Athens parish doubles through evangelization

BY KATE BLAIN
ASSISTANT EDITOR

Parishioners of St. Patrick's Church in Athens often send emails to Sister Mary Mazza, CND, with signatures like "Disciple Jean."

It's a gentle way of teasing the energetic parish life director (PLD) about her preference for using the term "disciples of Jesus" instead of "parishioners."

She'd heard the phrase at this year's Spring Enrichment gathering in Albany and latched onto it, she said, because "it talks more about who we're called to be as Church. It speaks of mission."

Sister Mary isn't the only Catholic in Athens who's enthusiastic about furthering the mission of the Church: After reading a column by Bishop Howard J. Hubbard in The Evangelist's June 5 issue in which he asked Catholics in the Albany Diocese to evangelize, St. Patrick's parish contacted The Evangelist to say, "We already do."

Doubling up

In fact, the parish has more than doubled in size in less than five years -- from 200 households to more than 450 -- because of evangelization by parishioners and parish leaders.

Sister Mary explained that, when she came to St. Patrick's four-and-a-half years ago, she studied the parish's census cards and noticed a great number of families who were registered as parishioners, but not attending Mass.

In addition, a large new housing development called "Sleepy Hollow" was under construction nearby; 90 new homes were added just in her first summer at St. Patrick's.

With all that potential for adding parishioners, Sister Mary started pointing out to people, "You're with your family, friends and neighbors more than [parish staff] are; so, if you'll give them the invitation, they'll come" to church.

Her advice was nothing formal -- simply to tell people, "If you're looking for a church, come to St. Patrick's in Athens."

RCIA program

Sister Mary also invited five active parishioners she saw as "really living witnesses of their faith" to start a Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA) program at St. Patrick's for people interested in joining the Church or fallen-away Catholics who wanted to come back and receive the sacraments.

"They struggled because they weren't familiar with it, but they did a beautiful job!" she recalled.

Within a year and a half, the program was well under way. Sister Mary searched out unbaptized spouses of Catholics in the parish and offered them the opportunity to take part.

She laughed as she recounted lying in wait at the Post Office for a man she knew by his red motorcycle and then approaching him to say casually, "I see you're not baptized."

She continued: "He said, 'No, I wish I were.' I said, 'Well, we have a program for you!'"

Growing excitement

As the seats at St. Patrick's began to fill, parishioners became more and more enthusiastic about inviting friends. "Nobody had ever challenged them to look beyond" the parish's old boundaries, Sister Mary said. "They've stretched and grown in such beautiful ways. In this little parish, they picked up the baton and went out to their friends, their neighbors, the people at the local school."

Students are often invited to church by friends, too. Every child in the faith formation program gets a t-shirt donated by a parishioner that reads, "Developing Happy Children: Walk as Children of the Light," which they often wear to school.

"We tell them they have to bring Jesus to school," Sister Mary noted. "We have 'invite a friend to Mass [day]' -- and it sticks."

Today, there are no empty seats at St. Patrick's on Sunday, and a smaller but vibrant community at the Saturday vigil Mass. Sister Mary sees the potential for the parish to reach 700-800 families.

"My dream is to expand that building," she said, noting that she still urges parishioners, "Don't sit on your laurels. We've got lots more to do."

(The "death knell" of any parish, Sister Mary believes, is when the same parishioners are involved in all the ministries. "The umbrella has to open," she stated.)

(In 2006, three adults and four children completed the parish's RCIA program and received sacraments at the Easter vigil Mass. In 2007, there were five adults and one child; this year, there were eight people in a combined class from Athens and St. Patrick's in Catskill. Parishioner Vince Multari is already planning how to expand St. Patrick's Church: "When we have to open up folding chairs on Sunday, that's a great feeling. [But] we have some interior walls; if we knock them down, we can fit an extra 150 seats in there.")

The youngest evangelist

Sister Mary Mazza, CND, claims that the "best evangelizer in this parish community" of St. Patrick's in Athens is just seven years old.

Sarah O'Leary gets to leave school a half-hour early each week to attend faith formation classes at St. Patrick's -- a fact which has not escaped the sharp eyes of her classmates.

