A series on everyday evangelization that could help Catholics come home to Christ
Squeezing into the pew at St. Bridget in Richmond, I looked around to see every pew filled and the doors open for the overflow seating. As people settled in, you could hear babies and children adjusting to being back inside. The Palm Sunday procession had just ended, and the sanctuary was packed.
Our family has a typical area where we sit, and on this day, we were far from it. Palm Sunday is one of the five big Mass attendance days in the life of the Catholic Church, alongside Christmas, Easter, Ash Wednesday, and Mother’s Day. Parishes across the diocese and the country as a whole find themselves busier on these five days than pretty much any other day of the year.
Why? What is it about these days?
These are days when Catholics choose to come home to the Mass. They choose to make it a priority and they bring their spouse, their children (no matter the age), or their parents.
I think these five days can be days of joy, but also of sadness – joy from seeing a full church, and sadness that it’s not as full on the 23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time. Joy at seeing the family sitting in front of you, and sadness at the absence of your own family members. Joy that some people have come back to the Church, and sadness that others might have left or feel like leaving.
The current reality is that people regularly leave the Church and they do so for any number of reasons. In many cases, they are not leaving to convert to another religion – but are leaving out of apathy or a sense that the Catholic faith doesn’t nurture them, feed them, or need them.
They leave thinking that they have left an institution or a thing, but really, they are leaving a person, Jesus Christ – a person that they probably do not know very well.
This predicament is one that is all too familiar. This might be an assumption, but I would guess that most American Catholics have a friend or family member who has walked away from the Church.
That comes with so many questions: What should I do? What should I say? Who can I talk to? What do they need? How can I help them? Is it my fault? Why would they do this?
Over the next few months, this column will focus on answering questions like these and helping to develop the skills one needs to be an evangelist. We’ll look at: social media and how it shapes and misshapes opinions on the Church; teens leaving the Church after confirmation; keeping young adults Catholic in college; and divorced and remarried Catholics.
The evangelization that many of us are called to engage in is in our own homes and in our own lives, with the people who are already there. These can be the hardest conversations to have. There are steps to take right now that can help you with the challenges ahead.
Pray and fast. Lent has ended and the season of Easter stretches ahead, but don’t give up on the habits that brought you closer to Jesus. Instead, pray daily for the people in your life who need it, and fast specifically for them. Offering up food, sleep, or an activity for the intention of their return to the Church is a powerful practice that will provide the graces both you and they need.
Trust in the Lord! He loves your family members even more than you do and desires them to return to him as well.
Check out the Everyday Evangelization podcast! We’re publishing podcast versions of these columns and discussions on how to implement this content. We hope that it will help you in the work of Everyday Evangelization.
Andrew Waring has worked for the Diocese of Richmond since 2011 and has served as director of the Office for Evangelization since 2020. He is a graduate of James Madison University (B.A. in History) and Fordham University (M.A. in Religious Education). Andrew, his wife and their five kids attend St. Bridget, Richmond.