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The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) reports only 33 percent of the 64 million Catholics in the United States practiced their faith last year. Those who have left the church cite a myriad of reasons for their decision not to practice - from lack of time to issues of abuse. As the theological and socioeconomic debate rages on, it all boils down to one’s own personal journey of life and faith.In this year when the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend is celebrating its Sesquicentennial Jubilee Year, evangelization and inviting non-practicing Catholics back to the church is a theme in several of the programs, including Wells of Hope, taking place in the weeks ahead. Many have returned to the church and find new hope there. Here are two inspiring personal stories of faith renewal and social transformation.
Jon Cooper speaks with deep reverence of his involvement in his Catholic faith, much of which is fostered these days within the Third Order of Franciscans and at his home parish, St. Therese in Fort Wayne. Cooper and his wife Elaine have been married 21 years and are raising four beautiful children, all of whom attend Catholic schools.
They both are involved in several ministries at their parish, including cantoring and ministering the Eucharist. But it wasn’t always that way. Cooper recalls a time following the many losses his family suffered, including the early death of his father and the death of his brother serving in Vietnam, when he questioned the importance of his faith. “No one (in my family) was going to Mass. No one made me go, and I just fell away,” he says.
Cooper admits his main encounter with God during his teens and early 20s was in nature while he hunted. Then in his late 20s a curious encounter with a Jehovah’s Witness provided a springboard to a reinvestigation of his own faith.
In 1981, after a decade of being away from the church, Cooper attended reconciliation at St. Therese Parish. Finding the experience surprisingly renewing, he registered at the parish and subsequently attended a Christ Renews His Parish (CRHP) retreat. “That was a neat experience,” he says.
“If I hadn’t have gone, it would have taken a lot longer to get where I am now.”
Cooper has since become a eucharistic minister, traveled to Assisi twice and studied and professed his vows in the Third Order of Franciscans. He is currently formation director of the fraternity there.
“I’m glad I’m where I’m at,” says this believer. “God is leading, because I couldn’t be doing it on my own.”
To others who may be seeking spiritual renewal Cooper recommends, “Think about it and pray. Talk to somebody. They will find truth and honesty in it.”
Mike Eichhorn, parishioner at St. John Parish in Davison, Mich., agrees. Eichhorn, who was raised in the Catholic faith, felt he led a “selfish lifestyle” only to find a returning sense of God shortly after his young mother suffered an incapacitating stroke. He and his father prayed fervently in the hospital chapel for her recovery. The realization of his selfishness led him to prayer and a deeper relationship with God. As he adjusted his lifestyle, Eichhorn met his beloved Therese and they were soon married.
Tragically, after only a few months of marital bliss Therese was diagnosed with cancer. Following a grueling liver transplant surgery, the couple enjoyed three-and-a-half years together before the cancer returned and claimed Therese’s life.
During that time, though his career in television as sales and then general manager of Fox TV was successful, his involvement with a church was sporadic at best. Some time after his wife’s death, as he sought direction in his life without her, the grief stricken Eichhorn found himself in Hawaii with friends experiencing a lunar eclipse.
“As I watched that eclipse, I felt her cross over,” he recalls and knew it was time to move on. He began dating his assistant, Angela, who had been a friend to Therese, and the two married and now are expecting their third child this year. As his family grew, his faith called out to him.
Involvement within the church began as he and his wife investigated the faith through the RCIA program. “I got an understanding of the changes in the church. It helped me remember how to be Catholic,” he says.
His new wife converted to the faith and soon they had found a spiritual home where he is involved with adult faith education and she with RCIA. Following the birth of his first child, he developed a home-based business, Crossroads Marketing and Consulting, Inc., to have more time with his family.
Crossroads negotiates television, radio and billboard contracts for several dioceses across Michigan and the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, and he is pleased to integrate his faith into his business dealings.
Eichhorn encourages those interested in returning to the faith to “take the first step and come home.” He offers reassurance saying, “I was scared and guilty. I thought ‘how do I start?’”
From his own experience Eichhorn understands there are a multitude of reasons why a person falls away from the church and says emphatically, “Don’t use fear as a reason not to go. Talk to a local priest or someone in RCIA. You won’t be judged. The community of the church wants you back!”
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