MEMORIES OF THE EVANGELIST

I took the job with about 80 customers and kept it for six years. Mom was the bookkeeper and sent a check each week to pay the bill. One person was not at home for six weeks, and I paid for her. Then I found out she had moved. Mom noted this on the next bill and requested that her name be removed.

A few days later, Mom was sitting on the front porch when a priest came walking by and introduced himself. It was Father Joseph Varden, the editor, who had come up from Albany by bus to pay me back the 42 cents.

With the money I saved in those six years, I bought my first car -- a used 1950 Plymouth -- for $500.

Thanks for the memories.

John Connors

Watervliet

Because I strongly believe in the saying, "Readers are leaders," I take time from my busy life as a parish priest to read -- especially The Evangelist.

If there's one area in which leadership needs to be asserted, I firmly believe it is in the realm of faith formation. Many of us know -- especially priests -- that most of our young people do not participate in a parish religious ed program. One reason is due to the sad fact that their parents do not attend Mass on a regular basis.

How to reach those young people and their parents is a challenge when neither are present in church. The August 31, 1995, issue of The Evangelist helped me meet that challenge with the article "Memo outlines the use of religion in public schools." New federal guidelines, issued by U.S. Education Secretary Richard Riley, granted access to public school students by religious leaders. We could freely enter a public school to inform students about a religious education program.

With the cooperation of the public school superintendent and board, I was permitted to speak to students of all grade levels and pass out a letter for their parents, along with a registration form and religious ed booklet explaining our program.

The result: Each year, new students are realized through this contact.

Happy 75th anniversary to all who make The Evangelist a reality. May you continue for many more years to pass along information that has the potential to make a difference in one's faith formation.

Rev. Charles Gaffigan, pastor

Holy Infancy Church, Lake Luzerne

Enclosed you'll find a copy of The Evangelist from 1946, addressed to my great-grandmother, Mrs. Fones Crandall. She passed away in 1944, but my grandmother, who lived at the same address, continued the subscription. I now live in the family home purchased by my great-grandparents in 1902.

Mrs. Crandall was a very religious woman, and her husband was a Catholic convert. When her health was poor in later years, a parish priest told her she didn't have to come to Mass anymore. She was heartbroken, but the priest continued to come to the house to see her. She kept a card table by her rocking chair, filled with prayer books and holy cards.

I can't tell you why this particular issue was saved, but I can tell you that, as the fourth generation to live here, there were many old things left behind that I have enjoyed looking through over the years.

I attended parochial school, K-12, but in later years became estranged from my parish for more than a decade. I tried, however, to stay connected to my spiritual self by subscribing to Catholic Digest and Guidepost magazine. When I finally made the decision to come back to the Church, I felt the best way to keep informed about my faith and Diocese was to subscribe to The Evangelist.

Since I never knew my great-grandmother and my grandmother died when I was just six months old, somehow I feel a connection to them by subscribing to the paper they read.

Mary K. O'Donnell

Saratoga Springs

About five years ago, I participated in the Coming Home program at St. Matthew's parish in Voorheesville. At the completion of the sessions, Father Arthur Toole, the pastor, offered to have a subscription to The Evangelist started for me. I have been a supporter and reader ever since.

As a returning Catholic, I found The Evangelist helped me get a sense of the current state of Catholicism in the Diocese, nation and world. As the only Catholic member of my family, The Evangelist helps me stay in touch with religious viewpoints during the week. Best of all, when other family members occasionally browse the issues, The Evangelist can be a springboard for discussion at the dinner table.

I have grown particularly attached to Rev. Roger Karban's "The Word of the Lord" column. Each week before Mass, it gives me a perspective on the Gospel and Readings I will be hearing. The artwork is especially lovely and evocative. I have cut out more than one of the little gems to save.

Susan Abram

Voorheesville

I never really gave much thought to God. I was 14 when my eyes were opened. Unfortunately, it took something terrible for me to need God: I was date-raped. As a result, I became severely depressed. I distanced myself from friends and family. After many weeks of repulsive behavior and frightening thoughts of suicide, I told my parents.

We saw psychologists and psychiatrists; I ended up going into an inpatient program. My parents would visit daily with hopes of seeing improvement. Three weeks into the program, I was able to have an overnight visit at home. I remember how it felt to walk outside with my parents, instead of watching them leave without me.

My parents always received The Evangelist, and my mom would tear out the page with "Good News for Kids" and "Sound Ideas" to put on the refrigerator. That night, I went into the kitchen and saw the page. "They are not losing their faith because of me," I thought, and began to read. I do not recall what I read; I just remember the word "angel."

The next night, back in the hospital, I had an amazing dream of my deceased great-grandmother putting her hand on my shoulder and telling me, "Everything will be okay." I recalled the page from The Evangelist and began to pray.

After months of intense therapy and a whole lot of prayer, God healed my heart and opened my eyes to a new and faith-filled life.

It has been six years now, and every week I look on my parents' refrigerator for that page from your paper.

Name submitted

Schenectady

During the spring of 1990, I attended a Cursillo, a short course in Christianity. Toward the end of the weekend, one of the attendees described a prison ministry in the Albany Diocese called Residents Encounter Christ (REC) and presented the idea that some of us might become volunteers.

"Not me!" I thought. "A prison ministry doesn't interest me."

In the mid-'90s, The Evangelist published an article about an REC retreat at Mount McGregor Correctional Facility, and a few of the volunteers were interviewed. The one I remember most was Harry Brust. He said, "The only difference between the inmates and me is they got caught; I didn't." Later, he stated that some of the prisoners had a great knowledge of the Bible in their heads, but one purpose of REC was to move that knowledge 18 inches -- from the head to the heart. That impressed me.

In 1996, I was invited to help with a REC weekend at Greene Correctional Facility. I found the experience to be rewarding. I'm still involved. Nowadays, I'm helping with a Bible study based on the upcoming Sunday readings inside Greene. I use two columns from The Evangelist to help explain the readings: Kate Blain's "Good News for Kids" and Father Roger Karban's "Word of Faith."

Anybody care to join me?

James Siewert

Delmar

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