The Diocese of Evansville, including the bishops, priests and laypeople who have led it from its beginning, may never know the reach and impact it has had over the past 75 fruitful years. I am a small example of the extent of its reach, now that I live and work in the Cleveland/Akron, Ohio, area. My family and I do our best to make Christ the center of our lives and are very involved in the Catholic community here. I value my continued connections with the Diocese of Evansville and have it to thank for much of my formation and continual desire to seek the Lord. The Message and the countless members of the diocese I got to know – being raised in Ferdinand, going to retreats and events and being involved in the University of Evansville Newman Center – have impacted me and continue to impact me today. I doubt I am the only one who grew up in southern Indiana who is now living out their faith in another state.
My parents have spent their entire lives in the diocese and taught me to prioritize the sacraments. In seventh grade, I made the decision to attend the Source + Summit retreat, then called Youth 2000. It sparked a desire to live totally for the Lord, and I have been on that fulfilling journey ever since. A few years later, I attended my first Teens Encounter Christ retreat and found that it was more than a retreat — it was a community of Catholics all over the diocese who were on fire for Christ and making a difference in their parishes. I worked many TEC retreats and met some of my best friends there. One of the most important parts of my college experience at the University of Evansville was the Newman Center. Its leaders, members and events were a constant during the craziness of college, and it was truly a time of growth and joy for me.
After college, I moved to Cleveland for an internship, knowing only one other person in Ohio (a person I met on my first TEC retreat, actually!). Even with doubts and fears, I was equipped with a strength of 22 years in the Evansville Diocese. I joined a Newman Center grad school Bible study at a nearby university in Cleveland, and from there made my closest friends in Ohio. Although the Lord called me to stay in Ohio (much to my surprise), I am blessed that most of my family and tons of friends are still in southern Indiana, and I feel the strength of the Diocese of Evansville from afar.
It may be easy to take for granted the value of a diocese. But when I recall my faith journey, it was not only my family, my parish, my friends, retreats, events or college that made such a big difference — it was the connection between these things, the importance of the diocese, which provides the strength and support to everyone from the bishop to the newly baptized. The Diocese of Evansville is making a difference … one that is farther-reaching than perhaps it knows.