Bouchers have busy Saturday schedules

By William T. Clew

The husband-and-wife team who wrote  “Sharing the Faith That You Love: Four Simple Ways to be Part of the New Evangelization,”  have some busy Saturdays ahead of them.
John and Theresa Boucher will have a book-signing  from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at Boucher’s Good Books, 254 Lake Ave., Worcester.
And on three other Saturdays, April 12, May 10 and June 14, they will be at St. Mary Parish, 77 Mendon St., Uxbridge, to present a  three-session program of intensive Catholic evangelization training. The program is aimed at parish leaders and members of parish committees, organizations and ministries. The sessions will run from 12:30 to 4 p.m. Cost is $30 per person and will include cost of their book.
The April 12 session, titled “God’s Call to Share Our Faith with Others,” explores Catholic teaching on evangelization, according to information provided by the Bouchers. The May 10 session, titled “Catholic Vision of Evangelization,”  explores the uniqueness of Catholic evangelization and ways to sustain conversion to the Church. The June 14 session, titled “Sharing Our Stories of Faith,” explores  the importance of welcoming and hospitality as a key part of evangelization.
Their book explains ways to spread the Catholic faith to indifferent or lapsed  Catholics,  to those who to are not Catholic, and how to talk and teach about the faith in everyday life. The chapters include prayers, Scripture passages, anecdotes from the authors’ lives or the lives of others and exercises on the lessons in the chapters and how readers can use them in evangelization as well as in their own lives.
John and Theresa Boucher are Worcester natives. She is a graduate of Sacred Heart Academy and Anna Maria College, he of Holy Name High School and the College of the Holy Cross.
After their marriage they earned master’s degrees in religious education at Assumption College. He worked for Catholic Charities in the Green Island section of Worcester, taught religious education at Notre Dame Parish, now Blessed John Paul II Parish, in Southbridge and was director of religious education at St. Rose of Lima Parish in Northborough.
They moved to Wisconsin, where they stayed for four years, then moved to a parish in Rockville Center, Long Island, N.Y., where they stayed for 14 years. Their next stop was New Jersey, where they were in Newark for a year and a half, then Trenton, where he was director of evangelization for the diocese for 11 years.
Hurricane Sandy did tremendous damage to people in the Trenton Diocese who lived on the Jersey shore, many of whom moved away. The diocese retrenched for that and other reasons, he said, and his job ended.
He said they always had planned to  come back to Worcester and, with their three daughters and two sons grown and away,  they did so last August.
Mr. Boucher said he and his wife have written and published books and articles on faith and evangelization for many years. He estimated that, separately or together, they have written 350 to 400 articles and 25 books, some of which are available on Kindle. He said Theresa has written more  books than he has.
Among their books are  “Praying for Our Adult Sons and Daughters,” “Evangelizing Unchurched Children” and  “Christian Marriage: Sacrament of Abiding Friendship.“
He said he and his wife are available as consultants and to present workshops on evangelization skills.