“…and I will make you fishers of men.”

One summer break during my college years, my father informed me that I would be accompanying my brother, Quintin, on his fishing trip to Alaska.  Quintin, a freshman in college, loved the outdoors and fishing, but could be a bit absent minded.  My father sent me to save him from being lunch for the bears.

Our plane arrived in Anchorage and we took a rental car to one of the many rivers on the Kenai Peninsula.  We stood on the bank, casting our lines into the clear, cold water teeming with salmon.  Hours passed without a single strike.  Several local fishermen were nearby catching fish, but were doing so by using a different method.  One of them, an older man in his 70’s, slowly worked his way next to us and politely asked “What are you boys fishing with?”  We held up our bass lures that had been so successful all of our lives in the ponds and lakes of Kansas and Oklahoma.  It was then that the Alaskan fisherman uttered the line that still causes laughter around family campfires today.  “You boys aren’t from around here, are you?”

As Catholics, our Father, through his Son Jesus, also sends us to save others:  “As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.” (John 20:21)  Jesus does not ask us, He sends us, confident that with the aid of the Holy Spirit, from the rising of sun to its setting, we will be able to bring all those who are lost back to Him.  “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:19)  Whether on the Sea of Galilee, a river in Alaska, or around the water cooler at work, to be successful fishermen, we must be prepared to change our tactics to meet the situation at hand. We need to follow the great Evangelist, St Paul, who said “I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some,” (1 Corinthians 22)

Let’s look at the top ten reasons that people return to the Catholic Church. As we talk to our brother or sister who has left the Church, we may be able to discern which of these reasons is most meaningful to them and thus “change our lure” to ease them back home.  .

1.         Because they want meaning in Life.  In the hustle of today’s busy lifestyles, lots of people suddenly realize that their lives have lost a sense of meaning.  They begin to ask themselves, “What is my life all about?  Why do I do what I do?”  There is widespread confusion in our culture with regard to morality and truth.  The Catholic Church offers a beacon of light that gives meaning to our existence and leads to eternal life.

2.         Because childhood memories surface.  Some people say childhood memories of feeling connected to God re-surface in later life.  They begin to ask themselves, “Is it possible to recapture that simplicity of faith?  Can I ever really believe that God is watching out for me?”  The secularization of our society leads people away from the spiritual side of themselves.  The Catholic Church offers both religious and mystical experiences that free the heart, the mind, the body and the soul.

3.         Because they made mistakes. Some people become burdened with the weight of accumulated sin. They want to get rid of the guilt of having hurt themselves or others. They begin to ask, “Will God ever forgive me? Is there any way I can start over with a clean slate?” You can always tell God that you’re sorry, but if you want the complete assurance of God’s forgiveness and the grace to start again, the Catholic Church offers absolution in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Next week, we will present the next seven top reasons people give who return to the Catholic Church. Please read these over carefully. In evangelization, as in fishing, presenting your “lure” in a variety of ways increases your chance of success, and success means the return of one who was lost back to the loving embrace of the Church and the opportunities for grace She provides.

(The Ten Reasons are from Our Sunday Visitor)

What Do the Saints Say?

“The nation doesn’t simply need what we have. It needs what we are.”

— St. Teresia Benedicta (Edith Stein)

What Does the Bible Say?

“And he gave some as apostles, others as prophets, others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers, to equip the holy ones for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the extent of full stature of Christ.”

— Ephesians 4:11-13

Evangelization Challenge of the Week

This week, end your nightly prayers with the following “God, please give me the courage to evangelize.”

We pray for a Church

where no one feels alone ● that loves God and each other ● that values each person’s strengths ● that is guided by the Holy Spirit to rediscover itself ● that continues to embrace the vision of Vatican II ● that is fully engaged ● that focuses on love, peace, justice and compassion ● in which everyone is welcoming ● that proclaims the good news of Jesus Christ in word and action ●

We pray that we will be that Church! ● Amen

 

RCIA was Key

     Sally comes from a long line of Christians and has always loved the Lord and loved church. Three generations of her family preceded her on her faith path as a girl when she was moved to be baptized where her family worshipped, the Church of the Brethren in Wenatchee, WA. Her high school sweetheart, whom she later married, was a Catholic. They considered marrying in the Catholic Church, but Sally’s first encounter with the parish there was negative, to say the least. For that reason, she and her fiancé married in the Church of the Brethren. She and her first husband were married for twenty years.

Circumstances started leading her to our faith. She and her then-husband started having and raising children in a house and in a marriage that was buffeted by strife and damaged by her spouse’s mental and spiritual problems. After her first son was born, it weighed on her heart that he had not been baptized. They went “church shopping,” but nothing seemed right until they found a church, St. Cecilia in Beaverton, OR where they lived at the time that had a “cry room.” The practical consideration of having a place to take their infant when he cried, be able to see and hear the Mass and not disturb the whole church seemed a good answer.

