Newburgh Parish Publishes Parishioners' Stories
There's a song written by David Haas with this refrain: We come to share our story. We come to break the bread. We come to know our rising from the dead.
Sharing stories can be powerful, and that's exactly what's happening at St. John the Baptist Church in Newburgh.
Paul Keller is the business manager at the parish. He cites the book "When God Winks," as the genesis of the God-incidences project. In that book, people shared their experiences of how God speaks through the power of coincidences.
When the parish in Newburgh decided to create its own version of “When God Winks,” parishioners were invited to submit their stories for publication. "We solicited a few," he said, and then thanks to a notice in the bulletin, "the floodgates opened."
Parishioners wrote about surviving the 2005 tornado, working with the homeless, and the blessing of prayers from their parish family. Father Tom Kessler, pastor, wrote about his 10-month-old grand-nephew Joshua and of God's all-encompassing love for all of us.
The title of the book, "God-incidences," reflects the desire to remind readers "there are no co-incidences," Keller said. The hope is that "as life happens" people will become "aware of how God is working in our lives."
The first publication was printed at the beginning of Advent, and 1,000 copies were handed out at the weekend Masses. "They went pretty quickly," he said, noting there are plans for a second edition. There are also plans underway for a second volume, this one for Lent.
Keller said that as people read "God-incidences," many came forward and said, "I have a story too." Those stories will be published in future publications.
He sees it as an evangelization tool for the Year of Faith.
Father Kessler agrees. "Inside each of us is a story; hopefully in reading their stories, it may trigger something within us that will allow us to be more aware of God's presence."
Here is a narrative chosen from the “God-incidences” book, published by St. John the Baptist Church in Newburgh. It contains short narratives written by parishioners about their faith journeys.
By JEFF KROPFL
St. John the Baptist
Newburgh
In serving as the leader for the St Vincent De Paul ministry in our parish, I have had many blessed moments, and have found you truly get back far more abundantly than one gives. One of the interesting aspects of being the leader of this ministry is that you get your name and phone number published in the bulletin along side the ministry, and you can get phone calls from parishioners and others seeking your input, or asking you to facilitate something.
It just so happens that during the 2009 Advent season, I got a phone call from a parishioner I did not know, who indicated he was calling me to see if I could help him out. He went on to explain to me that he had two bicycles in his possession, one new and one used, that he wanted to see got into the hands of someone who needed them and could really use them. He was quite passionate about wanting to have them go to someone who could really use them. Well, right away, I thought “This is great! We can use the new bike he’s talking about at the St. John the Apostle Church Soup Kitchen Christmas Party!”
Our Group works with the local soup kitchen in downtown Evansville to help put on a Christmas party the week prior to Christmas. At the party we bring 6 new bicycles to be given to children between the ages of 6-12. The new bikes are normally funded by lots of $5 and $10 donations from individuals to our Church’s Angel Tree Project. Given that the year was 2009, and economically things were a little tougher, I knew that having one brand new bike just outright given to the ministry would be very helpful, as we just hadn’t been getting quite as many individual donations that year due to the tougher times.
As I hung up the phone, I was a bit perplexed about what the ministry would do with the “used bike”. Even though he explained to me how he and his friend had worked to refurbish this used bike by cleaning it up, putting new tires on it and a new seat, and practically making it like new, I still doubted that we’d ever be able to match it up to a good home. As a ministry, we are blessed to be able to collect used furniture from both parishioners and non-parishioners. These are typically things like beds, sofas, kitchen tables, and washers and dryers. Our ministry then matches those donated items with people who are having a rough patch in life and need one of them. We often get calls from distressed women who have had to move out on their own to take care of their children and need one of these items to live and function. So it’s always a blessing to be the arms and legs of Christ, to be able to deliver tangible items like that, thanks to the generosity of folks in our congregation who were willing to give us those items for the use of others.
