Women share in prayer for fallen away Catholics

By Tanya Connor
The Catholic Free Press

DOUGLAS – When Kathy Archambault was a religious education coordinator at St. Denis Parish, she noticed that many young people disappeared after completing the program and even their parents stopped attending Mass. So did members of her own family.
These experiences – and the sense of a new calling – moved her to start the St. Monica Circle at St. Denis last year. The group brings together, for prayer and sharing, people who are concerned about loved ones who’ve left the Church.
Although now retired and attending St. Louis Parish in Webster, she is still part of the group at St. Denis.
“St. Monica is the perfect saint for this, because she prayed for a really long time and didn’t give up,” Mrs. Archambault said. St. Augustine, the wayward son she prayed for, became a saint and a Church father.
St. Monica Circle members and others recently prayed a novena for lapsed Catholics.  
Cheryl Mauro, St. Denis’  religious education director and circle leader, said they had up to 100 views on Facebook on the novena night.
A small group of people meet at 6:30 p.m. the first Tuesday of the month to share stories of concerns and successes, those involved said. They’re mostly mothers, but men are welcome too.
“I think it’s a refreshing presence in a parish, because we are in an evangelization mission in the Church, to bring back Catholics who have been away,” said Father Miguel A. Pagan, St. Denis’ pastor. “These ladies are playing the role of St. Monica. … If God made that miracle for St. Augustine, he can do it for any person. … The Church has benefitted from this [for] over 1,500 years.”
Mrs. Archambault said she found that after teenagers were confirmed, “you didn’t see them anymore, you didn’t even see the parents.”
“A lot of these people were very close-knit,” she said. “We had this connection and then they were gone.”
Other religious educators have shared similar experiences at meetings, and she has read that many people identify as former Catholics.
She said she prays daily for those who left the Church and has been asking St. Monica’s intercession for years.
In January 2022, she was reading Brandon Vogt’s book Return: How to Draw Your Child Back to the Church and was drawn to a suggestion for starting a St. Monica ministry.
“It was very clear to me that this was something I was being called to do,” she said. “People need to be praying more.”
She talked with Father Nelson J. Rivera, then St. Denis’ pastor, about starting a group, and he agreed.
So, she and Nancy Norberg, pastoral associate, planned a holy hour for Lent in 2022 to pray for inactive Catholics, followed by sharing of information about St. Monica.
After that, some parishioners began meeting to pray, talk and discuss books that may be helpful for reaching out to fallen-away Catholics, including a book about St. Monica, she said.
Group member Cindy Murphy suggested the name “St. Monica Circle,” since people who leave the Church can circle back, Mrs. Archambault said.
“It’s slow, but things are happening,” Mrs. Archambault said.
Speaking of her loved one who is part of a Protestant congregation and loves Jesus, she said, “I’m having much better dialogue.”
She said another group member rejoiced when her grandchildren were finally baptized.
At last month’s novena, participants spoke of hopeful signs.
Mrs. Mauro said one of her daughters, who doesn’t go to church, brought a copy of the New Testament to read while waiting at a doctor’s office, saying, “I’m really starting to read this now.”
While they were shopping, her daughter admired some rosary beads.
“I grabbed those rosary beads and said, ‘Mom’s going to buy these for you,’” Mrs. Mauro said.
With lapsed Catholics, she said, “you just want to open that door, not hit them over the head.”