‘Welcome Home to Healing’

HAWTHORNE  The first scene begins with the opening of front doors of a church — dramatic symbolism that introduces a new video to promote “Welcome Home to Healing.” This diocesan program invites the faithful to receive God’s forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation at local churches on Monday nights during Lent, starting on March 2.

Released online on the Diocese’s website (www.rcdop.org) last week, the short video for “Welcome Home to Healing” — one in English and another in Spanish — spotlights the personal testimonies and teachings from several diocesan faithful, including clergy, religious and laity, about how going to confession can help the faithful feel at peace, as well as “return home” to the Lord and perhaps to his Church. This marks the first time that the Diocese has promoted “Welcome Home to Healing” — which was started 12 years ago by Bishop Serratelli — with the videos. Filmed at St. Anthony Church here, they feature insights by people, such as Salesian Sister Colleen Clair, principal of St. Anthony School of the parish.

“It [Reconciliation] is the sacrament of bringing us back together with God,” said Sister Colleen, her words punctuated by footage of a man kneeling in a pew at St. Anthony’s making the Sign of the Cross. “It serves every Catholic for every time, when we’ve done the wrong thing — and all of us do. So here we are, in need of God’s forgiveness. Instead of having to wait until the end of our lives and face judgment for that, we have the opportunity now to set ourselves right with God…sin no longer has a hold on me. I’m free,” she says.

The videos promote “Return Home to Healing,” which begins on the first Monday of Lent. Once again, faithful of the Diocese are invited to experience God’s healing love and forgiveness through Reconciliation. Catholic churches in Morris, Sussex and Passaic counties will have their doors open for confession every Monday night from March 2 to March 30, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. For more than a decade, Catholics from around the Diocese and beyond have “come home” and experienced God’s healing love through the sacrament of Reconciliation. The program also seeks to draw the faithful into the holy season of Lent.

Viewers can watch the 3-minute, 33-second video on the “Welcome Home to Healing” website, www.welcomehometohealing.org; the diocesan website, www.rcdop.org; the web site of St. Paul Inside the Walls: the Diocesan Center for Evangelization in Madison at www.insidethewalls.org; and on St. Paul’s Face Book page. Father Stephen Prisk, diocesan vice chancellor, priest-secretary to the Bishop and weekend assistant at St. Anthony’s, who co-coordinated the project, sent to parishes an “e-blast” email, so they can download the video to post on their websites. Many local Catholics have been sharing the video on social media.

“These videos are a different way for us to promote ‘Welcome Home to Healing,’ ” said Father Prisk, who coordinated the project with Caitlin Ferrari, St. Paul’s communications and technology coordinator. He noted that the videos complement other methods that the Diocese has used in the past to promote the program, including billboards, signs at the parishes, newspaper ads and online ads. “These videos are cost-effective and will catch people’s attention. We hope that they inspire people who are a regular part of our parish communities to go to confession regularly, and for people, who haven’t gone in a while, to come back,” he said.

The videos capture the personal experiences and teachings of a broad range of Catholics including Father Prisk; Father Cesar Jaramillo, parochial vicar at St. Peter the Apostle Parish, Parsippany; Sister Colleen; Dennis Griffith, a parishioner of St. Anthony’s; Genesis Balarezo of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson; and Jessica Diaz, wife of Justo Diaz of Chari Films of the Bronx, N.Y., which produced the video. It was filmed over two days last November, Father Prisk said.

The opening shot of the video also dramatizes the program’s purpose of welcoming the faithful back to God’s forgiveness and back to the Church. It shows Father Prisk opening the doors of St. Anthony Church and walking through them, blessing himself with Holy Water and then walking up the aisle of a darkened worship space to a lighted altar. Later in the video, Griffith talks about Reconciliation “relieving yourself of the burden of sin. You want to get that out of your mind, out of your heart. It’s that feeling of overall peace,” says Griffith, shown sitting in a pew, followed by shots of Christ on the cross above the altar of St. Anthony Church.

In the video, Father Jaramillo invites people to confession, saying, “If you are afraid or hesitant about approaching the Sacrament of Reconciliation again or perhaps for the first time, just know that it is just like a father that continually awaits the return of his son or daughter.” Underscoring his teaching is footage of the priest hearing Griffith’s confession, giving him his penance and blessing him.

During the two-day shoot, Ferrari wrote out questions for the Catholics who appear in the video and interviewed them. Calling the project “a success,” she also said, “People’s insights about why they go to Reconciliation enhanced my appreciation of confession.”

Over the years, parishes have welcomed many Catholics back to the Church in the Sacrament of Reconciliation through “Welcome Home to Healing.” Some priests have reported hearing confessions from people who had not been to church in more than 30 years. Often, churches have stayed open longer to accommodate all those seeking to go to confession on Monday evenings in Lent. People who may not feel comfortable going to confession to their own parish priest can simply head to a nearby church or even visit a parish on their way home from work, Father Prisk said.

In his letter of personal invitation on the “Welcome Home to Healing” website, Bishop Serratelli writes, “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,” Bishop Serratelli writes. “Now is the time to meet the Lord in confession and know the joy of coming home.”