Welcome Home to Healing

PATERSON  As Catholics begin the holy season of Lent, many reflect on how they can come closer to Jesus during this solemn time. Others reflect on finding their way back to the Church. Whether one is an active member of the Church or has been away from the Church and is seeking to return to it, the Paterson Diocese is welcoming all Catholics to experience God’s healing love through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

During Lent, every Catholic Church in the Paterson Diocese will be open for confessions on Monday evenings from March 6 to April 3 from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

Now in its ninth year, the Welcome Home to Healing program continues offering the Sacrament of Reconciliation to mark the season of Lent, a time of prayer, almsgiving, fasting and penance. The Diocese began the annual program during the Lenten season of 2009 to give Catholics the opportunity to “come home” and experience God’s healing love. The purpose of Welcome Home to Healing is to draw the faithful closer to a call of conversion as they prepare for Holy Week and the Easter season.

In a personal invitation from Bishop Serratelli on the Diocese’s webpage for the program (http://www.welcomehometohealing.org/), the Bishop writes, “Nothing is more startling and, at the same time, more consoling than the truth for which Jesus lived and preached and died. It is this: God is love. As the Psalmist says, ‘The Lord is a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, most loving and true’ (Ps 86:15).

“Through the ministry of the Church, God offers us his forgiveness in Christ Crucified and Risen. In the great sacrament of Reconciliation, God is already running to meet us. He wants to welcome us. He wants to exchange our dirty rags of prideful self-indulgence with the righteousness of Christ Crucified. He wants to bring us back into the joy of his home and into the fellowship of his Church. He longs to see us reconciled with himself and with others.

“Like the prodigal son barely able to confess his sins, we, at times, are ashamed and even afraid to name those evils that separate us from God who loves us so much. But the Father is not ashamed to recognize us as his own son or daughter. He longs to wrap his arms around us. He is waiting to welcome us to home,” the Bishop writes. There is also a video on the webpage from the Bishop about the program and the importance of the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

One of the aims to the Welcome Home to Healing program is to see more young adults return to the Church. During the month of March, internet advertising will appear on Facebook to target this audience in order to make them aware of the program. The ads will appear in the “newsfeed” portion in Diocese’s three counties.

Father Kevin Corcoran, diocesan vice chancellor and priest-secretary to the Bishop, who is the coordinator of the program said, “The world needs ‘witnesses of mercy in every sphere,’ people who can help others desire and learn how to forgive. Pope Francis said, ‘This is a task to which we are all called, especially in the face of the bitterness that entraps too many people who need to find again the joy of interior serenity and the taste of peace.’ ”

In addition, the Diocese has once again placed information about Welcome Home to Healing on billboards in several locations to bring awareness to the community. Because the program is also largely aimed toward Catholics who have been away from the Church and/or the Sacrament of Reconcili­ation, the Diocese also has resources for people on how to go to confession, frequently asked questions about the sacrament and how to make an examination of the conscience on the Welcome Home to Healing webpage. A Spanish-language version of the webpage is also available for Spanish speaking Catholics. Priests may also visit the webpage for parish resources.

Throughout the years, many parishes have kept churches opened longer to accommodate the large number of people coming in for confessions. Many priests have also reported hearing confessions from people who haven’t received the sacrament in decades.

With all 111 parishes of the Diocese open for confessions on Monday evenings, people who may not feel comfortable to see his or her parish priest can simply head to a nearby church or visit a parish on their way home from work.

In addition to the Welcome Home program, every parish will continue to celebrate their regularly scheduled penance services. Some parishes may also host their own individual Lenten Reconciliation services and activities.

Father Corcoran said, “God wants us to experience healing at the deepest level in our lives and if we are humble enough to receive it the way that God wants to extend this mercy and forgiveness to us, it can transform our lives. As Pope St. John Paul II said, ‘Be not afraid,’ come to the Sacrament of Reconciliation.”

[Information: www.welcomehometohealing.org.]