iEvangelize

Profile: Martha Fernández-Sardina is an international bilingual and bicultural communicator and ministry consultant, speaker and writer, preacher and teacher, and new evangelization trainer whose mission is to prepare the way of the Lord (Jn.1:23, Is.40:3) aimed at implementing the Church’s call for a new evangelization and a civilization of love. A two-time archdiocesan Director for Evangelization, who also served as archdiocesan Director of Communications for Hispanics, Martha is the founder and director of Remember You Are Loved™, an initiative of Prepare The Way Enterprises™, dedicated to equipping Catholics “rediscover the joy of believing and the enthusiasm for communicating the faith” (Porta Fidei, 7) so as to become saintly and effective everyday evangelized evangelizers. She assists individuals and groups, parishes and dioceses in giving witness to love and truth through a heart-to-heart new evangelization so as to create a culture of encounter capable of responding to the globalization of indifference and throwaway culture decried by Pope Francis, and the dictatorship of relativism and the “new religion of atheism” unmasked by Pope Benedict. Martha has touched the lives of thousands of Spanish and English-speaking individuals of all ages and ethnic backgrounds through engaging radio and television shows, insightful articles, and hundreds of lively talks in over 40 of the United States, and in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Dominican Republic, Italy, New Zealand, and Portugal. She helps audiences know and proclaim that “believing means entrusting oneself to a merciful love which always accepts and pardons, which sustains and directs our lives, and which shows its power by its ability to make straight the crooked lines of our history” (Lumen Fidei, 13). Martha’s talks, texts and testimony help people obey the command to “duc in altum” (“put out into the deep” – Lk 5) and perform what she calls “an obedience-testing, faith-stretching, trust-strengthening, vision-expanding, team-building, space-enlarging, net-busting, boat-sinking miraculous catch” with and for Christ so that God's love and truth might reign in hearts, homes and society. With over 25 years of experience in the new evangelization, media, apologetics, catechesis, and youth and young adult ministry, Martha’s apostolate has included: Producing and hosting Prepare The Way™, a weekly TV show dedicated to all matters related to the new evangelization, interviewing dozens of cardinals, bishops, clergy, and lay authors, speakers, and scholars, as well as actors, producers, and other new evangelizers from The Vatican, the U.S., and other countries. Co-hosting weekly radio shows in two countries, Rise and Walk and Mensajeros del Amor. Overseeing the production and publication of El Pueblo Católico in print and online. Designing formation programs to “educate, enthuse, and equip” new evangelizers, including N.E.T.S.–New Evangelization Training School™, a dynamic, interactive, practical, and theologically-sound program taught in English and Spanish, praised by Archbishop Rino Fisichella, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization. Designing and implementing outreach programs, including Remember You Are Loved™/Eres Amado™ - A New Evangelization Outreach Project, and the Hispanic Month of Evangelization and the Hispanic Festival of Faith™ praised by The Washington Post and The Catholic Digest. Planning, chairing, and speaking at numerous diocesan, national, and international conferences, seminars, retreats, prayer workshops, and parish missions in the U.S. and abroad. Fostering the formation of Parish Evangelization Teams and Home Visitation and Come Home Ministries. Planning and speaking at Prayer Workshops and Lectio Divina series. Sponsoring Apologetics and Bible Seminars Networking with lay ecclesial movements, new communities, apostolates, ministries, organizations, and lay Orders. Teaching Spanish and theology to university students, seminarians and deacon candidates, including Foundations of Evangelization and Catechesis. Writing for numerous publications in two languages. Engaging in media relations, community outreach, content production and strategic planning. Developing products for Spanish-speakers. Working as a counselor. Providing mentoring and pastoral care. As the founding Director of the Office for (New) Evangelization for the Archdiocese of San Antonio in Texas, for close to seven years Martha served parishes, schools, and various groups providing inspiring talks, practical training