Neighbors no longer ask, 'Where's St. Catherine's?'

Brian T. Olszewski reported in "our" Milwaukee Catholic Herald. When Father John "Jack" Kern arrived as pastor in 2004, he found that people in the neighborhood often didn't know St. Catherine's existed. That lead to what he calls the parish's evangelization effort.

"It opened my mind to the fact that we have to let the draw bridge down over the moat, leave the castle and get out into the community. That was the beginning of our 'Knock, Knock' ministry - not as proselytizers but as neighbors."

The parish is in District 12 and its latest Archdiocesan statistics show for St. Catherine's:

Registered Members: 2005 484; 2006 583;
Average Mass attendance: 2005 202 (42%); 2006 187 (32%);

This doesn't look like the basis for an argument against "proslytizing". A neighbor could drop in at Sunday Mass, see 187 people in the 530 available seats, and still ask "Where's St. Catherine's?"