 

So, they tried it. Sally was amazed at the priest’s powerful, inspiring messages; he was young, funny, energetic and down-to-earth. She really liked the experience there at St. Cecilia, so when the family moved the short distance to Vancouver, they looked around for a Catholic Church and found St. Joseph. The pastor there was very influential and supportive in her decision to follow the call of the Holy Spirit and become Catholic. When the children were old enough, they enrolled them in religious education and Sally was the parent who usually took them on Wednesday evenings to RE. St. Joseph’s offered Bible classes for adults at the same time, Sally became more involved and even became an aide in RE. At first, she didn’t even feel qualified – thinking one “had to be Catholic” to do it. The teacher urged her to help and so she did. Sally was being taught, just like the kids, just by being there, in the RE environment. The teacher would send home a note to parents after every class (“what we did, what we learned, and here’s what’s coming up at Church…”) so she took one, too. Suddenly, she was the faith leader in their home. Sally led her kids in donating to charitable causes and began to lead them in praying the Rosary on Monday nights. Soon, Sally became a catechist herself, teaching a class of kids.

After a morning catechist training meeting one Saturday with the pastor and the head of RE, she was chatting with a fellow catechist girlfriend, a convert to the Faith, who asked her, “Why aren’t you a Catholic?” Sally replied, “Well… not enough time… it’s all about my kids…I’m the breadwinner.”

 

Her friend told her about her own experience in RCIA suggesting Sally might “check it out.” When she finally enrolled and started RCIA, she was scared; it was a packed session of over 100 catechumens. But says, “It was like a curtain parted, a veil lifted, revealing so much truth. It was very open, accepting, free – to voice concerns and questions. In the nine-month program we catechumens dispelled our misconceptions one-by-one and met privately twice with a priest - really getting the chance to probe and explore why we were there… I learned so much. The Church is always guided by the Holy Spirit but we humans can make bad choices, bad decisions. Just because a Catholic sins, the Church itself isn’t a sinner.”

“In my RCIA group, we studied together, read together, we socialized, we were like a family. When I proceeded through the Three Scrutinies* and finally got Confirmed, I was ‘on fire’ with my faith.”

Life circumstances brought Sally here; travails and low points followed her relocation, but she “never lost Faith that God would see her through.” She was right, of course, and is today deeply active in many areas of Good Shepherd. She knows that the Holy Spirit will guide her in whatever is next.

 

· The Scrutinies of RCIA are celebrated on the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Sundays of Lent; celebrated at liturgies where the Elect are present.  The Elect are those in our midst who are preparing for Baptism or Confirmation. These are ancient rites and they may, at first, seem strange to us.  But they are profoundly rooted in our human experience.  We need to examine (scrutinize) how we are, the areas of our lives where we are tempted, or seriously sin - in what we do and what we fail to do.  We really need healing and the strength that can come from the support of our sisters and brothers. (Creighton University Online Ministries) In Sally’s case, some of the Elect, including her, were confirmed before Palm Sunday Vigil, participated in that Mass, felt truly a part of the Church and were moved to tears.

What Have Church Leaders Said?

“God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission—I never may know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. Somehow I am necessary for His purposes… He does nothing in vain; He may take away my friends, He may throw me among strangers, He may make me feel desolate, He may prolong my life, He may shorten it; He knows what He is about.”  — John Henry Cardinal Newman (himself, a convert)

 

 

 

 

Love Will Find a Way...Back to God

After more than a decade of not walking with the Lord and a failed marriage, I met my wife Susan and fell in love. Susan lived at home with her parents and was a Catholic who had attended parochial school and a Catholic college. Many of our interests were the same and I always felt very comfortable with her.  She attended Mass faithfully, some might say “religiously,” on weekends, Holy Days and other days of obligation. I began to go with her though she never pressured me.  I firmly believe that God sent her to save me. In 1980 we were married first in the Baptist Church as she explained that we would not be allowed to be married in the Catholic Church. I knew very little about Catholicism. The first experiences of Mass were a source of wonderment to me. Susan never raised the issue of religion nor did I feel any pressure from her at all to become a Catholic. Having just come out of a decade of not walking with the Lord I hungered to return to him. I decided to examine the Catholic faith. My love for Susan led me to want us to share a strong foundation spiritually for our marriage. In retrospect part of what attracted me to Susan was her faith.

I received my own private RCIA training from Monsignor Louis at a nearby Church. I began the process of seeking an annulment from my first marriage and was blessed that it went quickly. Susan and I were married in the Catholic Church shortly before the birth of our son Adam. Later that year I received the Eucharist and Confirmation and was brought into full communion with the Catholic Church.

