Sep 11 2008
Talk Is Cheap
Dear Friends,
But I have prayed for you that your faith may never fail. You in turn must strengthen your brothers. Lk. 22;32
When you are down and out and lonely and jobless, the main thing one needs to do is to go to mass and receive the Eucharist. This is the gift of the mass that I have talked about in the past. It is life sustaining and gives us hope when there is none. Once you have partaken in the Lord, then seek out fellow church members. Be a family.
The other day I was talking in the Catholic Mingle chat room with a man named Thor. This man was determined to lash out at Catholics. His sole purpose was to go in and cause grief. I recognized the pain in his talk. I knew he was not Catholic by the way he criticized Mary. The man was calling out for help by bashing Catholics. That of course would not be my way of gaining attention, but it seemed to work for him. Let’s do this in a positive way at church. My point is people like this are in our church and need our attention. The problem is finding them. How do we find them? We engage in conversation with our fellow Catholics. Catholics need to go to Church and not be so anxious to get to the car. Talk to people after church. Laugh and have a good time. Just start off by talking to people you know and you will notice that conversation is infectious. After mass make it a point to stay 5 minutes to engage in stimulating conversation. If you are having a good time then others will stay too.
One way to make this fun is to stress to the church that food will make people stay. They usually sell donuts or coffee after mass. Good for fund raising but most people eat their donuts right there for they do not want to mess up their cars. A church in West Covina built a snack bar. They went to the extreme. But talk about build it and they will come! They always have large crowds staying after mass to talk. Guess what, if you stay after mass you will not have to fight the parking lot. By the time you leave the majority of the people will be gone. Brothers and Sisters community starts with us just talking after mass. If we fail to do this then we cease to be a community.
Still another way to do this would be with in your own group. If you belong to the choir, then just stay a little to chat with choir members. Once you do this then others may join in. Again talk is infectious. Everyone wants to do it, sometimes people forget how fun it is to do it.
Here is what I am going to do. I am going to get some coffee and I am going to give away cups of coffee. Just so I can stand and talk to people. I am then going to stand and hand out a fellowship button. It will be my own button campaign. I will do this in three weeks.
Our Protestant brothers do the following:
- I went to a presbyterian church to see how they do it. At the doors of this fairly large church they had four greeters greeting all the people as they entered. They made you feel very welcome. Guess what! Presbyterians do not leave right away after church. They have a cup of coffee and a donut and chat a while.
- I also went to a small Lutheran church. They too have the greeters. They too stayed after the service to chat.
- I would love to hear if your church is different or if you found Protestant churches to be friendlier. Please email me your experiences so that I can share them with our brothers and sisters.
How can forget that the little things count? People leave the church for the simplest things. Have we become so large that we forget that common courtesy counts? It is up to us as Catholics to make each church unique. The pastor of your church can not do it all. He needs your help. The little things count.
My brothers and sisters, this is a mission. We are on a mission to reach as many Catholics as we can with this message. Help us out buy a button and pass the word at your own church. Once I have done it I will be willing to pass on my buttons. Luke 22:32 can be a start.
If you have not registered to get a free look at Catholic America Today, the Flagship of our Mission, go ahead and register. Right now it is Free until we go online. You have full access to everything. Go to catholicamericatoday.net
God Bless
Vern Paul
