“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” - Hebrews 13:2
HEBRON – Sheri Wohlfert brought a joyful heart and a treasure chest full of stories to a parish mission at St. Helen last month, spreading a message of “Radical Catholic Hospitality” and evangelization to her audience of Diocese of Gary faithful seeking to come closer to God and to their neighbors.
“If we get this right, imagine how the world would change!" said Wohlfert, a speaker, writer and storyteller with a plan for growing God’s flock through deliberate training.
“We have to find a way to make everyone feel welcome (in our churches), even families of noisy kids who are messy and may smell bad,” Wohlfert said tongue-in-cheek. “They are the church and they need to feel welcome. We keep cranking out (religious) vocations in our (Novi, Mich.) parish, and I think it’s because they have always felt it was their home.”
One of the most impactful videos Wohlfert screened showed a minister disguised as a homeless man sitting outside the entrance to his own church as the members of his congregation arrived for services. Some walked by, but many stopped to offer money or a kind word or, in most cases, an invitation not only to come inside, but to sit with their family.
Radical Catholic Hospitality is what we need, not a team of ushers. We need all of us …our first step is learning that our mission is to share,” Wohlfert explained. “The Lord chose his apostles and they ate together, they prayed together and they took care of each other.”
“Christ is the most important thing in my life. I would be nothing without him,” said Susan Zivich, a Hebron resident from St. Helen. “I saw this mission weekend as a way to strengthen my faith, and I want to keep my relationship with God strong and growing.”
The training Wohlfert presented “to develop the attitudes and behaviors that will allow you to serve the people of Christ in a compassionate, Christ-like and powerful way” focused on four areas:
Called to Holiness – allowing Christ to work through us and draw us closer through our surrender and brokenness, directing us to the roots of hospitality in the Catholic Church tradition.
Called to Share – Through personal, formal and spontaneous prayer, including praying with and for others, those called to share come to understand and spread the Gospel message.
Called to Serve – As Christ came to earth to serve rather than be served, his people must learn to imitate Christ’s service by focusing on the gifts of joy, service and peace, including resolving conflict and offering and accepting forgiveness.
Called to Build the Kingdom of God – Putting the pieces into action, participants were led to develop and practice skills for sharing the Gospel with those they meet.
“As God called me to do this – He had a plan for me – He has a plan for you. It may be like my plan, to speak to others, but it may be something different. But whatever His plan, its goal is to become a saint.”
Wohlfert said people have many reasons for staying away from Church – schedules, children, aging parents, online convenience, parish cliques, feeling unnoticed and disagreeing with Church teachings. “People complain about Mass times, church décor and the set-up,” she noted. “Don’t be judgy, but pray about it. Think about what you can do to help. This is how we build our Church.”
“You have to find peace, or you can’t do the work you need to do,” Wohlfert added.
Nancy Reed, a retired teacher (like Wohlfert) and counselor from Holy Spirit in Winfield, called Wohlfert “intuitive, and she knows her stuff. I liked her story about her son and the way she let it go when her son got married outside the Church. She is praying that he will return someday, but she did not turn away (from him).”
St. Helen parishioner Judy Krueger admitted that Wohlfert’s “homework assignment” to pray individually with and for seven other people “is intimidating, and something I’ve never done. It’s new to me, and I’m a little scared, but I’ll do it.”
During the final hour of her presentation, Wohlfert spoke about joy, quoting St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta’s description: “Joy is prayer, is strength, is love, is a net of love by which you can catch souls.”
Wohlfert added that “Joy is what allows us to do the work of God.
“We use St. Teresa as a role model and feel that if we aren’t doing as much as she did, we aren’t doing enough,” explained Wohlfert. “She was doing exactly what God asked her to do.
“God doesn’t ask us to change the world, but to love people we are asked to serve.”
Caption: Following along in the manual prepared by presenter Sheri Wohlfert, read aloud how to turn hospitality into evangelization as during a parish mission on Nov. 8-9 at St. Helen in Hebron. Wohlfert set out to prepare her audience "for receiving others in the name of Jesus Christ in your parishes and homes while also equipping participants with the skills to share the Gospel with confidence and joy." (Marlene A. Zloza photo)