"We follow in the footsteps of the Apostles who, filled with the Holy Spirit, went to spread everywhere the knowledge and love of Jesus."

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Fr. Mike Barth

"In the city of Cleveland, the name St. Agnes-Our Lady of Fatima goes hand in hand with care," says Father Mike Barth, S.T, pastor of our Trinity Mission parish in the Hough neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio. "The Hough" was thrown into the limelight in 1966 when it erupted in violence during the struggle for civil rights. For the last three decades, the community has been attempting to heal the wounds from that era.

Abandoned buildings and empty lots where houses have been torn down dot the streets of Hough. Once stately homes, now fallen into disrepair, line its streets, a nagging reminder of an earlier era when the Hough area thrived. But the efforts of past years are beginning to pay off. Today, the neighborhood is experiencing a renaissance of sorts, with the old homes being restored and new homes going up where empty lots once stood.

With the help of low-interest loans and other incentives, people who had moved away during the period of decline are "coming home" to Hough. Perhaps more importantly, low-income families from the neighborhood are now able to own their own homes. Plans are also in the works to renovate historic League Park, once home to the Cleveland Indians baseball team.

With the influx of new residents, and as a result of the parish's long standing evangelization effort, St. Agnes-Our Lady of Fatima Church is sharing in Hough's re-awakening. Father Mike is delighted with the positive changes taking place, and sees a correlation between the new growth of the neighborhood and his parish. "As we look around at the revitalization, we know that we are talking about more than bricks and mortar," he says. "We are talking about rebuilding a people's spirit and hope and their ability to control their lives."

Trinity Missionaries have served in this area of Cleveland since 1958, when the bishop asked us to work at Our Lady of Fatima Church. A few years later, we took over the care of a nearby church, St. Agnes. In 1980, the two parishes merged and became officially known as St. Agnes-Our Lady of Fatima.

 
Reflecting on the prominent place the parish has in the Hough community today, Father Mike is quick to credit the priests and Brothers who served in the past. "I'm very aware that I am reaping the benefits of the Trinity Missionaries who have gone before me, who were here in much more difficult days," he says.

During the 1970's, when families moved out of the city in droves, the parish rolls fell below fifty. There has been a gradual increase in membership through the years, and today the parish is enjoying unprecedented growth.

"We are still small compared to most parishes," explains Father Mike, "but we have more than doubled our ranks in the past three years. Ironically, one reason people give for choosing St. Agnes-Our Lady of Fatima Church is that it is small! People feel very welcome and it is very hospitable. The challenge as we continue to grow is to hold on to these values."

Another aspect of St. Agnes-Our Lady of Fatima Church that is of value to the people from Hough is its identity as an African-American parish. "We're very much focused on an African-American style of worship," Father Mike comments. "We try to weave elements of the culture into all our programs. It is only with this current generation that we are finally getting to the point where they see Christ reflected in themselves."

Even with its swelling numbers, St. Agnes-Our Lady of Fatima parish has managed to retain an incredibly high rate of participation. "Almost sixty percent of the parishioners are active in some kind of ministry!" boasts Father Mike. "Of those who regularly attend church, there are very few who are not involved in some way."

The Fatima Center is the parish's primary means of reaching out to the Hough neighborhood. Although it is an agency of Catholic Charities, it is housed on parish property and many parishioners participate in its activities. Fatima Center is home to a Head Start classroom for three-to five-year-olds and a comprehensive after-school program for school-aged children from the neighborhood. Adults can work toward obtaining a high school equivalency certificate, learn to sew, or take a class on parenting.

To meet the more basic needs, St. Agnes-Our Lady of Fatima offers several options. A food pantry is available for emergencies, and bags of groceries are distributed regularly to needy families whose limited resources are often depleted by the end of the month. Every Tuesday night, the parishioners host a soup kitchen for the needy in their neighborhood, many of them homeless. "The meal is very much an ongoing concern in the parish," says Father Mike. "It's a family effort. We are proud that our teenagers take their turn once a month."

