Religious Education Supplement
SPRED program has ‘a great history’ in the archdiocese
St. Mark the Evangelist parishioner Chuck Ward of Indianapolis, center, sings and uses hand gestures during the archdiocesan SPRED Mass for Special Religious Development participants on April 27, 2008, at St. Mark the Evangelist Church. Joining him as music ministers for the liturgy are, left, St. Mark parishioner and volunteer catechist Jean Milharcic and, right, SPRED participant Nick Shewman from Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ Parish in Indianapolis. For more information about the SPRED program, call Ken Ogorek at 317-236-1446 or 800-382-9836, ext. 1446. (File photo by Mary Ann Wyand)
By Mary Ann Wyand
Friends know when to offer a smile or hug or help.
They like to spend time together and pray for each other during times of need.
In the Indianapolis South Deanery, the adult participants and volunteer catechists in the Special Religious Development (SPRED) program based at St. Mark the Evangelist Parish have become much more than friends.
They have become a small Church community, a close-knit family of faith-filled people who love God and each other.
That is why the SPRED participants—Catholics from St. Mark, St. Jude and Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ parishes in Indianapolis, who have a variety of special needs—call each other friends.
They understand the meaning of friendship, which grows stronger as they support each other and cope with the daily challenges of living with their physical and mental disabilities.
That is also why they wanted to visit St. Mark parishioner Chuck Ward, a SPRED friend, on Feb. 1 after he became ill then needed medical care at an Indianapolis hospital and nursing home.
And that is why SPRED catechists helped his sister, St. Mark parishioner Pat Ward, arrange for social service assistance and a group home for him on the northeast side of Indianapolis.
Now Chuck Ward has a job that he enjoys, and more friends through the Indianapolis North Deanery SPRED program based at St. Andrew the Apostle Parish. He also has SPRED friends from several other parishes in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.
But he misses his old SPRED friends from the South Deanery parishes and looks forward to their group visits as well as a picnic planned in September not long after his 49th birthday.
“It can be very difficult, I think, for a person with disabilities to make contact with other people, and this program has been wonderful in doing that,” Pat Ward explained. “Chuck is a little shy until he gets to know people, and this program broke down all those barriers to friendship. He has always been a very good Catholic so [the SPRED program] has been such a great atmosphere for him. This is an incredible program.”
Trained catechists have taken her brother on a variety of SPRED group outings, she said, which he enjoyed very much.
“The catechists take very good care of him,” Pat Ward said. “One of my concerns was, ‘How will he be taken care of? Will he be safe?’ The catechists know what they are doing.
“It’s a wonderful way for someone with special needs to grow in their faith,” she said. “Chuck has learned to do new things that he didn’t know he was capable of doing, and I have gotten to meet some wonderful people who have had lots of really good advice about how to help me take care of him. No one should hesitate about letting their loved one [with disabilities] participate in this program.”
Because of his developmental challenges, she said, “Chuck remembers what he wants to remember, and he always remembers everything about SPRED. He remembers when the meetings are, and he looks forward to them. I know that he really, really enjoys them.”
Ken Ogorek, the director of catechesis for the archdiocesan Office of Catholic Education, said the SPRED program has “a great history in our archdiocese.”
Chuck Ward’s story is “just one of many examples of how SPRED, by God’s grace, continues to touch people’s hearts and change their lives in many great ways,” Ogorek said. “The program makes the sacraments available to children and adults with developmental disabilities at parishes in the archdiocese. As we look to the future, we hope to enhance our efforts to reach out to folks with special needs, and to make sure that they continue to have access to faith formation and the sacraments.”
Every parish has members with special needs, he said, and the SPRED program helps parishioners become more aware of ways to welcome and include all Catholics at Mass and during activities.
St. Mark parishioner Jean Milharcic is the mother of an adult daughter with physical disabilities, and has enjoyed serving as a catechist in the South Deanery SPRED program for six years.
“The Spirit is really moving with this group, and has brought us close together as a family so we can talk more openly about our faith and our lives,” Milharcic said. “I believe that God opens up opportunities like this for people with special needs as ways to help them. He sent Chuck to our group for us to find a way to help him. Chuck is so close to God, and he has brought all of us so much closer, too.
“I have gotten so much from [volunteering with] this group, and feel like I have been given much more than I have given them,” she said. “As catechists, we’re helping them to totally embrace the sacraments and really understand their catholicity. Sometimes that may seem hard to do when they are mentally challenged, but it’s not that difficult. It is God’s way of saying, ‘I’m going to help you now, and this is your way back into the Church more so than ever before.’ We need people with special needs to be a part of our Church family, and this is something the SPRED program can do. It’s so beautiful to see God working his will for them, which gives us so much insight into our faith. It’s simply believing and trusting, and that’s what they do.”
The archdiocesan SPRED program needs more volunteer catechists in all the deaneries, Milharcic said. “But it’s a commitment that some people are afraid to make because they don’t know what to expect. You just love them. That’s all you need to do. If you want to be able to share God’s love, sign up for the training to become a volunteer catechist. All you have to do is contact one of the parishes that offer SPRED and ask if you can observe a program. Once you do that, you’re hooked on it. It’s a wonderful program.”
St. Mark parishioner Dan O’Brien is a leader catechist for the South Deanery SPRED program. He has volunteered for this faith formation ministry for five years.
“When I first joined the SPRED program, I thought I would be teaching them about the Catholic faith,” O’Brien said, “but they have taught me much more about God and how God creates each of us uniquely. People with disabilities have such an awareness of and closeness with God. It’s touched me deeply. I have learned how to learn from them. Part of our Church’s faith formation is taking care of one another. A parish that does this will have a more faith-filled environment. Everybody benefits from it.” †
