For weeks this spring, Freddie Mae Poole and the Landings ministry team from St. Joseph Parish in Largo, Maryland, along with the Landings International ministry team of the Paulist Fathers, hosted the first National Virtual Landings program to help inactive Catholics from around the country return to practicing the faith.
“I feel great; I feel that we are helping people,” said Poole, the Landings Evangelization Ministry coordinator at her parish.
“We do our best, welcoming everyone, so they can know that they are not being judged, but they’re normal human beings, and by living the sacraments, it helps them to be stronger, and they’re thankful for that,” Poole added.
Freddie Mae Poole serves as the Landings Evangelization Ministry coordinator at St. Joseph Parish in Largo. (Photo from Landings International)
Landings is a reconciliation program that helps parishes’ lay leaders develop a welcoming space where people can share the reasons that led them to walk away from the faith and through the process, find a way back.
After years practicing a different Christian faith and not feeling at home, Joyce Bowie, who grew up Catholic, decided to try the program, and now she is a volunteer with the parish’s ministry.
“I had the faith all along, but it was fragmented. Coming back to Landings, I felt like I landed on my feet. I was where I was supposed to be. I got what I needed to grow spiritually with my faith. And that is why I love Landings, because it’s a good foundation when you’ve been away for so long,” Bowie said.
Returning Catholics participate in a series of virtual meetings in which they share their stories, do faith sharing, and discuss Catholic teachings.
“Virtual Landings has been designed especially at this time of pandemic. Our staff and volunteers assist those returning to the church with compassionate listening. It proceeds along a pathway of welcome to those distanced from the church and wish to return,” said Paulist Father Thomas A. Kane, Landings International’s executive director.
St. Joseph is one of more than 100 parishes in the country offering Landings. Its pastor, Washington Auxiliary Bishop Roy E. Campbell Jr., considers the program a valuable resource.
“Landings helps those who participate to allow God’s Holy Spirit to stir the fire of His love in their lives, giving them hope and purpose in their spiritual lives and a continuing growth in their faith,” Bishop Campbell said.
Washington Auxiliary Bishop Roy Campbell Jr. blesses youth during a November 2018 Mass for Black Catholics and African Catholics at St. Joseph Church in Largo, where he serves as pastor. (CS photo/Jaclyn Lippelmann)
The journey for people considering a return to the faith can be full of emotions, but the program’s small-group approach helps them support one another.
“It can be daunting and intimidating, but it is helpful to know that there are others who have felt the same way you are feeling; everyone needs encouragement,” said Bowie.
St. Joseph Catholic Church is a historic parish founded in 1922 to serve African American Catholics; it has an inviting and increasingly diverse community. Besides Americans, the parish also has a strong representation of immigrants from the Caribbean Islands and more than 12 African countries.
Landings is one of about 25 active ministries in the parish that reach out to parishioners and the nearby community.
In the Archdiocese of Washington, the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in the nation’s capital and Our Lady of Mercy Parish in Potomac, Maryland, also have Landings ministries.
Landings International is planning other virtual sessions for the summer and fall.
(Norma Montenegro Flynn, who writes freelance articles for the Catholic Standard, serves as a media coordinator for Landings International.)