While helping to meet very basic needs of their neighbors continues to be a primary objective, St. Agnes-Our Lady of Fatima Church recently began moving in another direction. It joined two dozen other churches in the city of Cleveland to form WE-CAN, a church-based community organization. According to Father Mike, "We are beginning to move away from being solely a provider of social services. With WE-CAN, we are trying to get at the root causes of the problems. Instead of asking what we can do for people, we are now asking a different question: How can we empower people to do for themselves?"

An unexpected result of their association with the WE-CANS is that it has helped the parishioners realize how much they can contribute to their community and to their church.. "We're moving from an attitude of taking what is given to one that recognizes that we are in this together," says Father Mike. "We, know that we can make a change if we work together. Our churches can become a powerful force in our neighborhoods."

Despite the rejuvenation of Hough, its residents continue to be bombarded with the multiple problems associated with a poor, inner city neighborhood. Crime, drugs and gangs threaten its youth. Homelessness and hunger claim a disproportionate number of its citizens, young and old alike. The unemployment rate in Hough has reached as high as eighty-three percent. More than half the population lives in poverty. Half the students at the local public high school drop out before graduation.

The picture may continue to look grim, but there is a hopeful new spirit in the neighborhood. For over one hundred years, St. Agnes-Our Lady of Fatima Church has stood as a beacon of hope for the Hough community. Now it is poised to help the people of the neighborhood move forward into the future.

Father Mike comments on the challenge: "We have remained firmly committed to the people of our neighborhood during times of great change. Our parish remains an oasis where many are fed spiritually for their daily struggles. We are always willing to serve our community."

The connection between the economic poverty and the number of unchurched families in the neighborhood is clear in Father Mike's mind. "I'm not saying that because you go to church, you don't have any problems," he explains. "I think, though, that the church can help restore hope in people so they can see value in trying to solve their problems. If we can give them a sense of who they are and whose they are, we will have gone a long way to help them."

Father Mike bases his conviction on years of experience working with young men from the community, most of them without a church affiliation. "I'm very proud of the fact that the kids who come from Catholic families are generally doing well," he says. "The Catholic schools do a good job of providing a value system along with excellent academics. But the kids in the neighborhood who are from unchurched families, for the most part, are in desperate need.

At a time when many parishes across the country seem unable to motivate their youth, St. Agnes-Our Lady of Fatima has had some success with their youngsters. On the monthly "Young Adult Sunday," parish youth take care of all the lay ministries: they read Scripture, the children's choir leads the singing, they serve as ushers and are responsible for hospitality. After Father Mike's homily, two teens give short reflections on the topic of their choice.

Besides an after-school athletics program at Fatima Center, the gymnasium in the church hall is open several nights a week for basketball and weight-lifting. Any young man from the neighborhood can join the parish basketball teams, the only requirement being regular attendance at high school or another recognized educational program.

In the future, St. Agnes-Our Lady of Fatima plans to make the gymnasium available to the community even more frequently. One goal of the WE-CAN organization is to provide "safe-zones" around the participating churches, where teenagers and younger children can come to escape the troubled streets of their neighborhood.

Father Mike's interest in the young people of Hough goes back to the days when he was a newly-ordained priest on his first mission assignment. He returned as pastor after a seven-year assignment at another mission. "We all know that children are the future," he reflects. "I really believe that unless we can capture, in a sense, more of these young people who are in a bad way, we will continue to lose them."

Yet, he has hope that the hospitality and friendship extended to the youth of Hough by the people of St. Agnes-Our Lady of Fatima will one day bear fruit. Already, there have been noteworthy gains. The parish youth ministry is thriving. Fatima Center is expanding to accommodate the increasing number of children who want to participate in its programs. Adults who once sought refuge themselves at St. Agnes-Our Lady of Fatima return to coach and counsel a new generation of troubled teens.

"Young people grow up in a culture that tells them in so many ways that they aren't valuable, that they aren't important, that they are a problem," says Father Mike. "When you reverse that and bombard someone with another message - that they are good, that they have a lot to offer, it makes all the difference in the world."

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