I have a daughter from my first marriage and I had visitation every other weekend. I was grateful that her mother did not stand in the way of Jennifer being raised in the Catholic faith. Her training was accomplished privately with Monsignor Louis during visits and ultimately she was baptized, and received her First Holy Communion at an Easter Vigil. I arranged for ongoing religious education through the Church in New York. Being able to give my daughter her Catholic faith and now my Grandchildren Olivia and Derek have been baptized and are being raised Catholic, are two of my greatest joys.

I have heard it said that our Mission as Husbands and Fathers is to get our loved ones to heaven and that is my quest.

— Parishioner Steve

What Does the Bible Say?

“Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends… And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.”                                                                         (1 Corinthians 12 - 13)

“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)

What Do the Saints Say?

"To convert somebody go and take them by the hand and guide them."

— St. Thomas Aquinas

 

Gift idea! Grab a CD or Book for a family member or a friend from the kiosk in the narthex.

 

 

 

Franklin is a town in Robertson County, TX. The population was 1,564 at the 2010 census – up slightly from when David Bristow was a boy there. It is the county seat and is close to Bryan-College Station. It was home to a Catholic Church at the turn of the 20th century that was destroyed 100 years ago by a windstorm in 1913. Franklin was without a Catholic Church again until 1997.

Fr. David Bristow is a dapper, silver-haired, erudite and engaging man, pastor of St. Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church in Ft. Worth. His roots as a native Texan are evident by the silver cuff links in the familiar shape of a Lone Star he wore when we met. His path to the priesthood was a long one having been raised Anglican in his little hometown of Franklin. He started down that path at 11 years old when he borrowed a copy of the best-selling The Cardinal by Henry Morton Robinson from the Carnegie Library. That work of fiction also contained a lengthy statement of theology. He started reading Catholic books voraciously and continued to do so throughout his youth and to this day. All the while, he was a pious young man and a dedicated young Episcopalian. 

Meanwhile, his attraction to the Catholic faith and fascination with everything about our faith led him to talk to his pastor about it. His Anglican pastor understood and recommended awaiting Anglican reunion with the Catholic Church which was hoped for, but never happened and, in fact, became impossible. He went on to become a minister of the Anglican Church. According to Fr. David, the intense interest in our faith was shared by others and certainly not limited to him at that time. He recounts that when the new Catechism of the Catholic Church was published in the early 1990’s, the first three customers to purchase it in his local bookstore were Anglican ministers – he and two others. The Anglican Church has no analog to the Catholic Catechism but does have the beautiful and history-rich Book of Common Prayer which is predecessor to its Catholic adaptation, the Book of Divine Worship.

Father David prayed during that time for the Anglican Church to take the Catechism of the Catholic Church seriously. Reunion of the faiths came close, says Fr. David, but changes internal to the Anglican Church closed the door on that possibility. Fr. David and many other Episcopalians grew disheartened, struggled and prayed for God’s guidance what to do. After much prayer, perhaps a little spiritual anguish and heartfelt dialogue with his wife, Janice, he and she, guided by the Holy Spirit, decided together to say, “Goodbye” to the faith of their upbringing, (including, of course, Fr. David’s duties and title as an Episcopal minister) to embrace the one Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

With his conversion and entry into the faith, Fr. David was called once again to ministry, to become a Catholic priest. So the task of compiling Fr. David’s dossier for the Pastoral Provision came to be. The Pastoral Provision is a service rendered to the bishops of the United States by which former Episcopal ministers who have been accepted as candidates for priestly ordination receive theological, spiritual, and pastoral preparation for ministry in the Catholic Church. It is to prepare former Episcopal priests for service in Catholic Dioceses of the United States. Fr. David has been a Catholic priest for fifteen years.

Since 1983 more than 100 men like Fr. David have been ordained for priestly ministry in Catholic dioceses of the United States; three personal parishes have been established and the Book of Divine Worship has been authorized. Along with the ordination of married former Episcopal priests, the Pastoral Provision of 1980 permitted the establishment of Anglican Use parishes in the United States and created a special missal using liturgical elements from the Anglican tradition. (Cf. Pope Paul VI, Sacerdotalis caelibatus, no. 42.) This special liturgy was subsequently approved in 1983 by the Vatican's Congregation for Divine Worship and the Committee for the Liturgy of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. In 2003 it was published in book form as the Book of Divine Worship. St. Mary of the Assumption Church does not use that book, but its existence is a measure of the outstretched hand of welcome to former Episcopalians.

Fr. David has a special place in his heart for two figures who were key in the presentation and review of his dossier for the Pastoral Provision: Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger and Karol Józef Cardinal Wojtyła who became, of course, Pope Benedict XVI and Blessed John Paul II.

Janice and David Bristow have been married for 47 years.

