Last week, our two local parishes held a dinner meeting to
kickoff implementation of the goals set by our First Diocesan Synod. Over the next three years, the priest, lay
staff, and our parishioners will focus efforts on three pastoral
priorities. The number one priority will
be evangelization, welcoming Catholics home.
Our evangelization committee will establish outreach programs to meet
with non-practicing Catholics in our parishes to provide opportunities for church
participation discussions.
This will not be an easy task. Last month, I wrote about previous efforts
that have fallen short. At the very
least, we have learned what approaches are least effective. This new effort will
take a more direct approach with an emphasis on person-to-person contact. We will be also using modern media to get
people thinking about their faith journey.
One concern brought to our committee involves how any
reverts will be impacted by our parish environment. As in any church setting, personalities
affect the spiritual temperament. It is
no secret that our current pastor’s affinity for lengthy, somewhat
condescending homilies has turned some people away. Parishioners perceive his tough love approach
as angry and berating, rather than loving and nourishing. As a result, we have lost many parishioners
to other area parishes.
In this particular evangelization effort, we are more
concerned with people who are no longer practicing at all, but our efforts
could backfire if those coming back to Mass for the first time in a long while
are turned off by the experience. Those
of us attune to the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Holy Sacrifice can
overlook lousy homilies, but others who have been away will need time to
redevelop the appreciation.
The challenge is to convey the joy we experience in this
wondrous gift during a brief encounter with someone who may indifferent or even
antagonistic. It is often said that all
we can do is plant the seeds and let the Holy Spirit do the rest. But, as our facilitator pointed out at the
meeting, we are also the fertilizer.
