Somerville, NJ
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This report comes to us from team leader Alpa with our Somerville-Immaculate Coneption parish team in NJ:
We spent over three hours on Main Street this past Saturday. Michael, Mirna, Albert, Wilber and I were the evangelists and Carolyn, Carol and Edith were the prayer warriors. We had many impactful encounters, here are a few highlights:
We spoke to a 70 year old man who rode up on a motorcycle. When we engaged him, he said he’s been thinking about going back to church; both his sister and nephew attend our parish. We encouraged him to think about both confession and Mass. He said he didn’t think the priest would welcome him, as someone who rides a motorcycle, smokes and has been away from the church. We told him we know priests who ride motorcycles and smoke, and he laughed at that. He also felt it’s been too long for him to go to confession, it was just too late for him. We spoke about how a friend of ours, who’d been away from confession for decades went, and at the end the priest told her “You’ve made my day today.” He seemed surprised and intrigued. He spent some time with us and we told him the Lord’s always calling people to Himself, and it’s never too late. We encouraged him to pray for guidance and strength.
Later we talked to a couple who were former Catholics, now Seventh Day Adventists. Both were faith-filled and joyful. The man had a heart transplant and said his mother was a devout Catholic who placed a rosary touched to a relic of Carlos Acutis over his bed. He was sure that was one of the things that got him through his recovery, when everything seemed dark and hopeless. When I asked if he believed in the intercession of the Saints, he said yes, he was living proof of it. Then I asked him what the Seventh Day Adventists said about the Saints, he said “They don’t really believe in that.” They were happy to speak to us, and while they were open to hearing about Catholicism, they also felt firmly about their faith. In the end, we encouraged them to take a rosary to give to the man’s mom and they said they would and thanked us for the talk.
Two young women initially said “No thank you” to our rosary offer, but came back because they both felt guilty about saying no. We found out that one of them was Presbyterian, because her father was Presbyterian and her mother was Catholic. Interestingly, all of her siblings were Catholic, so she was familiar with going to Mass and not taking Communion. Her friend was Catholic and actually taught religious education for a few years. When I asked if she goes to Mass now, she admitted she doesn’t. I handed her a confession booklet and told her “I just went to confession, I’m not telling you anything that I don’t do myself”. She laughed and agreed it’s important, and she always tells people the importance of confession and why they should go, and felt it was a full circle moment. They both agreed that a relationship with Jesus and prayer are the most important things. While we affirmed them in that, we also encouraged them to consider the Catholic Church because while a relationship is important, ultimately it’s being in communion with Him and His church.
These were a few of the many dozens of conversations that we had this past Saturday, and was a wonderful outing in Somerville! Thanks be to God!