Rekindling the spirit

Jessica Garrison

Johnny Golde grew up as a staunch Catholic, but then she moved from the

Midwest to California and somehow slipped away from the church.

Years passed, and Golde’s grandson was born. Golde realized she wanted

the little boy to grow up Catholic, although her own daughter had not.

And she realized that she wanted to return to the church.

But she’d been away so long, she wasn’t sure how to get back.

The Re-Membering Group at Our Lady Queen of Angels in Newport Beach

helped her get there.

The group, started by parish nun Sister Agatha Fimon, helps lapsed

Catholics return to the fold.

Many people left the church years ago because they got divorced or did

something they feel would be unpardonable, and they don’t know how to

come back, said Marie Romano, a parish member who helped Sister Agatha

get the group going.

“They only remember the fear they felt in the old church,” Romano said.

But in the wake of Vatican II, the changes to church doctrine made in the

1960s, the church is a very different place, she said. “They don’t know

the love in today’s church.”

That’s where Golde and Romano come in.

Armed with phone numbers and addresses of lapsed Catholics who have

expressed a desire to rekindle their faith, the two women invite people

back to the church.

Then, once a week for six weeks, they meet in the church with cookies,

embraces, and frank talk about life, forgiveness and faith.

At the end of that time, they rejoin the parish.

They can start taking communion again, and many of the people from the

program become the most active parish members.

Fimon, Golde and Romano have organized a team of parish members who work

to bring people back into the church.

“We are people who have returned to the church, who have special

talents,” Golde said.

One person is skilled with computers and writing and helps write agendas

for the group.

Two others bake cookies and cakes, and provide refreshments for the group

to munch on while they bear their deepest fears and feelings.

But the soul of the group is Fimon, and the frank conversation she

fosters, Romano and Golde said.

Many who come have divorced and believe that they can no longer be a part

of the church.

“People come to the first meeting, and they feel so shy and humiliated,

and they don’t feel like they belong,” Romano said. “We make it a

supportive environment.”

Others were turned off by the formalism and distance in the old church,

and are not aware that the Catholic Church now says the Mass in English

instead of Latin and makes an effort to connect with parishioners.

“We believe the spirit leads them to us,” Golde said.

Both women said one of the greatest things about their group, is that it

is also able to effect changes in families.

“We really reach so deeply into families,” Romano said.

Golde’s husband, who is not Catholic, converted after her experience,

Golde said.

Working with the group has also wrought great changes on her own soul,

Romano said.

“Before, I was a pew potato,” she said. That’s like a couch potato,

except instead of hanging out in front of the television, she spent her

time in the back of the church, listening to the sermon but not involving

herself deeply in the parish’s activities.

Fimon, who is away on vacation and not available to talk about the group,

changed all that.

“Dear old sister Agatha got a hold of me,” she said. And not only has she

changed many lives, but her life has not been the same.

For more information on the group, call Romano at (949) 548-3844 or

Golde, (949) 721-0496 or the church at (949) 644-0200.