Young Catholics carry the Gospel across US in ‘two-by-two’ mission

In honor of the 800th anniversary of St. Francis of Assisi’s death, young Catholics recently set out to evangelize across the U.S. 

About 3,000 missionaries traveled in groups of two or three July 5–12 with the goal of visiting every Catholic parish in the country, according to a Sept. 7 report from Angelus News, the publication for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. The missionaries came from parishes connected to the Neocatechumenal Way, a path of Catholic formation that helps the faithful rediscover the grace of baptism and live it more fully.

“Our baptism sends us,” said Mary McCarthy, a laywoman on the team responsible for the Neocatechumenal Way in Northern California. “Our baptism sends us because we are learning that every faithful has the right and the duty to announce Jesus Christ. We are not doing any ministry. We are just sharing what Jesus Christ did in our lives.”

The missionaries carried no food, money, extra clothing, or cellphones, and many slept in parks, shelters, or homes opened to them along the way, Angelus News reported.

McCarthy said that reliance on others reflected the poverty embraced by St. Francis. The mission was inspired by the Jubilee Year proclaimed earlier this year by Pope Leo XIV.

“St. Francis discovered that poverty was his biggest asset,” McCarthy said. “It helped him love Christ more, and made him a more credible witness of the Gospel to people who really needed to hear it.”

Three members of one of the 25 teams sent to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles traveled to Catalina Island, where they met Father Dario Miranda, the only Catholic priest serving the 22-mile-long island. The missionaries shared their testimonies of what Christ had done in their lives.

“It was super refreshing, it was inspiring, it was just what I needed to hear that day,” Father Miranda said.

The priest then invited the men to knock on doors and share the Gospel with people in the community. Rafael Zaragoza, one of the missionaries, said the week of relying on the Lord also strengthened his own faith.

“Spending a week abandoned to Divine Providence, it was life-changing,” Zaragoza said. “God was with us at every moment, even if we didn’t realize until later.”

A team sent to Baker, Oregon, later recounted meeting a young man who had just lost his wife and unborn child to a drug overdose. According to the outlet, he told the missionaries he had planned to take his own life but changed his mind after hearing their message of hope.

After their week on the road, the missionaries gathered in eight regions across the U.S. to share their experiences. At the gathering in Washington, D.C., Apostolic Nuncio to the U.S. Archbishop Gabriele Caccia assured them of Pope Leo’s support and connected their work to the mission of the entire Church.

“We are following Jesus in doing what you are doing … and this experience is a way in which the Lord gives us proof and assurance of his presence.” Archbishop Caccia told them. “You are not alone in this mission. All the baptized, all the Church, are in a mission because we cannot keep for ourselves what we have received.”