What Made You Say "YES LORD! THAT'S THE ONE!"?

I posed a question to my readers last week about what helped them in their decision in finding their Church homes. I received many emails, which I was so thrilled to get as I posed that question because I am in the search for a Church to call home.

I was given permission to use excerpts of certain emails with name and others will be posted as anonymous. I think you will agree with me that these are just fantastic responses and if there was ever a handbook to give out on how to choose a Church, these emails should be it!

I asked several questions about what affected their choices and received responses from all denominations and ages. My first response came from "Karen" (great name don't you think?!*laughs*) and she said:

"Being of the Catholic faith, the only choice for my family in 1979 (when we first landed in Brazil) was Annunciation Catholic Church on North Alabama St ~ sure, we could have chosen to continue at our Parish in Terre Haute, but once meeting Father Spicuzza (now deceased, but I wish you would have had the pleasure of meeting Father) my family knew that we had found "Home" ~ Father was someone that welcomed all with open arms & an overwhelmingly open heart ~ one of a kind type of Priest ~ after I met Father he always knew my name & who I belonged with ~ in later years he also welcomed my husband (a Protestant who Father had known since my husband's childhood), baptized all of my children (5) & gave my three oldest children their First Communion Sacrament ~ Father would call me at work for a favor always with the greeting "My precious angel" ~ which always touched me ~ I worked for a mostly Catholic organization & Father always knew we would jump to assist him in any way ~ we did this out of our love & respect for this great man ~

Father would always lend a hand to anyone of any faith ~ & boy, did he love Brazil ~ he owned many properties & always was helping someone with something ~ whether it was prayers, money or food ~ nothing was impossible with Father on your side ~

Why Annunciation became "Home" to my family ~ I was raised in South Bend (extremely Catholic area) & even without attending parochial schools (in the 60's) ~ I learned quickly that when a Priest was in sight ~ head the other direction ~ I never viewed a Priest as approachable until I met Father Spicuzza ~ most Priests that I ever had contact with were stern & really didn't smile too much ~ same goes for the Nuns in that era ~ then we landed in Terre Haute in 1973 ~ same experience ~ I never experienced the friendship of a Priest until my relationship with Father Spicuzza & he was truly a friend to me & many in this community ~

And, now in 2008, my two youngest daughters are learning to be "alter girls" ~ something completely unheard of when I was a child. My middle daughter, now 17, has been a lector during special Masses & will continue this journey during ordinary Sunday Masses. I am currently assisting with the refinement of the prayer list ministry for our Parish ~ & that's another reason that Annunciation is "Home" ~ involvement in our Parish certainly is good for the soul ~"

I loved that response! Now, since I have received so many responses, I will be making this Blog in parts. I want you all to read each response and consider what each person says in conjunction with my initial questions.

My second response came from "Holly" and she wrote:

"I am currently not much of a church goer and that saddens me. I use to be very active in the Catholic church but do to staff and new people, I haven't been much. I like the church family thing. wish there was more of it at my church.

Obama was right in his statement about times being tough and people falling back on religion."

My third response came from "Anonymous #1" and they stated:

"I am a "cradle catholic". I grew up in the church and attended Annunciation School, as well as my father, my children, aunts, uncles cousins, nieces and nephews. I am not much of a church goer at present, but recent changes in staff makes it a greater possibility of my attendance. Our church as been through a lot of changes recently, the school is gone and in its place is an excellent pre-school. Staff changes and people trying to find their place in service to the church has been something that might still need a little ironing out. We had the same priest for 40 years, which is unheard of, so needles to say things have been a little off-kilter since his death. Being that the catholic religion was all that I've known most of my life, I have "checked out" other religions, but keep going back to catholicism. I believe most of what my church stands for, some things need updated, such as birth-control, but all in all I believe. Currently we have a Nigerian Priest and he is hard to understand at times, but the mass is still the same and when I can't understand him, I pray silently to God. There is a peacefulness and beauty to our church and when I hear everyone in unison in mass, my heart beats calmly."

Have you noticed what these have in common so far? They have passion, honesty and a sincere desire to convey these to me!