When she boasted about going to "the fun place" where she heard about Jesus and did crafts, other students wanted to join her.

"Everybody wanted to go to 'the fun place Sarah's going to.' They said, 'It's not fair!'" said Sarah's mother, Janine O'Leary. Sarah herself told The Evangelist that friends "Sarah and Rachel and Lexi and Mary Kate" all came along to religious education at her urging, and are now looking forward to making their First Communion together next year.

Mrs. O'Leary admitted she was a little bewildered to learn she was the parent of a pint-sized evangelizer.

"I'm very proud of her. I didn't realize she was really doing that until [other parents] started coming up to me and saying, 'What's Sarah talking about, "the fun place"'?"

Apparently, the trend toward active faith runs in the family: Mrs. O'Leary's Baptist husband converted after the couple adopted Sarah from China and agreed to raise her in the Catholic faith; Mrs. O'Leary began working as an administrative assistant at St. Patrick's last summer.

Mrs. O'Leary believes that Sarah's invitations have made it easier for her classmates' parents to come back to the Church, because their reasoning can be, "It's time to start [the kids] in faith formation."

"It's very encouraging. I see a lot of young families," Mrs. O'Leary said. "It's become a much younger parish, and the kids are so involved. We don't rush out of church when Mass is over; it's more of the family atmosphere."

RECOUNTING EXPERIENCE

Family returned to Church after personal invitations

Vince Multari can attest to the evangelization efforts in Athens: After a decade away from the Church, he and his family came back because of the invitations and welcoming spirit of the people of St. Patrick's.

Raised in the Bronx, he remembered going to church every week as a child -- a practice he and his wife, Kim, had continued with their own two sons when they settled in Greene County.

Unfortunately, they had a bad experience at their parish: They encountered a priest who didn't like noisy children disrupting Mass. One Sunday, the Multaris' young sons, Vinny and Anthony, were singled out during a liturgy, and the family was asked to leave.

"We didn't go [there] for a month or so," Mr. Multari recalled; but the family decided to try again.

Not coming back

And again, as they tried to shush their boisterous toddlers, the priest stopped the liturgy and said, "I told you the first time: I can't continue Mass with all this noise going on. I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

Mr. Multari gathered his family and said, "We're never coming back again."

For years, they didn't. Mr. Multari buried himself in his work as a store manager, although he grieved not practicing his faith. Then his wife met a friend of the family who was on the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA) team at St. Patrick's.

"It's different now; come back and give it a try," the woman said simply.

Mrs. Multari did -- and found a parish, she said, that was "going in the right direction." There was a new sacramental minister, Rev. Richard Shaw, and Sister Mary Mazza had become the PLD.

Mrs. Multari quickly returned to weekly Mass with her sons, but her husband was not convinced.

"I had that doubt. I just kept putting it off," he told The  Evangelist. But, one Saturday, he decided to check out the evening vigil Mass.

Changes all around

"I broke into tears," he said. There were children at the liturgy, "walking around, having a great time -- and Father Shaw smiled and turned it into something positive. It was like being in a totally different church."

Mr. Multari met Sister Mary and was as impressed as his wife had been by her warm welcome: "I thought, 'Where has she been this whole time?'"

From then on, he said, "Everything I did with the Church was just another heartwarming feeling." He even left his job for a different one so that his weekends would be free.

The Easter vigil Mass at St. Patrick's last year included a sight that's becoming less and less unusual at the parish: the entire Multari family receiving sacraments.

After going through the RCIA program with her husband, Mrs. Multari, who had been raised in the Wesleyan faith, was baptized, received her First Communion and was confirmed. Her husband was also confirmed; Vinny and Anthony, now 10 and nine, made their First Communion.

"After that, we started bringing in other families," Mr. Multari added, chuckling. He recited the names of five other families he and his wife had coaxed back to the Church, and noted that they often invite other Catholics to study the Bible in the Multari home or try out the RCIA program -- which both husband and wife teach.

(Ten-year-old Vinny Multari is now such an enthusiastic altar server at St. Patrick's that he runs up to the altar every Sunday to beg, "Can I serve? Can I serve?" Anthony, who's one year younger, will start this summer.)

(07/17/08)