Article from The Alternative Press.com
Little Flower Blossoms Under Father Andy Prachar
By Laine Adams
4/4/2010
BERKELEY HEIGHTS, NJ - On Palm Sunday, individuals and families of Berkeley Heights’ Church of the Little Flower gathered for its annual Palm Sunday mass and Easter egg hunt. The somewhat unfavorable weather of Sunday’s spring showers and chilly conditions couldn’t prevent families from coming out to watch their children collect the hundreds of treats and colorful Easter eggs left by the Easter Bunny in the field outside the Church. The frantic search for the "golden egg" along with the hopes of collecting a special prize created an engaging and exciting atmosphere for the children as they celebrated the significance and meaning of this special holiday.
Berkeley Heights’ Church of the Little Flower serves as a place for members of the parish to go to find a great sense of belonging within both the church itself and the community at large. It is evident that the Church of the Little Flower holds a population of members who are dedicated and passionate about their faith and are extremely grateful for the welcoming and accepting atmosphere of their religious institution. As a result, a gradual and steady increase has been seen in the number of members the church has welcomed and continues to captivate during the past few years. Preceding this recent increase in participation, the church faced a struggle to engage and maintain its members. The overall involvement of its congregation was declining as the congregants felt they were not receiving what they desired from their experiences with the church.
The addition of Reverend Andrew M. Prachar to the pastoral staff in July of 2008 has ultimately served as the leading catalyst to the church’s rebirth and contributed to its now growing and vibrant congregation. Members of the church no longer feel as disconnected from their place of worship as they have found that new ideas about the running of the church are welcomed and actively encouraged.
Fr. Andy has since proven to be an extremely important entity within the parish and has established a prominent sense of leadership and brought energy to the people of the church. His positive influence has been felt by those working closely with him, including Jean Grisi, a member of the Pastoral Council, who commented, "Fr. Andy has brought energy and a sense of listening to everyone’s ideas. He encourages everyone to share ideas and then lets people run with them. He is visible and cares to get to know people personally." Grisi continued, "Fr. Andy takes feedback and is willing to let people express their ideas all while allocating the responsibility and putting the feedback process in place. He is acting as a leader should -- encouraging people to share their thoughts and facilitate others in getting things done."
The quality of Fr. Andy’s sermons and the messages he sends to the people are of great relevance and importance to their own lives as well as managing to be interesting and engaging. Fr. Andy has placed the principles of respect, openness and welcomeness at the forefront of the church and established an enthusiastic and creative community of faith. It appears that even just small changes have made a substantial impact within the church and the community it nurtures. The communication of the message of the Gospel is informed by the personal life experiences of the Father, enabling the audience to relate to them in a more personal way.
The appeal of the experience of the Church of the Little Flower is, thanks to Fr. Andy, not only about the sacred message being conveyed therein, but is enriched by the sense of community growing out of that message that is now to be found there, and a desire by its members to spur on the blossoming of that community.
It appears that Fr. Andy has indeed succeeded in becoming, as he describes, "The yeast which the dough needs to rise", a true catalyst that was needed for the Little Flower parish to blossom.
