WOODSTOCK – Adrienne Marra was in the middle of household chores when her doorbell rang. She wondered who could be visiting in the middle of the pandemic, given that many institutions were forced to shut down and households had to quarantine and practice social distancing. To her surprise and delight, it was a friendly face from her parish of St. Alphonsus Rodriguez in Woodstock.
Although from the beginning of the pandemic Adrienne Marra and her husband, Albert, were confident they would get through it together, they began to get discouraged after months of quarantine.
“I was so touched by their kind gesture,” Adrienne Marra said.
A team of parishioners has been visiting every family in the parish, checking in to see how everyone is doing during the pandemic.
From April 6 to May 4, 24 missionary teams visited the 540 registered families in the parish, focusing on two questions, “How are you doing?” and “Is there anything St. Alphonsus can do for you?”
During their visits, parishioners provided families a postcard with their family name, the two questions, a specific date the family would be prayed for, and the missionaries’ phone number and email. The back of the card noted COVID-19 guidelines for the parish, information about Mass livestreams, parish contact information and a small description of the Boots on the Ground ministry.
Since St. Alphonsus Rodriguez is a Jesuit parish and Ignatian spirituality is at the core of the parish’s ministries, an exam prayer card that encourages a spiritual reflection on the events of each day was attached to each postcard.
From May 5 to July 16, 10 families were prayed for at daily Mass and included in the prayer corner inside the bulletin.
In addition to Mass intentions, 40 “prayer warriors” took a turn each day to pray for the faith community’s intentions and the corresponding families of that day.
Of the 540 families visited by BOG, 367 came to the door. When a family would not answer, St. Alphonsus representatives left the postcard.
The ministry emerged from a pastoral meeting with pastoral life director Dee Papania and seven active parishioners.
Barry Frederick, retired from the Air Force and a St. Alphonsus parishioner, took the leadership role on Boots on the Ground.
“We need to do things differently,” he said. “We need to go out visiting people and change the way we do church.”
Since the visits began, average attendance for weekend Masses increased from 138 to 250 attendees today. Many parishioners contacted the parish for sacraments, memorial Masses and homebound Communion. Albert Marra became a lector and Adrienne Marra joined a committee on following COVID-19 protocols.
Archbishop William E. Lori expressed his support for the Boots on the Ground ministry, contacting Frederick to discuss it. He also sent a letter to Papania and O’Connell, asserting that Boots on the Ground is what he had hoped for in living out missionary discipleship.
“I am firmly convinced people are not going to come to us, we have to go to them,” Papania said. “Personal relationships are really what makes church.”
Email Priscila González de Doran at pdoran@CatholicReview.org
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