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Before a parish can effectively reach out to a lapsed Catholic, parish leaders must be willing to listen attentively to why he or she left the flock, even if the break was precipitated by something that occurred in their own backyard, said educators charged with brainstorming ways to help non-observant Catholics heal and return to practice of the faith.
“Your starting point has got to be internal,” said Matt Downey, principal of St. Benilde School in Metairie, adding that while the pastor is “key” in a parish’s decision to become more receptive to those who need healing, lay ministers also must embrace a willingness to listen as a fundamental component of their mission.
“Hearing (why the person left) is going to be difficult and really does require everybody on the leadership team to be open to accepting criticism for themselves or of the church practices,” he said.
Downey, who was addressing his peers at Loyola’s Summer Institute for Catholic Educational Leadership, said a parish’s attitude adjustment could be as basic as training ushers – a congregant’s first point of contact at Mass – to be more warm and welcoming. School and parish secretaries play a similar role at their respective sites.
“It (means getting together) a lot of people – not just your parish council, not just the pastor,” Downey said. “They really need to focus even more on the people they don’trecognize, and make sure theyfeel welcomed.”
Must enliven parish life
The embrace of fallen-away Catholics and potential converts should not stop there, the educators said. Even the most hospitable of parishes also must ask themselves: What exactly are we welcoming people to?
“If we get them back, are they going to want to continue to be there?” said Joseph Rosolino, associate superintendent of education in the Office of Catholic Schools. “Are our liturgies feeding people spiritually?”
Downey said a decades-old study by the University of Notre Dame hints at some areas parishes could re-examine. When respondents were asked to list things that characterized a vibrant Catholic parish, the top answers were: a place where people felt welcomed immediately; a place with an outstanding music ministry; and a place that offered “high-quality sacraments,” including excellent homilies and an understanding of Eucharist.
“I can attest to (the importance of the Eucharist) because of my own wife (a convert) – that’s the reason she’s Catholic,” Downey said. Downey recalled that while his wife had found a parish in which she was comfortable, she continued to struggle with Catholic doctrine related to the Eucharist until a priest offered an explanation at Mass.
“She said, ‘I get it now,’” Downey recalls. “Once she said that, she was in RCIA.”
How to cast a wider net
Other tips on reaching out to lapsed Catholics included:
• Setting up small prayer/faith-sharing groups numbering no more than 10 lay leaders to remind them of the importance of lifetime catechesis and of the Holy Spirit’s role in their shared mission of evangelization.
• Because lapsed Catholics and potential converts tend to do a lot of research, it is no longer “good enough” simply to have a parish website; the website also must be attractive and continually updated.
“Based upon the attention you put into your website, (the visitor is) going to make conclusions about the attention you’re going to put into his or her spiritual formation,” Downey said. An updated calendar of archdiocesan events for young adults, such as Theology on Tap and Christ in the City, as well as information on the parish’s Catholics Come Home and RCIA programs, should be on the home page.
• “Donut Sundays” are more than just a Catholic cliché; they exude hospitality, one of the major gateways or re-entries back to the faith. “They’re beautiful,” said Downey of the post-liturgical gatherings. “If you feed them, they will come.”
• A vibrant music ministry is more than having a good choir and musicians; it also means inviting fledgling musicians to share their talents at family or class-sponsored Masses. “Get them in there,” Downey urged. “They may sound bad, but they’re bringing Mom with them (to Mass) and they might even bring Dad, too.”
• Remind parish leaders that sacramental prep might be the only opportunity they have to reach out to inactive Catholics. “Baptism, first Eucharist, first reconciliation – those have to be tremendous,” Rosolino noted. “You have so few opportunities to reach the ones who aren’t going (to Mass). What are you going to do with that (time) to entice them to come?”
• Parish clubs and ministries could be used more effectively to recruit members. “In the church, ‘no’ means ‘not now,’” Downey said. “Don’t stop asking (for new members). It took the Knights of Columbus 15 years to get me.”
• Setting up a bereavement ministry, or retooling an existing one, is a potentially powerful means of evangelization because it makes the church present at a time when families are asking questions about life, death and faith.
Beth Donze can be reached at [email protected].
Tags: Joseph Rosolino, lapsed Catholics, Loyola, Matt Downey, Summer Institute for Catholic Educational Leadership, Uncategorized