About St. Mary’s: Saint Mary of the Assumption Roman Catholic Church, is located in the historic Southside of Fort Worth. Founded in 1909, St. Mary of the Assumption was the third Catholic Church to be established in the City of Fort Worth; it is the “mother church” of all the other parishes south and west in the city. The church building has been designated a Texas Historic Landmark and is registered with the National Register of Historic Places.

This Week’s Evangelization Challenge

We want to hear from you! If you are a convert or have come home to the Church after a long absence, please write about it or be interviewed for a story.

 

 

 

 

I grew up attending a small Protestant church in the Midwest.  My maternal grandparents were very active in a small Congregational church in southern Minnesota where my Grandfather was the church treasurer for many years and was vocally anti-Catholic.  However, the rest of the story is that he had a conversion in the final days of his life and had a priest say a funeral mass for him. 

My parents and two sisters and I attended a Congregational church regularly in Northern Iowa.  I went to Sunday school there. I also attended the Congregational Church in the town where I went to college.  I was president of the College Student Council of Religious Activities which was a primarily Protestant organization even though there was a Newman Center adjacent to the campus. I attended church occasionally when I went into the Army after college (especially during basic training if for no other reason than to get away from the screams of the drill sergeant).  Once I entered the business world out of the Army, I rarely attended church.

Then I met, fell in love and married Linda who came from a strong Catholic family.  When I went to visit her parents to ask her dad for his daughter’s hand in marriage, they readily accepted me but said that I still had to meet Linda’s maternal grandmother (who attended Mass every day of her life).  She was a widow and on vacation on the Jersey Shore that weekend.  We drove down to see her and met her on the beach.  We told her of our intention to marry and her first question was what religion was I.  I responded, “Congregationalist” but quickly added that we would be married in the Catholic Church.  She then said that she knew a Congregationalist once and he was nice so she guessed I was okay.     

Linda and I attended Mass sporadically during the early years of our marriage.  We were the classic “Christmas and Easter Catholics” – however, we always attended Mass when we were with her parents.  Once we had children (Kyle, now 30 and Mary, now 27) we began to attend Mass regularly. However, I obviously did not participate.  When my daughter was eight, one day at dinner, she asked me why I wasn’t Catholic and I did not have good answer.  So, I decided to look into becoming a Catholic and attended my first RCIA meeting a few months later.  My perception of the RCIA process was that I would learn about the history, rites and ceremonies of the church. But it turned out to be much more and it changed my life. It got me in touch with my faith and made me a much stronger Christian. And, because of my deepened faith, I feel that I became a better person. 

Becoming Catholic was the first of several life changing experiences that have occurred for me at Good Shepherd.  The next was when God called me to get involved in Mission work in Honduras.  I had become friends with Hilda and was aware that she was deeply involved at the parish and diocese level with our Honduras mission program.  One day almost five years ago, I was attending a funeral and happened to sit next to her.  Before the funeral we were quietly talking and I inquired about the Honduras Mission Program. At the end of the conversation, I asked if they needed more adults for the upcoming youth trip.  She indicated that they were full but would call me if they had a cancellation.  About a month later I got that call.  I made my first trip to Honduras in June, 2009.  I was so moved by what we saw and did down there that I vowed to return again at every opportunity.  I have now gone a total of six times.  Unfortunately, due to the violence in Honduras I am not currently able to go.  I pray that this will change in the near future.

A little over two years ago, I retired after over 40 years in the business world.  I don’t play tennis, golf, fish or hunt and I knew that I needed something to keep me active.  Volunteering at Good Shepherd proved to be the perfect way to stay active.  It started with CRHP (Christ Renews His Parish) – another life changing experience.  Three days before I retired I attended the CRHP retreat.  What a perfect way to start retirement.  Suddenly I had 60 new best friends.  Friends that are there to support me and expose me to new opportunities in the Parish.  I continued with my mission work but also joined the Parish Outreach committee and Men of the Rosary.  Finally able to join the RCIA team and become the sponsor coordinator, I was then able to sponsor a person myself and have been blessed to sponsor three very special men who have (or will) become good Catholics.

Finally, in June of 2013, I had my most recent life changing experience.  I have known Steve for many years.  And, after retiring, I found myself serving on both the Mission Council and Outreach Committee with him. In December of 2012, we went to Honduras together which deepened our friendship even further.  In May, 2013 he offered me a part time position as his assistant.  This wonderful opportunity has allowed me to get involved with our Stewardship and Respect Life committees and coordinate our Safe Environment program.  Becoming much more deeply involved with the outstanding staff at Good Shepherd has been a great experience.  I have also been blessed to meet many wonderful volunteers who are working hard to support Good Shepherd.

— Bob Eilenfeldt

This Week’s Evangelization Challenge

We want to hear from you! If you are a convert or have come home to the Church after a long absence, please write about it or call the parish office to be interviewed for a story.