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During the season of Lent, we are called to renew our relationship with God through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving as we prepare to celebrate the Passion, death, and Resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ. This year, we ask you to join the CatholicTV Webathon Novena by dedicating a portion of your prayer to the New Evangelization. We will pray a novena as we seek to strengthen our mission of evangelization through television.

Hearing the word “evangelize” can seem intimidating. It is easy to come up with reasons why we would not make a good evangelist. “I don’t know enough theology … Evangelizing is for people who are outgoing … Isn’t being Catholic different from being Evangelical?” The list goes on. That last reason is true—Catholic is different than Evangelical. However, all Catholics are called to evangelize—to spread the faith to our nonbelieving or fallen away brothers and sisters.

Pope Francis has released his message for Lent 2017, which begins on Wednesday, March 1. For this season of conversion, Pope Francis asks us to remember that "the Word is a gift" and "other persons are a gift," and calls to mind the parable of the rich man and Lazarus.

The Holy Father says:

Outside Catholic circles, the concept of sacramentals is not something widely understood. Sacramentals are not sacraments, like baptism or marriage. Nor are they “good luck charms” or symbols of superstition. They can, however, bring us graces, and they remind us of our closeness with God.

Abortion is one of the most contentious issues in politics today. Opinions often (but not always) run along party lines, and groups outside of political parties have stated opinions on the issue. The Church, in defense of the dignity of human life, has long declared its stance firmly against abortion. On the opposing side, what is perceived as the feminist platform is in favor of legal abortion.

If you were to ask an average American on the street whether slavery still exists, they would probably tell you that it doesn’t, and that it hasn’t since the Civil War. They would be correct in saying that we no longer have the same legal system of slavery that existed in the antebellum era. What they might be surprised to learn is that this isn’t the whole story.