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March 29, 2007
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More than 250 accept district’s
invitation to Come Home |
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Organizers pleased with tangible, intangible results |
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| More than 250 people accepted the invitation of parishes in District 16 to return to the Catholic Church March 25 as they participated in the Come Home event at Alverno College, Milwaukee. (Catholic Herald photo by Allen Fredrickson) |
MILWAUKEE — Perhaps it was the tease of summer in the outdoor air, but organizers of “Come Home,” an event designed to welcome back Catholics who have been away from the church, said they felt an energy during the March 25 event.
“Even though the day is just starting, people are coming in and responding to the enthusiasm from the parishes that are present here,” said Gina Kuemmel, director of evangelization at St. Gregory the Great parish and one of the event’s organizers.
With 100 people pre-registered and with more than another 150 expected to attend the afternoon event at Alverno College, sponsored by the 14 parishes in district 16, which comprises part of the southwest side of Milwaukee County, Kuemmel added the day was not about numbers.
“Having such a turnout is great, of course,” she said, “but even the one person we are able to bring back to the church would be wonderful.”
The day began around noon with each of the parishes featuring a booth with information on programs and Mass schedules, as well as parishioners who were available to answer questions. A keynote address by Fr. Bryan Massingale, associate professor of theology at Marquette University, further welcomed those who perhaps had “given the Catholic Church a time out” for varied reasons.
Lisa (last name withheld), who had not attended Mass in about 17 years, had come “to search and research the Catholic Church, mainly to ask questions about confession and reconciliation.”
Others, like Rita Mayzik, came, in part, for others who had fallen away from regular attendance, and partly to find the courage to attend again on her own.
Mayzik has been away from regular Mass attendance for a year and a half, but wanted to return. She said she stopped going because her husband wouldn’t and she didn’t like going alone.
“I’m hoping to talk with others who may be in my situation, and maybe I can go back to church with someone else,” she explained.
For Art Brandl, who hasn’t been a practicing Catholic in about 42 years, hoping to recapture the same feeling he had as a child toward the church was enough incentive to attend the seminar.
“Fr. Bryan alluded to the ritual we love, and I want to experience the same church I did as a child,” Brandl said. “I have been to ceremonies at Catholic churches in the past, and it just seems so different, like much of that ritual is gone. I even liked the Mass said in Latin, so I don’t know if they can offer me anything today.”
“I also know that I am a sinner, and lately it hasn’t been enough to handle on my own,” he added. “I have Jesus, but I am looking to belong again and hope the church can help me.”
Expressing his own falling away from the church shortly after the revelation of the sex abuse scandals within the church, Fr. Massingale said he understood the anger and disillusionment of many who left the Catholic Church. He told the group of the time he was “spiritually drained, emotionally exhausted and heartbroken.”
He pointed out, however, that what made him come back, among other reasons, was the realization that “deep disappointment and deep love are not contradictory, and are not mutually exclusive of one another.”
Fr. Massingale also touched on three other “treasures” of the church that led him back during a sabbatical he took a few years ago.
“The rituals and worship we express are beautiful and meaningful, and in the case of my mother’s passing, they gave me and my family peace,” he said.
The church’s outward reach around the world also displayed the ability of Catholics to share a common bond of worship and sense of belonging, as well as displaying the ability to do “beautiful things in quiet ways, truly living Jesus’ call to feed the hungry, and attend to the sick,” Fr. Massingale explained.
With roundtable discussions set up for the remainder of the seminar, participants were encouraged to ask questions on any topic to encourage a dialogue that planners hoped would be honest and open.
In a post-Come Home interview with your Catholic Herald, Kuemmel said, “Looking for numbers was not at the forefront of what we were looking for.” However, parishes of the district — Blessed Sacrament, Holy Assumption, Immaculate Heart of Mary, Mary Queen of Heaven, Our Lady of Lourdes, Our Lady Queen of Peace, St. Aloysius, St. Augustine, St. Florian, St. Gregory the Great, St. John the Evangelist, St. Martin of Tours, St. Matthias, St. Mary, Hales Corners, St. Alphonsus and St. Rita.— have been given a mandate by Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan to increase Mass attendance by 20 percent.
“That is one of the reasons we did this project,” she said. St. Mary and St. Alphonsus parishes opted not to participate in the Come Home event.
However, according to Kuemmel, organizers focused on “bigger invitations” in planning Come Home.
“This was an opportunity for people to take another look at the church. People appreciated that,” she said. “We can see value that isn’t always tangible.”
One of the opportunities offered at Come Home that proved popular, according to Kuemmel, was reception of the sacrament of reconciliation.
“Five priests were busy that afternoon hearing confessions,” she said.
Fr. Massingale expressed thanks and hope for people who “no matter what road was taken to get to this place on this afternoon, it means something that you are considering taking a second look at, and giving a second chance to, the Catholic Church.” |
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