Lake Orion — The worldwide phenomenon of the Alpha Course is bringing people to a love of Jesus Christ, and and may be just the effective evangelization tool Catholic parishes have been searching for, in the view of a local deacon.
The Church has devoted a lot of effort to developing catechetical materials to impart the details of Catholic teaching, but that isn’t of much use unless people first have an enthusiasm for Jesus Christ that makes them want to know more about the faith, says Deacon Steve Mitchell of St. Joseph the Worker Parish in Lake Orion.
“We have to find a way to move the Church from a maintenance Church to a mission Church, and Alpha just seems to be a very effective tool for this,” says Deacon Mitchell, national director for Alpha for Catholics.
He sees the 10-week course as a way of reaching out to the unchurched and lapsed Catholics, and also reenergizing the faith of those in the Church.
More than 16 million people in 168 countries and 100 languages around the world have taken the Alpha Course already, and it is being offered by Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican and Protestant churches.
It’s basic Christianity presented with energy and enthusiasm, and Deacon Mitchell says Catholics should not have to go to some Evangelical megachurch to hear that message Although it originated with an Anglican parish in London, England, the Alpha Course has received enthusiastic endorsements from Catholic cardinals, bishops and archbishops. One of its strongest supporters is Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, the Franciscan friar who has served both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI as preacher to the papal household.
But while those endorsements answer the question of whether it’s OK for parishes to offer the course, the main reason to do so is the effect is has on those who take it, as Deacon Mitchell explains.
“Once people fall in love with the Lord, everything changes. Then they want to study Scripture and learn about the faith, and it’s the job of their parishes to feed them good solid catechesis,” he says.
Only a relative handful of parishes have offered the course so far in the Archdiocese of Detroit, though more are gearing up to do so. But the results have been similar whether the parish is suburban or urban, English-speaking or Spanish-speaking, he continues.
“Holy Redeemer in southwest Detroit has offered it in Spanish, and Msgr. (Donald) Hanchon says of the people who have taken the course that lives are reordered, and they put their time, talent and treasure at the disposal of the Church; they take Communion to the sick and they engage in ministry,” Deacon Mitchell says.
“Tom and Ann Graves of St. Paul on the Lake Parish in Grosse Pointe Farms began offering the course in their home, and are now offering it at the parish. They say lapsed Catholics have come back, and are now engaged in Bible study,” he says.
At Presentation/Our Lady of Victory Parish in Detroit, parishioners went door-to-door to promote the course, and after it was all over, 25 people who were totally new to the parish had become parishioners.
The course involves a series of talks — which can be delivered live, but most parishes use the DVDs — preceded by an informal meal and followed by small-group discussion in which “guests” are encouraged to raise questions they might have.
The talks were written, and are delivered on the DVDs, by the Rev. Nicky Gumbel, vicar of Holy Trinity Brompton, in London.
There is a retreat — some parishes make it a whole weekend, while others just do it on a Saturday — which offers the opportunity to get into some of the more specifically Catholic aspects of liturgy, sacraments and belief.
Besides promoting the course to other Catholic parishes, Deacon Mitchell is now leading it for a third time at St. Joseph.
Joe and Stacey Zmilkly, members of St. Joseph Parish, are among the younger members among the 55 people currently taking the course at their parish.
Joe Zmikly says he likes how Rev. Gumbel uses “real-world examples” and “takes simple truths and makes them understandable and challenges us to be more holy.”
Fellow St. Joseph parishioner Tom Brandon, who is attending the course with his wife, Sherry, says the course has helped fill a “spiritual hole.”
“The presentations by Nicky Gumbel are evidence-based, which I suppose could be expected from a Cambridge-trained attorney,” Brandon said, referring to Rev. Gumbel’s previous career as a lawyer.
For more information about the Alpha Course in a Catholic Context, call Deacon Steve Mitchell at (248) 7899-5764
