With the help of the diocesan Office of Parish Stewardship and Development, Father George Johnson, administrator of St. George Parish in George West is reawakening the spiritual life of the parish, which will celebrate its centennial in 2016.
Father Harold Purcell first brought the faith to the new town in a chapel car in 1915, shortly after the town’s founding in 1912. The new town included a number of Polish, Bohemian and German families that together with the Irish and Mexican families already there formed a strong nucleus for the Catholic faith.
The early going for the new church, much like the early going of the new diocese, was met with disaster. The church built in 1916 was heavily damaged by the hurricane that hit the area in August of that year. Three years later, the 1919 hurricane destroyed the rebuilt church again. Like the diocese, the George West church showed plenty of spunk.
In 1920, Father David Buckley began visiting the mission church and moved in as permanent pastor two years later. With contributions from the faithful the church was rebuilt and was reset on a strong foundation, both physically and spiritually.
That spirit of determination continues to this day. Stewardship for treasure is not a concern for Father Johnson. “People are always generous,” he said.
Indeed the St. George campus, including the church, office, parish hall and rectory, are maintained in excellent condition. What Father Johnson noticed was that too many of the faithful were simply “doing routine stuff.” Attending Mass on Sunday seemed like a duty.
“I am not saying there is no faith. Faith is there, but all of us need some awakening,” Father Johnson said.
Father Johnson started this reawakening by explaining the different parts of the Mass each Sunday. Then he heard that the Office of Parish Stewardship and Development could provide help so he gave them a call. Director Cande De Leon met with Father Johnson and Ethel Dulak was assigned to work with the parish.
“Father George is very spiritual, very likable. He knows how to lead. The people love him and feel comfortable with him,” Dulak said.
Father Johnson, who has three paternal uncles who are priests, received his training to the priesthood in his native India from the Jesuits. After several years as a Jesuit, he came to the Diocese of Corpus Christi in 2007 where he was incardinated as a diocesan priest. His first assignment was at St. Joseph in Alice and arrived at St. George in 2009.
Since Father Johnson knew most of his parishioners by name, he had built up a good rapport. This allowed him to choose people for the new stewardship committee from different age groups, cultural backgrounds and ethnicities.
St. George, Dulak said, is more active than it had ever been in stewardship and has accomplished more in a very short period of time. Since initiation of the stewardship campaign a year ago, the parish has undertaken five projects.
Stewardship usually involves time, talent or treasure. As indicated, St. George was already providing the needed treasure. Father Johnson wanted a stewardship campaign that would enrich, not the parish treasury, but its spiritual life.
“My focus was families and deepening of the faith,” Father Johnson said. “I was looking for more than going to Mass on Sunday as the only commitment to God.”
The campaign started with a prayer card commitment. Cards were handed out at Sunday Masses where parishioners pledged instead of money a prayer commitment. Some of the options in the card were to pray the rosary weekly, engage in daily prayer, etc. To Father Johnson’s pleasant surprise, 450 prayer card pledges were returned.
During Advent, families were asked to work together on gathering information on their heritage and working at home to build a family frame to display at the church. Three hundred families were invited and 50 responded with a family photo that was hung in the church’s Christmas tree.
“This symbolized that families make up the Church,” Dulak said.
During Lent, the parish stewardship committee handed out pieces of cloth to parishioners for them to make a family crest, depicting its family values. Families were also assigned Bible readings and prayers every week.
“Father gave each family a piece of cloth and asked them to pray together, read scripture, prepare a meal together and eat as a family. They were to put into practice what we do in the Mass in the domestic church, which is the family,” Dulak said.
The parish handed out 220 pieces of cloth and 80 were returned, enough to make two banners. The banners were processed into church during Mass and were hung on either side of the altar.
On Feb. 11, as part of World Marriage Day, St. George honored couples that had been married 39 or more years, in keeping with the theme “journey to the promised land.” Father Johnson renewed the vows for 46 couples that were honored with a dinner after Mass in the Parish Hall.
The latest project of the stewardship committee was a couples retreat in which couples learned about elements of spiritual renewal in a marriage, such communications, spending quality time with their spouse and involving God in the union. Eighteen couples participated.
In addition to these projects, the parish bulletin is used to introduce a family every week and for children to write about their experiences. The parish continues with many of its regular activities such as maintaining its food pantry, its prayer blanket ministry for the sick, a healing Mass attended by 200 during a weekday, a Spanish Mass celebrated on the fourth Sunday of each month, a strong prison ministry and other projects.
“Faith has to be shown in the way we live, it’s not just me and my God. We are not an individual salvation, we have a collective salvation; my salvation comes from others because I belong to a community of believers,” Father Johnson said.
It is hard to measure, but both Father Johnson and Dulak believe that the program is being successful. Attendance at Masses is up, the number of volunteers is up and, while individual contributions are the same, the number of contributions and the total of contributions have increased.
“Change is a slow process. What we are used to doing sometimes needs a lot of shaking to throw us off the comfortable zone. I’m hopeful, and I really can feel that there is a lot more of interaction and knowing one and another,” Father Johnson said.
The stewardship committee is taking a break while Father Johnson in on vacation, which unfortunately was interrupted by the death of his brother. Plans for future projects include something for youth in July.
While youth is the next focus, Father Johnson plans to reach out to families that are staying away from church and provide support for widows and widowers.