By Christina Leslie | Staff Writer

Two Mercer County parishes are taking steps to guide their flocks to a closer, more personal relationship with their Savior via the “ARISE together in Christ” Scripture and faith-sharing program. The three-year ongoing event will begin its first 90-minute six-week sessions in early October in St. James Parish, Pennington, and St. Alphonsus Parish, Hopewell.

“If we have a group that can get excited about their faith and wanted to stay together, wouldn’t it be wonderful,” said Nancy Lucash, director of religious education in St. James. She had seen the program reap rich rewards in the parish when it was first offered in the late 1980s and, again, in 2000 and was pleased when pastor Msgr. Michael J. Walsh proposed it once again.

“He had seen it succeed in his previous parishes,” Lucash recalled. “He came to me and said, ‘This can help the faith life of all in the parish.’” Msgr. Walsh, who also serves as administrator of St. Alphonsus Parish, decided the two faith communities should develop core teams of coordinators and host the program simultaneously.

 “ARISE Together in Christ” was designed by RENEW International, a Plainfield-based organization which fosters spiritual renewal efforts in Catholic parishes and dioceses. The three-year, parish-centered program builds small faith-sharing groups led by a core team of parish coordinators with the intent of enabling people to develop a closer relationship with Christ, grow in community and reach out in service to others.

ARISE participants meet in parishioners’ homes for six 90-minute sessions, each led by a trained member of the parish core team. Faith-sharing materials contain prayer, Scripture reading, reflections and guided discussions. The sessions, held in the fall or spring, each have a different topic; the first, to commence the week of Oct. 5, is entitled “encountering Christ today.”

“It’s not a lecture series,” Luchash cautioned. “People do not just sit and listen, but share where God is in their lives. We start with the experiential… show how God is present in their lives as they celebrate an event in their family.

The two parishes began preparations last fall, then team members, and Msgr. Walsh, participated in a RENEW session in the spring. “We bonded at the end of the six weeks,” Lukash remembered.

“It changes the culture of the parish, for everyone is pondering the same weekly theme,” Lukash said. “It can unite people in visible and invisible ways. They become their own faith group. That’s where the Holy Spirit is.”

There is no fee to enroll in the program; each participant will receive a booklet for the sessions. Sign-up weekends at both parishes will be held Sept. 13-14 and 20-21. Sessions begin the week of Oct. 5; times and days vary by parish.

Chris Crow plans to serve as one of St. Alphonsus’ ARISE team leaders. He and wife Ann, have been active in the Hopewell parish’s Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults process for 15 years and had participated in RENEW programs both at St. Alphonsus and their previous parish in St. Louis.

“There was a lot of spiritual growth. We got a great deal out of it,” Crow remembered. “I knew there would be a deepening of our faith and understanding. Strangers became friends, and it was an enriching experience.”

For further information on the ARISE programs at St. James and St. Alphonsus, contact the parish core teams at [email protected] or [email protected].