April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
ST. MARY'S SERIES
For Lent, Oneonta parish reaches outside church walls
But parish leaders are trying something new this year - and the sense of reformation has infiltrated all aspects of planning.
In response to declining attendance in recent years, St. Mary's annual speaker series is being retooled to appeal to people who aren't attending Mass by using topics such as being "spiritual vs. religious" or having issues with belonging to a parish.
"Lent for Real Life" kicks off at Sunday Masses March 23; the first sessions are March 24 in the parish hall.
The topics "are exactly what people talk about, but never hear in church," said Rev. Scott VanDerveer, associate pastor. "Parish 'business as usual' is not going to work. It's not because there's anything lacking in our faith, but our approach is causing us to speak a different language" than those outside the community.
Book learning
Rev. David Mickiewicz, pastor, had recently suggested that he, Father VanDerveer and parish lay leaders read and discuss two books about the challenges of contemporary parish life. One thing they learned was that "Church people" - those with a faith-based social circle, who watch religious programming and participate in related activities in their spare time - are a minority in the wider culture.
If parishes want new members, the books explained, their leaders need to think differently.
"The Church exists for those who don't go to church, for the lost," Father VanDerveer said. "Jesus was not always worried about tending to people in His inner circle."
Typically, he said, parishes ignore outsiders and sometimes put the blame on them for being lost or not liking the Church community.
"We need to make it our business to share [our faith] in ways that people can receive it," he said.
The books, which prompted what some parishioners called a "conversion experience," have caused leaders at St. Mary's to brainstorm evangelization tactics and re-envision the parish's future. This included revamping the Lenten mission, which had been costing the parish a lot, since it had brought in speakers from elsewhere.
Speaking out
This time, the speakers are well-known local Catholics:
• Rev. Pat Butler, pastor of St. Edward the Confessor parish in Clifton Park;
• Peter Avvento, director of religious education and adult faith formation at St. Edward's;
• Sister Monica Murphy, CSJ, director of Pyramid Life Center in Paradox and director of guidance for Catholic Central High School in Troy; and
• David Amico, director of the diocesan Office of Lay Ministry Formation.
Topics will include what to do when no one else in one's family attends church. Sister Monica's session, dubbed "I just can't do this anymore," refers to anything that frustrates people about the Church - from politics creeping into homilies to the Vatican's visitation of U.S. orders of women religious.
Parishioners with Virtus abuse prevention training will volunteer, along with teenagers, to watch participants' children. Each session will be offered during the day and again at night to accommodate people who work days or nights and those who don't like to drive after dark.
Reaching everyone
Leaders chose the parish hall as the venue "for those people who don't feel comfortable walking into a church," Father VanDerveer noted. The room will be decorated without religious symbolism.
"We're not trying to bury what our faith is, but turn with Jesus to the outsiders," Father VanDerveer said. "The insiders will be fed, too. We're not doing something for one group at the expense of the other."
In addition to using newspapers and a community access cable channel to spread the word about the series, St. Mary's youth group will paint ads on bed sheets, the priest said: Young people "know what it's like to be around people who are skeptical of religion even more than we do. We're in 'Church world.' We're going to let them use their creativity."
Father VanDerveer said the goal is to get a "robust turnout" at the series, but success will be difficult to measure.
"It's going to require openness just to see if we notice fruit," he said. "It may be a tiny step in a new direction." But "we will never regret how positive and life-giving the process has been. It's been a great renewal for the parish."[[In-content Ad]]
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