My next response came from our very own, one and only "Jenny Moore" a fellow blogger here at The Brazil Times and I just thought this one was fascinating in detail and very thought provoking. She gave me permission to use parts of her email, but here was the problem..it was just to good to cut up. In fact, all my responses were too good to chop up and I hope they realize that I chose to use the bulk of them because the content was just too precious to edit. "Jenny Moore" writes:

"I am a little hesitant as I think that what you have asked is more of a popularity poll than can be truly answered by other than yourself. I am not a theologian nor do I have an unbiased view of various Christian faiths [I figure we are limiting this discussion to Christianity as I do not know of any other choice local to Clay county]. I won't even mention my faith so as not to prejudice your choice but will welcome you if you decide that your beliefs are close to mine and I see that we have made like choices. I have however tried to learn about several various faiths, Christian and others, in order to understand them and give them their due validity as simply different roads to take to accomplish the same thing, God's love and approval. Choosing a "brand" of Christianity created by various human beings needs to be a self motivated task. I would suggest first deciding what individual doctrine matches most closely to your own beliefs. This is almost impossible to learn from other members of the various churches as there are so many misconceptions by its own members within individual congregations. For though all began as the catholic [note small case as the word has its origin from the Greek meaning united, universal, and all inclusive church], later, after Rome became the central governing point, different individuals followed different paths to form other Christian branches leaving those who remained to be called the Roman Catholics. Now there are several main Protestant faiths which hold onto different traditions/regulations as well. For example, if you feel that women have just as much right as men to take a leadership role in the church, you may prefer the Presbyterian Church [USA] as opposed to the Presbyterian Church in America as the latter frowns on women serving as deacons or elders. Which one is in Brazil? Something to find out if that's important to you. The Roman Catholic Church has its head governing body in Rome and is patriarchal as well, and has a local parish advisory council that serves as a link between the pastor and church members with regard to decisions made in the parish to allow for personal preferences when they do not conflict with Rome's main rules. If your background is the Orthodox or Greek religion, you will find the Roman Catholic similar in many of its practices. If you follow Episcopalian or Anglican traditions but don't want to travel to Terre Haute each Sunday, you may find one of the Methodist congregations similar as its roots go back to the Anglican church of England if memory serves me [and if it doesn't, someone will correct me I'm sure].

The Baptist church has less of a parental organization but all share certain basic beliefs of evangelism and missions that some of the other Protestant faiths don't regard as equally important. The Pentecostal church too does not have a main governing body but are roughly divided into two groups. Both groups take the Bible literally as being absolute truth and do not allow for the various experiences of the authors to account for mis perceptions or conflicting passages that might not apply to groups other than for whom they were written in era of the author.

There are several other choices in Clay County as well but I don't think it's really necessary to go into all of them in detail but just use these as examples of how it may be more important to the individual to research the beliefs and traditions of the various religions than to simply get a popular opinion poll, as you will find I wager in each church building just as with any group of people, the gamut of beliefs, the gamut of saints and sinners, and the gamut of those who actually know their faith and those who simply attend as a matter of routine or obligation. You cannot decide which one represents your beliefs by which is most popular to those who read your blog. Though it might make interesting reading, you might better attend the ones that you know are alike in your beliefs and then experience the leadership and tone set by the local head of the church, by not only their sermons but by their deeds in daily life. Then see what other members do in their lives between Sundays. That will tell you a lot. When only the talk about how one should lead, or has, or hasn't led their life is the only thing at the forefront, without the practice of Christianity, it also tells you a lot. Being a Christian is not all about a fun time and being "nice" to the person sitting next to you in the pew. It's about getting the message of constantly trying to live up to Christ's expectations of us and then after falling, going back to your church family for refueling so you can go out and try again, even if it not popular. I just don't know how polling on a blog can find those true values without trying each congregation on for proper personal fit."

Wow! Jenny is always so talented at making you look at different sides and really think about the side issues as well!

This next response I received was short and so very candid that it really tugged at my heart. This lady is also searching for a Church home and I am using this part of her letter because it presents a side that has not been mentioned yet. We will call her "Mary" and "Mary" writes:

"I'm really interested in what people say about their churches. I don't know how you are going to ...uh, I don't know the right term for it but basically write your blog. I am looking for a church for my 6yr old and I. We attend First Christian on occasion but my son really loves music and although they have a good kids program, it's just not enough for him evidently. Anyway, I want to stay in town and I'm a little shy so hoping around isn't something I want to do if at all possible."

I really appreciated her point of view from looking for a Church for what it can offer her and her child.

I have more responses and will post them tomorrow. I hope you find this as interesting and inspiring as I have. I will post my final thoughts at the conclusion of this issue. Until then, have a great day and see you tomorrow!!!

Stay Tuned…..

Karen Meister can be reached at:

ksframeofmind@yahoo.com.