Nick Pizana | Special to The Michigan Catholic

Plymouth — Navigating through one’s own spiritual journey can be a tough undertaking, and while many might go through the motions of a typical Catholic experience, completing the sacraments, attending Mass, some people still struggle to maintain a deeper connection with Christ. It was a problem recognized by Fr. John Riccardo, pastor of Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish, Plymouth.

“We’ve received all the sacraments, we’ve been catechized, but if you were to ask people point blank ‘Do you have a deep friendship with Jesus?’ you would get a variety of answers. Some people would say ‘absolutely,’ others would say ‘Gee, I don’t really know,’ which is a telling answer,” Fr. Riccardo said.

“We talk a lot about this, but as it’s being talked about, one the things which became clearer and clearer was that our parish, like many parishes — if  not most parishes — is filled with many people who have become sacramentalized, but not evangelized,” Fr. Riccardo said.

Noticing this disparity in meaningful relationships with Christ, the community of Our Lady of Good Counsel began to offer Alpha courses last September.

The Alpha course seeks to help people navigate their way through the spiritual journey working something like a re-introduction to the Christian faith. Over the span of the 10-week program, members are introduced to a basic proclamation of the Gospel.

The Alpha course was started in 1977 by the Rev. Charles Marnham, curate of a Church of England parish in London, and was originally intended to be an introduction to the basics of the Christian faith for ministers. As interest in the program grew, its mission expanded from educating ministers, to educating everyone. Our Lady of Good Counsel currently has more than 1,000 parish members enrolled in its Alpha course.

“In a group of 1,000 people, we have anything from folks who consider themselves intentional disciplines, people who’ve really made a decision to live as intentional disciples of Jesus; you have other people who come to church all the time, but don’t feel like they really know the Lord. They come to church but don’t really have a deep friendship with him. Other people are there who don’t come to church, or come sporadically, and other people are there who are just seeking.” Fr. Riccardo said.

“We have the whole gambit,” he said.

When asked how Our Lady of Good Counsel was able to have such a strong turnout for the program, Fr. Riccardo responded that the parish had always had a deep emphasis on evangelization.

“We spent a fair amount of time over the last number of years talking very deliberately and explicitly about discipleship. We make it a point to do parish missions every Lent. We preach, and talk very openly about our role as disciples of Jesus, being evangelists and bringing the Gospel into the world in which we live,” Fr. Riccardo said.

“We decided if we’re going to do this, we want to make it possible for as many people to do this as we could, which means eliminating every excuse. So that meant having the entire facility available, and offering it every single day of the week,” he said.

Fr. Riccardo said he has already seen the effects the program has had on the parish, as members gain a new understanding of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross as well as deeper relationships with other members of the parish.

“That’s what God does. God wants not only to draw us closer to Himself, but into really rich, authentic relationships with each other, and so people are really getting to know their neighbors in a way they had never known them, and they want to do more things with each other, which is great.”

Looking forward, Fr. Riccardo and Our Lady of Good Counsel plan to continue offering the Alpha course, as well as follow-up course, called Alpha 2.0, to help people see God at work in their daily lives.

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Nick Pizana is a freelance writer from Lathrup Village.