
Beneath these differences, the heart is the same: Jesus.
Jesus is in the center of Ireland. He is in the center of Minnesota. And he is the one who calls, sends and sustains the mission.
What we witnessed in Ireland was not a method to copy, but a life to receive. A reminder that the Church grows not primarily through programs, but through people who have encountered Christ and are willing to accompany others.
It brought me back to the first disciples. They simply said, “We want to know you.” And from that encounter, communities were formed, lives were changed and the Gospel spread.
In many ways, moving from encounter to mission is what we hope to share through the small groups initiative in the archdiocese, and a new video series titled Behold: Stations of the Resurrection. We move from seeing the risen Lord to proclaiming him in our daily lives.
As we left Ireland — with its rain, its blue skies, its humor and its faithful people, we carried with us a quiet conviction: God is already at work.
Our role is to notice, to listen and to respond. And when the time comes, to gently open our mouths and share what he has done in our lives.
As Webb challenged us: “How long do I need to keep Jesus for myself before I share him with others? What, if anything, might be holding me back from giving him away?”
She reminded us that “mission begins when we move from holding to giving, when we allow the love we have received to flow freely to others.”
This question and this call do not remain in Ireland, they follow us home.
Here in Minnesota, we are being invited into that same movement of grace through the call of Archbishop Hebda and his pastoral letter, “You Will Be My Witnesses: Gathered and Sent From the Upper Room.”
The invitation is before us now: to step forward with humility, to trust that God is already at work, and to become, in our own time and place, living witnesses of the risen Christ. In the words of Father Hurley, “when we are down to nothing, God is up to something.” We hold onto the promises of the risen Lord, who comes to his disciples with peace, breathes his Spirit upon them, and sends them forth: “you are witnesses of these things” and “behold, I am with you always.”
It is from this encounter, with his peace, his presence, and his Spirit, that mission begins.
Mancilla provides small group support in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Office of Discipleship and Evangelization.
