Our Somerville team spent over 3 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 drove up on a motorcycle. When we engaged him, he said that 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 that he didn’t think the priest would welcome him, as someone who drives a motorcycle, someone who smokes and someone who generally has been away from the church. We spoke to him about knowing priests themselves who drive motorcycles and who smoke, and he laughed at that. He also felt it’s been too long for him to go to confession, it just too late for him. We spoke about how a friend of ours, who had been away from confession for decades went to the sacrament, at the end of the confession, the priest told her “You’ve made my day today.” He seemed surprised and intrigued about that. He spent some time with us and we told him that the Lord is always calling people to himself, and it’s never too late and encouraged him to pray for guidance and strength.

We spoke to a couple who were both former Catholics but now Seventh Day Adventists. Both were very faith-filled and joyful. The man had a heart transplant and said that his mother was a devout Catholic who placed a rosary touched to the relic of Carlos Acutis over his bed. He said he felt for sure that was one of the things that got him through his recovery, when everything seemed so 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 mother and they said they surely would and thanked us for the conversation.

Two young women initially said “No thank you” to our rosary offer, but came back because they said they both felt guilty about saying no. In talking to them, 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 said she was familiar with going to mass, and not taking Holy Communion because she wasn’t Catholic. Her friend, was Catholic and actually taught religious education for a few years. When I asked her if she goes to mass now, she sheepishly said that she doesn’t. When 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 good naturedly agreed that it’s very important, and she herself 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, and while we affirmed them in that, we also encouraged them to think about 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!