Inviting lost Catholics often brings them back

Rev. Charles Gaffigan, Mary Catherine Diehl and Deacon Warren Dorsch are like the three sides of a triangle:

* a pastor who regularly preaches on reaching out to inactive Catholics;

* a parishioner who heeded that call and acted on it; and

* a once-fallen-away Catholic who says that encouragement and invitations brought him back to the Church "with a vengeance."

Census

Father Gaffigan was doing a parish census in 1962 when he first saw how much it meant to inactive Catholics to have a priest visit their homes. Enthused, he latched on to that ministry and made it his top priority every time he was assigned to a new parish.

"Human nature being what it is, people want to belong. But how can they belong unless someone invites them to belong?" he asked during an interview with The Evangelist.

Whenever he's transferred, Father Gaffigan alerts local clergy that he intends to go door-to-door introducing himself, so they don't worry he's "stealing their flock." He puts notices in the church bulletin and in the local newspaper -- since most inactive Catholics wouldn't see the bulletin -- asking non-practicing members to return.

Knock-knock

He's currently involved in that process at Immaculate Conception parish in Corinth, where he is pastor. At Holy Infancy in Lake Luzerne, the other parish for which he is pastor, he added 158 new parishioners after census visits in 1991, and another 70 when he redid the census five years later.

Father Gaffigan has become a passionate advocate of the work of Rev. Bill McKee, a Redemptorist priest from Missouri whose ministry reaches out to inactive Catholics (see www.jcn1.com/william). According to Father McKee's research, when non-practicing Catholics receive a personal invitation to return to Mass, 80 percent do so within one to five years.

"I don't look for results," Father Gaffigan cautioned. "I'm doing what I can do, and God's grace does the rest."

Hearing a call

Father Gaffigan often makes evangelization of inactive Catholics the subject of his homilies. A few months ago, in one such homily at Holy Infancy, he said: "God has called us to reach out to the unhealthy through the healthy."

Mary Catherine Diehl (see sidebar) heard that call and Father McKee's statistics, and told herself, "Anyone can sit and make 200 phone calls."

She met with the pastor, wrote a short script for what she'd say, took a list of about 200 non-practicing parishioners and began to tell them on the phone: "I'm calling on behalf of Holy Infancy and Father Gaffigan. We miss you and welcome you to attend Mass or stop by."

Making calls

Mrs. Diehl told the fallen-away Catholics that the church was always open, listed Mass times and urged them to pick up a bulletin when they visited.

Most important, she asked people to let the parish know what "spiritual benefit" it could offer them -- or vice versa -- and noted that the parish "prayerfully hopes for your return."

"I really feel I was asked to do this" by God, Mrs. Diehl commented. "I'm not bragging about this; I pray that it works, that at least it gives people something to think about."

Results

Mrs. Diehl wasn't expecting miracles -- "I thought if I could find one person to come back, I'd jump for joy" -- but the results of her phone calls are impressive:

* Four Catholics returned to the Church, and one who was homebound asked to have the Eucharist brought to the home.

* A dozen said they do stop into the church to pray already; two dozen more said they weren't aware the church was always open and promised to stop by.

* Some fallen-away Catholics talked about their reasons for leaving the Church, from work hours that interfered with Mass attendance to laziness. Upon hearing the latter, Mrs. Diehl would reply, "Don't you miss the Eucharist?" Most people admitted, "Yes, I do."

* Many parents of young children, particularly fathers, complained that their children are involved in soccer games held on Sunday mornings. The parents had been required to sign contracts agreeing to bring their children to games, but many weren't happy about missing Mass. "Soccer is a temporary thing," Mrs. Diehl observed. "Your faith is hopefully going to last you through this life and into the next."

* Only one person was angry at receiving her call. Mrs. Diehl called back later and said, "I don't want you to go to bed angry with me," and the pair quickly resolved the problem.

Coming back

Mrs. Diehl was thrilled when a man called back three weeks later and said, "You threw me a line, and I needed this. Thank you."

When she bumped into him in town not long afterward, she hugged him. He responded, "Yeah, I'll come back."

Mrs. Diehl is now planning to send postcards to all the inactive parishioners, inviting them to a parish picnic later in the summer.

"It's funny what the Holy Spirit does to us," she mused.

Retired? Not from Church work

Five years ago, Mary Catherine Diehl converted to Roman Catholicism herself.

Raised an Episcopalian, she said that denomination and Roman Catholicism are "pretty close cousins," but she always felt she needed something more than she was getting. When she married a Catholic, she decided to become one herself.

She believes that being active in parish life was the prescription she needed. Before she even made her Confirmation, she had already taken on decorating Holy Infancy Church for the liturgical seasons.

"I had books all over the place" with advice on the subject, she joked. "I was so ready to do more."

A retired nurse, Mrs. Diehl currently visits the homebound, brings the Eucharist to shut-ins, participates in a small faith-sharing group, belongs to the Legion of Mary and chairs her parish's bereavement group. She's also taking a course on healing prayer at St. Edward's Church in Clifton Park and participating in a program at St. Peter's Church in Saratoga Springs on working with the dying.

"This is my retirement work -- a work of love," she said. (KB)

(6/17/04)