workshops, in-services, and weekly television and radio shows, while designing and overseeing for four consecutive years the Archdiocesan Pentecost Eve Vigil Mass and Celebration. As Director of the Office for Evangelization of the Archdiocese of Washington in D.C. for 8 years, Martha provided ongoing support, training, and resources to evangelizers and leaders of 141 parishes, 28 Hispanic communities, and numerous apostolates and ethnic groups. As Assistant Continental Director and Director of the Prayer Campaign of Evangelization 2000 for North America and the Caribbean, Martha worked with leaders around the world promoting the 1990s as a “Decade of Evangelization”, assisting in the development of evangelization training schools, producing newsletters, conducting prayer workshops, and assisting Mother Teresa of Calcutta and the Missionaries of Charity with their Veronica Intercessors for Priests prayer project. As a language and Hispanic culture consultant, she has provided simultaneous interpretation nationally and internationally, translations for publications, and assistance to organizations wanting to reach Spanish-speaking audiences. She also served as Director of Communications for Hispanics in Denver. Martha has been featured in Envoy magazine and interviewed on Vatican Radio, on Relevant Radio’s Morning Air, and on EWTN Radio’s Son Rise Morning Show. She has been a guest on numerous television shows, including EWTN Live, At Home With Jim and Joy, Nuestra Fe En Vivo, Cara A Cara, Franciscan University Presents, Life On The Rock, and Church and Culture Today. Martha has served as a member of several boards, including the Diocesan Evangelization Ministries Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Commission on Catholic Evangelization, and the Editorial Board of Share The Word magazine. She has been a member of the National Council for Catholic Evangelization (NCCE), the Association of Coordinators of Catholic Schools of Evangelization for North America and the Caribbean (ACCSE/2000), the Catholic Leadership Conference, the Colebrook Society, and N.E.A.-New Evangelization of America. A regular contributor to The Catechetical Review, Martha has been a columnist for The Catholic Standard in Washington, Today’s Catholic in San Antonio, El Pueblo Católico in Denver, and Evangelization Exchange online. She has also published in The Catholic Year of Faith (Ascension Press), El Pregonero, The Good News Newsletter, Evangelization Update, New Evangelization 2000, Share The Word, and Alabanza and has authored 7 Tips for Welcoming Hispanic Catholics Into Parish Life©; 12 Tips for an Effective New Evangelization©; 30 Ways iEvangelize©; New Evangelization for Dummies–A Reference for the Rest of Us!©; and numerous articles on the New Evangelization. Martha earned a degree in Psychometry and Psychological Investigation, Licentiate in Clinical Psychology Magna Cum Laude, and a Master of Arts in Theology and Christian Ministry with honors, though she is most honored by the first public recognition of her call to the new evangelization – a high school graduation plaque acknowledging her “desire to know the Lord and make Him known to others.” A native of New York, Martha grew up between Miami and Dominican Republic in a bilingual and tri-cultural household developing her ability to foster unity amidst diversity. Martha feels she was “born to evangelize” and is committed to serving the Lord wherever, whenever, however, and with whomever He wishes. Her commitment to new evangelization outreach and her clear, relevant, and sound teaching allow her to inspire thousands of English and Spanish-speakers in the U.S. and abroad, while she remains especially devoted to ongoing conversion and growth in love of God and neighbor. With our heavenly homeland constantly on her mind, she hopes to become a saint as a member of the Secular Franciscan Order where laity follow Christ in the footsteps of St. Francis of Assisi. To learn about Martha’s New Evangelization and Love Outreach projects, articles, TV and radio shows, talks and reflections find, follow, and friend her at RememberYouAreLoved.com, Facebook.com/RememberYouAreLoved, Facebook.com/iEvangelizeMarthaFernandezSardina, Twitter.com/iEvangelize, iEvangelize.wordpress.com, and Vimeo.com/MarthaFernandezSardina. To book Martha for a speaking engagement, interview, new evangelization love outreach and/or a consultation, contact her at RememberYouAreLoved.com or http://www.Facebook.com/iEvangelizeMarthaFernandezSardina.

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