Inspired by 'Unleash the Gospel,' talk-show host challenges Massgoers to get 'on fire' for Christ

DETROIT — Is going to Mass once a week enough to fulfill one’s “Sunday obligation?”

Well, according to canon law, yes, technically speaking. But a real relationship with Jesus and His Church extends from Monday through Saturday, too, argues Teresa Tomeo in a new book published by Our Sunday Visitor.

Tomeo, the Detroit-area host of Ave Maria Radio and EWTN’s “Catholic Connection” radio show, wrote “Beyond Sunday: Becoming a 24/7 Catholic” partly as a response to Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron’s call to “unleash the Gospel” in the lives and hearts of Catholics, she told The Michigan Catholic.

According to published surveys, just 24 percent of U.S. Catholics attend Mass on Sundays — a staggering statistic on its own — but even among those who do, the mentality of “Only on Sunday Syndrome” is prevalent, Tomeo said.

“It ties in a lot with what Archbishop Vigneron is giving us in (his pastoral letter), Unleash the Gospel,” Tomeo said. “He’s been on my show many times as a regular guest, and one of the questions I’ve asked him over the years is, ‘How did we get to the point where we have such an incredible faith, so beautiful, so deep and rich, and yet there are so many Catholics in the pews who are not taking their faith beyond Sunday?’”

For many Catholics, having a faith life means having “one foot in the Catholic world and one foot in the secular world,” Tomeo said. But the problem, Tomeo said, is that the world often occupies far too much space.

“Most adults consume anywhere from 9-12 hours of media per day. I’d love to say they’re all listening to Catholic radio and watching EWTN, but that’s not the reality,” Tomeo said. “Even if you hear the best homily every week and you hear the readings on Sunday, when you go back out into the world, most people aren’t absorbing anything but what the secular world is feeding them.”

A cradle Catholic and former secular TV news reporter, Tomeo details her personal faith journey in “Beyond Sunday,” describing how her “whole world turned upside down” when, after crises in her marriage and career, she turned back to a faith she had previously taken for granted.

“We’re kind of the spoiled kids on the block as cradle Catholics. We grow up in this beautiful faith, receiving the sacraments and Holy Communion, and we’re used to the feast days of the saints,” Tomeo said. “We see these things happening, and we don’t necessarily understand the meaning behind it.”

After watching her husband, now-Deacon Dominick Pastore of St. Isaac Jogues Parish in St. Clair Shores, begin to grow closer to God, she longed for the peace he exhibited as a result.

Finally, after fighting against God for so long, Tomeo said, personal roadblocks finally forced her to say “uncle.”

“I offered my life up to God and said, ‘OK, I’m tired of fighting you. You’re in charge. I’m not. It’s your will, not mine.’ And then engaging in that worldview through prayer, Scripture and the sacraments, my whole life changed,” Tomeo said. “I never intended to be a Catholic talk show host. That’s something that happened as I grew in my relationship with God.”

While not everyone is necessarily called to a different career, Tomeo said simple changes in habit and worldview can mean the difference between a casual Catholic and one who is on fire for Christ.

“When you have that encounter with Christ and become a 24/7 Catholic, God is first in everything you do,” Tomeo said. “You get up in the morning, say your prayers, do your readings and say, ‘Here I am, Lord. I have come to do your will.’ You’re looking for activities based on the faith. You’re looking at issues differently when you go to the polls. Practically, it changes your entire worldview.”

Along with the book, Tomeo and collaborator Gail Coniglio are conducting parish missions teaching pastors, deacons and parish staff how to encourage Massgoers — and non-Massgoers — to live their faith more fully.

Besides being a “practical, down-to-earth book” with chapter-ending reflections, “Beyond Sunday” also includes a study guide and eight-part video series designed for small groups and individual study.

Going “beyond Sunday” doesn’t have to be anything as dramatic as hosting a Catholic talk show, Tomeo said. It can be as simple as five minutes a day.

“One of the things I always tell people is to start reading Scripture. It sounds intimidating, but really, the Church has it all figured out for us,” Tomeo said. “Just getting into the habit of waking up and finding out what the Church has to say to us gets you into the mindset of thinking beyond Sunday.”

Second, Tomeo said, is to “offer each day to the Lord” through a simple prayer, and consider how small gestures can bring oneself and others closer to God throughout the day, such as stopping for five minutes at a church to pray or inviting someone to Mass.

Ultimately, a Church filled with Massgoers is great, Tomeo said. But a Church filled with volunteers, catechists, evangelists, and joyful, missionary disciples all living their faith to fullest is better.

“If you get people who are in the pews excited about their faith, it’s going to excite people who have fallen away, and the whole thing is going to snowball,” Tomeo said. “I think if you’re on fire for your faith, that resonates, and it’s attractive to people. And that’s where we start. By working with the people in the pews, you’re also getting other people on fire.”

 

'Beyond Sunday: Becoming a 24/7 Catholic'
By Teresa Tomeo
Paperback, $14.95 (plus study guide, $9.95)
128 pages
Our Sunday Visitor (2018)
www.osv.com/beyondsunday