The Youngstown Pilot
As a means for putting
evangelization into practice, nine paris hes and
the chancery offices of the Youngstown Diocese are now involved in a six mont h pilot process from
April through November of 2013. Starting
with a two-week period in April, Frs. Nick Shori and Tom Sweetser, SJ visited
each of the ten groups to help them plan creative ways of spreading the Good
News. Using a working definition for Evangelization
as: “A radical call to do things differently, in very concrete and practical
ways, in order to set people’s hearts on fire!”, each paris h
and the chancery designed a project that would relate to one or more of the
following target groups: the active paris hioners who are
involved in parish groups and ministries, those who come to Mass but to nothing
else, the inactive parishioners who are on the books but rarely attend Mass,
and those who are not registered in any parish but still call themselves
Catholic.
A Common Theme
Six of the nine paris hes
have chosen a project that includes some aspect of service to others. This is meant as a way to entice inactive
and non-engaged parishioners to participate. One example is St. Anthony/All Saints Parish
in Canton , Ohio that planned a Service-Mass-Social Day
(SMS) on the first Saturday of September.
The process begins with a personal, one-on-one contact with young
adults, inviting them to participate in an afternoon service project, such as tutoring
the young, helping the elderly, cleaning yards, feeding the homeless. Afterwards, everyone will gath er for an outdoor Mass in a city park,
followed by a social, complete with venders and music. A few other paris hes are targeting school and religious
education children who have just received either First Communion or
Confirmation. There is usually a drop in
attendance at religious formation in the year following these first
sacraments. To offset this trend,
Blessed Sacrament in Warren ,
Ohio is holding a “Reunion
Service Day” in October, targeting those who received first sacraments in April
and May. Entire families, parents and
children together, will assemble at the paris h
hall for a send-off of prayer, music and instructions. Groups of two or three families will then head
out into the neighborhood on a three-hour service project, returning to the paris h for refreshments
and a chance to reflect on their experience of how their hearts were set on
fire through their service of others.
Answering Questions
A few other paris hes are using a “Curious Catholics” approach
developed by Dr. Kate DeVries and Fr. John Cusick at the Young Adult Ministry
Office in the Chicago
Archdiocese. St. Edward’s Paris h, for example, is
sponsoring an evening gathering on July 31st for people, especially
inactive and unaffiliated Catholics, to share their questions about the
Church. Each person will have the
opportunity to write down a question or concern on an ind ex card and give it to the two
well-trained people running the one-hour session. What follows will hopefully be a lively
discussion about issues related to the Chu rch,
from the new pope to the saints in the church windows. A second session is planned a few mont hs later for
unanswered questions.
Renewal of Spirit
and Joy Week
One ambitious paris h, Our Lady of the Lakes in North Jackson , Ohio ,
is planning a full week of events, including a Saturday evening cookout and
bonfire, a Tuesday dedication of a new meditation walk, a Wednesday “Curious
Catholics” night from questions collected at the weekend Masses, a “Blessing of
the Animals” the Saturday after the Feast of St. Francis, a “Coffee House” for informal
sharing at various times throughout the week, and culminating with a combined
Sunday morning Mass, followed by an Appreciation Brunch and a special Talent
Show put on by the children. This is
one of many ways “to do things differently” to celebrate our faith and share it
with others.
Tom
Sweetser, SJ and the PEP Team
www.pepparish.org
– pep@pitnet.net