Deepening their faith

FLORHAM PARK  Lately, Joelyn Hoferer has been wrestling with an unsettling image: that of the final dash that will sit between her birth and death dates on her tombstone one day. That small dash — to represent a life lived between birth and death — has prompted this parishioner of Holy Family here to ask herself some questions to help put her life and faith in sharper focus. They include, “What am I living for?” and “What or whom am I searching for?” — maybe Jesus?

This Lent, Hoferer joined a group of fellow Holy Family parishioners in grappling with that disturbing image of the dash on their tombstones as part of a quest to seek God’s help in answering those and other profound questions as posed by The Search, a book and video series by Chris Stefanick and Paul McCusker. During a series of in-person sessions in the parish hall, parishioners have been exploring The Search, created to awaken, reawaken, or strengthen the faith of people — from believers to skeptics — by offering evidence that Jesus is Lord through a variety of disciplines. Some parishioners are reading the book, published by Lighthouse Catholic Media, at home, said Father Thomas Rekiel, Holy Family’s pastor, who has been leading the sessions.

“The Search shows show that “Jesus came down to earth to relate to and experience our human lives, so he could suffer and die — and ultimately rise — for us to pay the bill for our sins: our salvation,” said Hoferer. At the sessions, participants view a 25-minute film, available on the Catholic on-demand video service, Formed, which expounds on the book’s themes. It is followed by a faith-based discussion. “It also shows that Jesus has such a tremendous love for us,” she said.

Last Advent, Holy Family gave out 4,000 copies of The Search to their neighbors in Florham Park and parts of East Hanover and Madison as a way to ignite their faith. So too did parishioners receive this Lent — benefiting from the book’s insights that challenged and fortified their own beliefs. In the weeks before Christmas, an army of parishioners hit the local streets to evangelize to every household — Catholic and non-Catholic — by hand-delivering copies of the book. A bookmark that displayed Mass times and a parish brochure that outlines the parish’s many ministries were stuffed into each book, said Father Rekiel, who devised book drop — the parish’s second such ambitious holiday outreach.

Among the Holy Family parishioners who hand delivered The Search books were Valerie and Robert McCoy. On their usual walks, they placed 400 books at the front doors of people in several local neighborhoods. Sometimes, the couple, in their 70s, climbed hills or drove to the beginning of routes further from home. Participants were discouraged from ringing their doorbells and actively engaging them in conversation but they were free to speak with the recipients if they engaged them, Valerie McCoy said.

“The people we talked to — even those who were not part of the parish — were very positive. They would say, ‘God bless you’ and ‘I like what our parish is doing,’ ” Valerie McCoy said. “We hope that people read it, learn from it, and consider coming back to the faith and becoming part of the parish,” she said.

In the 25-minute video that started the March 10 session, Stefanick, an internationally known speaker and author, states that Scripture gives us evidence of Christ as Lord through the Old Testament prophets and the Gospels, written by eyewitnesses or their companions. In fact, all of Jesus’ eyewitnesses were willing to die for the truth of their testimony, giving further proof of their claims, said Stefanick, a former parishioner of St. Catherine of Bologna Church in Ringwood, who has spoken to parish groups in the Diocese.

“Jesus is the Son, who entered space and time and rose to conquer sin and redeem us. He came not to wow us but to woo us. He did humbling things to invite us into a relationship with him,” says Stefanick, in one of the videos for The Search. It gives evidence of Christ’s Divinity using Catholic theology and great thinkers, Scripture, history, and science. “Christ died on the Cross to show us what we are made for: love,” he says.

At first, Valerie McCoy was startled that The Search talked about the fact that we are going to die at the beginning of the book.

“But that fact should make us stop and think about what is most important in our lives: the people around us and our faith. This is helping me to become a better person,” McCoy said.

Holy Family’s first big book giveaway took place in Advent 2018. At that time, an army of parishioners went door to door in the local area to distribute 6,000 copies of the book, The Biggest Lie In The History of Christianity, subtitled “How Modern Culture Is Robbing Billions of People of Happiness” by Matthew Kelly, who also has spoken to groups in the Diocese. For both book drops, the parish placed copies at the entrances of the Church for the faithful to read and later, held faith-sharing sessions about the books during Lent, said Linda Sullivan, Holy Family’s office administrator and Protect God’s Children coordinator. She delivered copies of The Biggest Lie in 2018 and with the Knights of Columbus, coordinated the parish-wide effort to distribute The Search last Advent.

“The Search was left on the doorstep for all people,” said Sullivan, who has received a few calls from recipients, thanking them for the book. “Florham Park is an affluent community and sometimes we can mistake material things for making us happy, but in the end, are we happy? The Search redirects our focus for true happiness,” she said.

During the March 10 session, Father Rekiel called The Search program “amazing,” because it is “about faith and life.”

“Many baptized people don’t ask something more of their faith — ‘What am I searching for?’ ” said Father Rekiel, who plans to use the 10, 25-minute videos of The Search in the parish’s family faith formation program. “By giving away the book, we also want to reach people, who are not going to Church. It is not enough for us to stay in the church and complain that more people are not coming. We must go out there and evangelize. I hope that this will have an impact,” he said.