Father Mike Kerin baptizes one of the newest members of Holy Spirit mission in Winfield, Ala., another sign that the mission community is steadily growing.

After 35 years of nurturing the Alabama Catholic communities of Holy Spirit in Winfield and Holy Family in Fayette, Glenmary has returned both missions, effective July 1, to the Diocese of Birmingham for continued care.

Glenmary missioners arrive in a mission county with the goal of establishing a Catholic community that will one day have a stable and growing congregation; be financially independent; have a solid and educated lay leadership; have a strong Catholic identity and have positive relationships with other Christian churches; be connected to the larger community through many social outreach projects. When this happens, Glenmary knows it’s time for the mission community to be returned to the local diocese for continued care and for the missioner to move on to another county that lacks a Catholic presence.

And that is what Father Mike Kerin has done. He has served as the pastor of the two missions serving Marion, Lamar, Fayette counties since 2001. On Pentecost Sunday, he focused his homily on nine strengths, or gifts that he has observed in these two mission over the past six years. These strengths, he preached, are gifts of the Holy Spirit. “As I was preaching, I saw lots of heads nodding in agreement,” Father Mike said.

The first gift that these two mission parishes possess, he says, is parishioners’ strong devotion to the Eucharist and to the sacraments. “They are vitally interested in making sure that they have a resident pastor and daily access to the sacraments,” says Father Mike. “There was a little bit of a panic when they heard that Glenmary was returning the parish to the diocese because they thought they wouldn’t have a priest.” That will not be the case. After July 1 Father Tim Pfander, a diocesan priest, will pastor both missions.

The missions also possess a great gift of hospitality. This is a gift found most commonly in churches in the rural south, Father Mike told the congregations. And it’s a gift that these small missions (Holy Spirit, Winfield, has about 100 families; Holy Family, Fayette, has about 40 families) definitely have. They practice old-style Southern hospitality, Father Mike says, putting newcomers at ease and making them feel at home.

The gift of community follows closely that of hospitality. “We socialize well!” Father Mike says. Parishioners share food after Mass each Sunday and care for each other throughout the week.

Parishioners also have a gift for taking responsibility for their church. “They know that this isn’t ‘Father Mike’s church’ or (pastoral associate) ‘Sister Peggy’s church,’ but that the responsibility for the church belongs to everyone,” Father Mike says. “This attitude, too, is not easy to find in every Catholic community.”

Building off that sense of responsibility is a high level of participation among members. “Everyone in the parish does something,” Father Mike says. “And a lot of people do more than one thing. We have a book with lists of all our ministries and committees and lots of people listed more than once!”

“It’s not easy being Catholic in this area,” Father Mike says, and that’s why each community shows courage. For example, recently there was a story in the newspaper that quoted a man who said that Catholics weren’t Christians!

Father Mike took the opportunity to write a letter to the editor that focused on Christian unity. “The people here have to deal with that kind of thing all the time,” he says. “But they hold their heads high, and they’re proud to be Catholic.”

A concentrated effort on caring for the sick is also a strength of the communities. “They take food (to homebound parishioners) and visit people in the hospital,” Father Mike says. “I get lots of calls from folks in the parish making sure that I know someone is in the hospital.”

Both communities also have a great sense of family, creating an atmosphere of an extended family. “The people here go out of their way to care for kids,” Father Mike says. “Kids are safe here and everyone keeps an eye on them.”

And finally, there is the gift of simplicity. “We don’t have a lot, but we make do with what we have,” Father Mike says. “If we need something out of the ordinary, we raise the funds for it. But really our needs are very simple—and that’s a gift!”

Many of the members of both missions don’t remember a time when Glenmary wasn’t ministering in their counties. John and Jackie DeBlieux came to the Holy Spirit in 1980. John, involved in music ministry for 19 years, was ordained a deacon last year, the first religious vocation from the parish.

“If Glenmary hadn’t come to this area, we probably wouldn’t have a parish,” John says. “They’ve helped develop the Catholic presence and have helped us obtain the nice facilities we have. We’ll miss the Glenmary presence in the community, but at the same time, we’re excited to become a parish of the diocese. It’s a real bittersweet feeling.”

Young people often move away from the area to find work because of the lack of industry in the area “making it hard to grow a parish,” Father Mike says, “but it’s growing slowly.”

The missions have been blessed by the Holy Spirit. The seeds planted by Glenmary missioners over the years will be well-tended and will continue to grow as these two missions enter a new era of their history.

This article originally appeared in the July 2007 Boost-A-Month Club Newsletter