PROVIDENCE—Inspired by what they saw happening around them at St. Timothy Parish in Warwick, Stacey and Ken Fritsche made a decision to answer the call to deepen their faith.
One of the primary goals of the Diocesan Year of Evangelization was to reach out to Catholics who may have lapsed in their faith and welcome them back to the church.
While Stacey had been raised a Catholic, she had stopped attending Mass regularly some time ago. Her husband Ken was raised a Baptist. But despite their lack of participation in the church for a number of years, the couple wanted to ensure their children were schooled in the Catholic faith. Their son Kyle, 17, is an altar server at their parish, and two younger children—ages seven and eight—are enrolled in CCD classes.
On Sunday, the couple answered their call by serving as the gift bearers during a special Commissioning Mass for the Year of Evangelization at the Cathedral of SS. Peter & Paul.
Their moment of service marked the beginning of their return to the church.
“It’s a good thing to happen in your life,” said Stacey Fritsche, of her renewed commitment to her faith. “We’re definitely getting more involved in the church.”
The Fritsches credit Father Barry Meehan, pastor of St. Timothy Parish, with welcoming them and others with open arms back into the church through initiatives such as last summer’s Door-to-Door Evangelization effort, which involved a group of 100 parishioners and members of the Legion of Mary going house to house around the parish to welcome lapsed Catholics back to the faith.
Inspired by what he saw, Father Michael Woolley, pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Woonsocket, organized a Door-to-Door Evangelization in his parish.
Other parishes across the diocese conducted self-examinations to explore ways of spreading the good news, such as through workshops and social gatherings after Masses.
At Holy Family Parish in Pawtucket, for instance, parishioners found that helping to facilitate participation in weekly Masses made people feel more welcomed at their church.
“We established a greeters program to make sure people have their music book as they come into church,” said Ann Hogan.
Bishop Thomas J. Tobin said he was very pleased with the efforts of the Year of Evangelization Committee and with those at the parish level across the diocese who took up the challenge to welcome their fellow Catholics and others home to the faith.
“The discussion about evangelization has energized the diocese,” Bishop Tobin said. “It’s energized many of our parishes to become more visible, more active, more welcoming.
The efforts began after a diocesan study found that Mass attendance across the diocese had been declining.
“Our choice was to just let that go and accept it as an unavoidable fact, or do we confront it and change it,” Bishop Tobin said.
The Year kicked off with a series of “Catholics Come Home” television commercials paid for by an anonymous donor. The work at the parish level then began.
“I insisted that our Year of Evangelization would be much broader than just that video series, as effective as it was,” Bishop Tobin said.
During the Mass, two large Year of Evangelization banners—which feature Jesus with his arms outstretched inviting the flock to come to him—were set up at the front of the church.
“The banner is our logo, it’s our brand,” the bishop said. “Catholics right now will associate the Diocese of Providence with evangelization.”
On a personal level, the bishop said he has witnessed the program bearing fruit.
After the bishop presided over Mass at the cathedral on Christmas day, a man came up to tell him that he was returning to the church after attending services at a Baptist church for a number of years.
“I want you to know that I’ve come back home,” the man said.
William Patenaude, chairman of the Year of Evangelization Committee, and a parishioner at Sts. Rose and Clement Parish, Warwick, said he could empathize the sense of joy that Catholics returning to their faith are experiencing.
He credits Father Robert Marciano with welcoming him back to the church in 1999 after having been away from it for 20 years.
“I’ve experienced both sides,” Patenaude said.
For him, the greatest joy of the experience has been to see so many entities within the diocese coming together for one goal.
Edward Gallagher, who served as co-chairperson, along with Kathleen Kerrin, of the initial Door-to-Door Evangelization at St. Timothy Parish, said such efforts have been effective and will continue.
“While today is glorious, the message is: it’s not over,” said Gallagher, who was scheduled to meet this week with representatives of Holy Ghost Parish, Tiverton, to help plan a Door-to-Door Evangelization event there on March 26.
In his homily at the Commissioning Mass Sunday, the bishop reminded those in attendance on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord that through their baptism into the church, all are called upon to evangelize the Gospel.
“Even though the Year of Evangelization has ended, I do intend to make this a consistent theme in the work of our diocesan church,” Bishop Tobin said.
