 Q. What is Re-Membering Church?
This program is A. It's an enabling process for people who are considering coming back to the
Church and/or a particular parish community-being "Re-Membered."
Some have been away ftom the sacraments for many
years.
Q. Why is it called Re-Membering Church?touch with the Re-Membering Chuch team?
A. Inactive Catholics feel an urging or call by God to
re-examine the Church into which they were baptized and to review their own
lives and their spiritual journey. This is a process of reconciliation.
Q. Why have they left ot disassociated themselves from a faith community?
A. Each person's story is diffetent.
Some of the more frequently stated reasons seem rooted in a lack of
understanding about the changes since Vatican II, a disagreement with the
Church's position on some social issues, a mariage situation that was never resolved, of a personal hurt inflicted by a pastor or
church member that has never been acknowledged or reconciled.
Q. What is St. Patrick's doing to support this process?
A. St. Patrick's has a group called the Re-Membering Church team. Some team members are parishioners who have their own stories of hurt
and alienation. They are occasionally joined by others who may have been away
for as long as twenty years, and still others who are cutently attempting to reconnect with the Church. All are there to share and discuss
experiences and perspectives and to support one another. The support offered is
instructional, emotional, and spiri- tual, depending on the needs of those who come. People who
are affiliated with any Catholic parish are welcomed; they are free to reconnect
with that home parish or any other, whenever they
feel ready to do so.
Q. What kind of a commitment does the process involve?
A. An initial meeting is usually held with all who respond to
the open invitation to come to share their stories, their hurts, their issues with the Church. Those who decide to return are
asked to complete a series of five additional meetings with the team members, as a group or individually,
at mutually convenient times. Any member of the team will help on a one-to-one
basis anyone who is uncornfortable with the gtoup setting.
Q. How does a person get in touch with the Re-Membering Chuch team? Activities Coordinator: Liz Keane
A The easiest way is to call the
parish office (367-2665) and ask to speak with a pastoral associate, who will
refer you to one of the team members.
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