Personal stories give flesh and blood to beliefs

By Marie-Louise Ternier-Gommers

HUMBOLDT, Sask. — St. Augustine Church in Humboldt was again full for three evenings of “great assemblies” held as part of an Oblate parish mission followup in March.

Two daily masses were well attended and students from both St. Augustine and St. Dominic schools enjoyed lively school assemblies with the Oblate mission team. While the followup looked like a repeat of the Oblate parish mission of last year, there were some significant differences.

The purpose and vision of the Oblate parish mission is to equip the parish for a new evangelization and to encourage the creation of pastoral, relational and organizational structures in order to sustain the renewal generated by the mission event.

Last year, in the initial two-week long mission, St. Augustine Parish undertook the most extensive parish visitation ever held in the local faith community. From those extensive home visits, several pastoral needs were identified and acted on, including the establishment of a parish-based pastoral care ministry and a group for interchurch families. Several faith-sharing groups met monthly in the fall and weekly during the lenten season.

This year’s great assemblies included new features. Last year, the Oblate mission team was accompanied by four young people who formed the LEAP Youth Ministry Team (LEAP stands for Love Everlasting Always Present). This year, St. Augustine’s own parish youth were invited to develop and perform the dramas that are part of the great assemblies.

Coralee Grilz, who was part of the LEAP team last year, returned for the followup, sharing an update on where God is taking her on her life journey. Four students from St. Therese School in Bruno assisted in preparing the dramas with local youth; one of them, Joseph Yamniuk, shared his faith journey. Kurt Wolfe, a Grade 8 student in Humboldt, also shared his search for God in his life, touching many with his candour and honesty.

Several adult parishioners were also invited to share their personal faith experiences with the community at the great assemblies.

Karen and Leon Fleischhacker shared their faith experience of being an interchurch (Lutheran-Catholic) family, Sandra Korte descibed how she moved from a hurtful childhood into the Catholic Church as an adult, and Peter Gueguen shared how a near-fatal car accident involving his teenage daughter affected his family, their faith and their parish belonging.

The personal stories gave “flesh and blood” to beliefs, teachings and religious practices, demonstrating how it is more important than ever that Catholics are prepared to witness publicly to their faith. The Oblate mission played a role in nudging the community out of its comfort zone.