175th Anniversary Mass

Focus on faith: Sacramental preparation helps people grow closer to God

Sacramental preparation offers unique opportunities for individuals, couples and families to reconnect with their faith in new ways. As parents prepare for their child’s baptism, first reconciliation and first Communion, they receive a refresher course in the teachings of the Catholic Church and often become more active in practicing their faith. (Photo by Sean Gallagher)

By Mary Ann Wyand

“If you knew God would be somewhere, wouldn’t you want to go to see him?”

That’s No. 2 on the list of the “Top 10 reasons to go to Mass” published in The Catholic Herald in April as part of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s “Living Our Faith—See You at Mass” evangelization campaign. Their campaign theme is “A love beyond belief. Act on it.”

The Eucharist, first and foremost, and sacramental preparation for baptism, first Communion, reconciliation, confirmation and marriage are excellent opportunities to evangelize individuals, couples and families, explained Ken Ogorek, director of catechesis for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.

“It’s good to offer different reasons and a variety of benefits for celebrating Mass,” Ogorek said. “Some of these reasons speak to the fact that God loves us so much that whatever he asks of us is for our benefit. He would never ask anything of us that wasn’t going to help us and heal us and make us whole.

“So when we see in sacred Scripture and sacred Tradition that worshiping him on a weekly basis, if not more often, is one of his central commands,” Ogorek said, “… we know that the more important his command, the more central it is to our own happiness, health and welfare. He wants us to be happy so he asks of us what will help us to have peace and happiness and joy.”

Ogorek likes to remind people that “God gave us the Ten Commandments, not the Ten Suggestions.”

Following those commandments enables people to have a personal relationship with God, he said, and Catholics who have lapsed in the practice of their faith need to be reminded of that.

“On a weekly basis, we need to gather with our sisters and brothers in Christ and worship him in his Real Presence,” Ogorek said. “The sacraments aren’t man-made. The sacraments are gifts to us from God. They are entirely unique ways of encountering God. … The grace of the sacraments is very real, and we only hurt ourselves if we deny ourselves that grace, that help, that loving power from God.

“There are few guarantees in life,” he said, “and we know that suffering and family difficulties of one form or another are bound to enter every family’s life. ... The sacraments help us maintain a basic sense of peace. … The Lord spoke often of the lost sheep and the joy in heaven over any one person who repents and reconnects with God.”

Marty Williams enjoys nurturing people in the faith as well as nurturing his crops and livestock.

In addition to farming, Williams serves as the administrator of religious education at St. Augustine Parish in Leopold. He and his wife, Charlena, also volunteer as a sponsor couple for marriage preparation classes at St. Michael Parish in Cannelton.

“It’s very important that couples grow together in the faith,” he explained. “They need to nurture one another’s faith needs.”

Williams said participating in the sacraments together is the best way for engaged and married couples to do that.

“We have had engaged couples that have been pretty far apart in their faith, even to the extent of having different religions, and it’s just amazing to me how our [marriage preparation] program brings them closer together,” he said. “So many times, the non-Catholic partner has joined the Catholic Church just from the things that have been said and done in the marriage preparation classes.”

Often, he said, parents who have lapsed in their Mass attendance return to active participation in the Church when their children prepare to receive sacraments.

“Once their kids get involved in the first Communion class, we notice a big change in the family’s habits of coming to church,” Williams said. “Learning about the faith with their children is an opportunity for rebirth and reconnecting.”

Jennifer Buell has served as the administrator of religious education at Annunciation Parish in Brazil for three years, and enjoys helping parents reconnect with their faith through refresher opportunities made possible by sacramental preparation for their children.

“I think that’s what tends to happen as we get older,” Buell said. “We may have had religious education when we were young, but some teenagers fall away [from the Church] once they’re confirmed then lose the opportunity to continue learning.

“They come back for marriage preparation or, in the case of parents, have forgotten some of [the Church teachings] over time,” she said. “So as their children go through the sacramental preparation classes, they relearn what they have forgotten and it is an opportunity for them to reconnect with their faith in new ways.”

Volunteer catechists also grow in their faith, Buell said, by teaching parish religious education classes for children.

Lisa Whitaker, the coordinator of religious education at St. Joseph Parish in Clark County for three years, said parents ask a lot of faith-related questions as their children prepare to receive sacraments.

“We have a strategic plan to re-evaluate and rework all of our parish sacramental preparation programs,” Whitaker said. “We’re looking at new ways to include opportunities to evangelize, and to share Christ’s life-giving and transformational power, especially through the grace of the sacraments. … We want to extend the Church’s hands as the Body of Christ, be a welcoming community, and help affirm and inform people in the Catholic faith.” †