The St.Vincent De Paul ministry had never gotten a call from anyone asking for a bicycle, though, and I knew that. I began to doubt, and in fact I am embarrassed to say I almost resented having to take the used bike. I started picturing how that bike was probably going to have to sit in our storage barn taking up precious space that a love seat or donated sofa could use. Or worse yet, I pictured me having to store it in my own garage for a while until I figured out what to do with it. “Boy….I wish he would have only called me with a new bike to offer to the ministry”, I thought to myself. I was even a little annoyed, but in order to get the prize of the new bike, I begrudgingly took the used bike.
About a week later, as I was working on a myriad of other ministry busy work at home, I got another phone call from one of my fellow parishioners, Elisa. Elisa was calling to ask me if I was still in charge of the St. Vincent De Paul Conference or not. I answered her “Yes. Why?” She went on to explain to me how their son was friends with a boy named Drew at school whose family needed help. She was wondering if our ministry might be able to help or not. I said to her “Well I’m not sure. What is it that they need?”
“Well” she went on to explain “Drew is 15 and his father died about 10 years ago, and now his mother has developed cancer. She’s in bed quite a bit of the time. They don’t have much money, because she’s gotten so bad health wise that she can’t work anymore, and with no dad in the picture…it’s just tough. We’ve given him rides sometimes to and from school and to extracurricular events with our son, and we’ve been able to talk to him some. He works and goes to school, and is such a nice kid. We asked him what he needed and he indicated he needs a new pair of working boots as he’s outside a lot and it's winter. Would you guys in St. Vincent be able to help them out possibly and get him some nice working boots?”
I pondered a bit, and said “Yes. I’m sure we could figure out a way to get Drew some working boots”.
“And maybe some nice warm socks, too, to go with the boots?” asked Elisa.
“Sure. We can do some socks, too. No problem” I replied.
Elisa then went on further, “You know, we also asked him what he really wanted for Christmas. You know what Drew said?”
“No. What did he say he wanted for Christmas?” I quizzed her further.
Elisa explained, “Well, Drew works a couple of miles away from his house. So he really wanted the boots to wear in the cold weather to keep his feet warm on days when he walks to and from work. But, when we asked him what he wanted for Christmas, he told us how some days his Mom insists on trying to get up out of bed or off the sofa when she really shouldn’t and tries to drive him, even when her illness has her feeling way down. Drew told us that he’d like to have something that would keep her from having to do that. He told us he’d really like a bike for Christmas to ride back and forth from work. He told us he doesn’t need anything special at all. In fact, it could be a used bike. You guys don’t have a way to get a bike for him, do you?”
As I listened to Elisa tell me this, my heart felt like it sunk 10 stories in 10 seconds! What a fool I had been during the few days between the phone call from the beautiful man who had called with the two bikes (one new and one used mind you), one of which he carefully and lovingly refurbished to be just about brand new. I should have been praying to God to “lead me to the right place for this gift to go”, but I was too foolish for that. Instead I was worrying about where we were ever going to store it, and how we ever would get rid of it. In spite of me, God worked around me, and truly orchestrated every thought, every feeling, and every inspiration of so many people along the way to achieve what He wanted, which was for this bike to get into the hands of an innocent teenager who made a special request. He inspired the gentlemen who refurbished the bike to want to fix it up and donate it somewhere. They were led to call the St Vincent De Paul ministry in our church. God then placed it on Elisa's heart and her family's heart to spend time with Drew and observe him, and ultimately to ask him what he needed. Then, once they heard Drew's answer, they ultimately came to a place where they were inspired to call St Vincent De Paul ministry and ask for help for Drew.
“Yes, Elisa”, I sheepishly answered on the phone, “I know just the right place to find a bicycle built for Drew.”
God absolutely works in this world of ours today. We just have to be open to looking for it, and be open to letting Him in. Sometimes, even when our thoughts are full of doubt, He is still there making what He wants to happen occur. These little "mini-miracles", like this used bike story that played out over the course of a couple of weeks, are not just coincidences I am convinced!
