Milwaukee Catholic Herald – April 20, 2006

Evangelization done two-by-two
at West Bend parish

Immaculate Conception/St. Mary parishioners
take faith door to door

By Karen Girard
Special to your Catholic Herald

Mark and Andrea Ferrier, members of Immaculate Conception/St. Mary Parish, West Bend, visit with Lucille Dricken, right, during a recent home visitation. (Catholic Herald photo by Sam Arendt)

WEST BEND — Members of Immaculate Conception — St. Mary Parish in West Bend were out April 2, taking the Good News door to door to their fellow parishioners. About 140 people, in teams of two, braved the chilly spring rain in an effort to visit the 1,100 registered households of the parish.

“We are ‘companions on the journey,’” Mary Moll, one of the visitation coordinators, said to the volunteers who assembled in the parish center after the 10 a.m. Mass to receive final instructions and a list of people to visit. The home visits, she said, were all about building relationships, part of the kick-off for the preparation for the parish’s 150th anniversary celebration in September 2007. The visits were announced from the pulpit over the past month, along with the request that parishioners welcome the visitors.

At that day’s Mass, pastor Fr. Michael Moran likened the home visits to the scene in the Gospel story, where some Greeks asked Jesus’ disciples to show them Jesus. “We come to Jesus through our connections with others,” he said. “We lead one another to Jesus.”

The 10-minute visits had several purposes, according to Moll. First, each household was asked to fill out a brief census form, updating their contact information, and letting the parish know if they wished to remain members. “It gets expensive to maintain mailings to non-members,” said Moll. The visitors collected these forms at the end of their visit.

Each household was also given a packet of information about the parish, including brochures about the school, ministry opportunities, and upcoming events. A copy of “The Little White Book,” daily reflections for the 50 days of the Easter Season, was given to each family.

Also included in the packet was a self-addressed envelope marked CONFIDENTIAL - FR. MIKE.

“Everyone has an opportunity to give feedback to Fr. Mike,” explained Moll. “Like in every good family, you don’t divorce your family when things go wrong. You work through it.” Parish members were encouraged to offer their comments on ways the parish can better respond to the needs of people. “Help our parish become a better parish,” Moll told the visitors to ask people.

Beverly Kirst and Mary Stremlau comprised one team of home visitors. Kirst, a lifelong member of St. Mary, was originally asked to help make phone calls to recruit home visitors. She volunteered to make visits as well. Stremlau has been a parish member since the late 1990s. She became involved in the visitation, she said, because someone asked her. “I always said I should be doing something,” she said with a laugh, “Now, I am.”

They met with a variety of reactions from the families they visited. An older woman invited the team in, glad for the visit. She had been reading regularly from “The Little Black Book” during Lent, she said, and appreciated the gift of the White Book.

A man answered at another house, seemingly surprised to see them. He took the census form through a slightly opened door, and handed it back out when finished. He hesitantly accepted the packet of materials.

The next address was a vacant house with a “For Sale” sign in the front yard.

The team was pleasantly surprised to find a familiar face at one of the doors on which they knocked. It was Kirst’s daughter’s religious education teacher from the previous year, who had moved last fall. Stremlau also recognized the homeowner as an instructor at the YMCA. He and his wife invited the women in, and they spent a few moments catching up on each other’s families.

Planning for these home visitations began in 2004, said Moll. Rich Harter, parish director at the time, was instrumental in leading the effort. Back then, she said, the parish was experiencing the shock of losing a full-time resident priest as a pastor, and having him replaced by a non-resident parish director. It was Harter’s suggestion to go out and spread the news that St. Mary is still alive and well, and to warmly invite back any parishioner who may have drifted away in the transition. Harter saw what a great opportunity home visits could be in conjunction with the 150th anniversary celebration, said Moll.

The visitation was scheduled to take place in fall of 2005. Unexpectedly, Fr. Moran was assigned to pastor the parish in July 2005, replacing Harter. The parish pushed the visitations ahead six months, to give Fr. Moran the chance to become better acquainted with the parishioners, and more involved with the project.

Moll said the Sunday they chose for the visitation turned out to have some drawbacks: it was first day of daylight savings, causing the loss of an hour of time; a mandatory parents’ meeting of First Eucharist students and a mandatory citywide Youth Outreach program meeting were scheduled for the same time, preventing many dedicated parishioners from participating. However, Moll said, they were going ahead despite those things. “It’s not about us, anyway,” she explained, “but the work of the Holy Spirit.”