Holy Family Retreat Center in West Hartford, Conn., founded
by the Passionist Fathers in 1951, is the largest
parish-based retreat center in the United States and the
second-largest of any retreat center. The center has changed
over the years: In the mid-1980s there were many more
Passionist Fathers in residence, as the retreat facility also
once served as their senior-care facility. Now, there are 17
Passionist priests and brothers at Holy Family. However, the
retreat center has changed in another way: Holy Family is
reaping the benefits of this high-tech era.
All looks the same at first glance. The beautiful ivy-clad
buildings and sprawling acres make it scenic for those on
retreat. “People find Holy Family to be a place of peace,”
said Passionist Father David Cinquegrani, director of Holy
Family. “Often people say that they feel at home in this
setting because the art, the sacred spaces and grounds all of
which express a welcoming place that many call ‘holy
ground.'”
While things may seem the same, Holy Family has expanded
their offering of Mass cards by making them available online,
which since 2001 has attracted customers from nearly all 50
states and from all corners of the globe, including England,
Ireland, Italy, Italy, Japan, and Trinidad and Tobago,
Australia, in addition to many countries in Latin America.
The increased volume from the online cards has been
staggering; 50 percent of the Mass-card offerings come via
the Internet. The Holy Family Mass-card office has two
full-time lay employees, a director and an assistant, in
addition to Passionist Brother William Drotar. There are also
volunteers in the office and mailroom.
The Holy Family community has been pleasantly surprised by
its decision nine years ago to go online. Proceeds from
Mass-card offerings help fund their retreat center, which can
hold up to 220 retreatants in addition to more than 30
community members. It has numerous chapels, conferences rooms
and break-out spaces. The grounds are exquisite and include a
new labyrinth, Stations of the Cross and several walking
paths.
“Holy Family continues to promote its retreat programs
through parish groups and the diocesan system, and this has
kept the center thriving because the promoters focus on their
own parish members,” said Father Cinquegrani. “Their personal
invitation to other parishioners is the single most important
promotional tool to bring new retreatants to the center.”
Mary-Ellen Mosher has been the director of the Holy Family’s
Mass-card office for 15 years and has overseen the expansion
of what were once mainly Mass-card offerings for the deceased
to offerings for countless occasions. Mosher said that the
most popular cards other than the sympathy enrollments are
the “get well,” healing and birthday cards. Some of the many
other occasions for Mass cards are birth, baptism, first
Communion, graduation, marriage, wedding anniversary,
confirmation, thank you or just plain “thinking of you.” Gone
are the days of Mass cards solely for sympathy offerings.
What attracts patrons of Holy Family is not only the wide
range of Mass cards but also the beautiful card designs. Lisa
Bureau, a Hartford area resident who has bought Mass cards at
the monastery, is convinced the best Mass card offered by
Holy Family is the one for a new baby, which has a picture of
a beautiful new baby in a knit cap. “Many times it is
expensive to ship a baby gift long distance. I find that this
Mass card is always the best gift, and not because the price
is considerably lower than a regular baby gift. I have always
been told by the new parents that it was the most touching
gift they received and that their baby be kept in the prayers
of the monastery meant so much to them. It is also likely
that no one else sends parents a Mass card so it is
remembered more, too.”
Mosher agrees that this Mass card is a favorite. “I think the
picture is just so appealing and the text that says ‘Angel
song, Gift of God’ bringing you to a comforting place where a
child is such a gift that this gift is the song of angels.”
All of the masses and prayers for the cards are said by the
many Passionist communities, as well as on the premises of
Holy Family. A requester will enroll a person either into the
Altare Dei Society, which is a one-year enrollment, or the
Benefactors Society (perpetual lifetime enrollment). Both of
these groups are prayed for by the Passionist Fathers
according to the type of enrollment chosen. Perpetual
enrollments are remembered daily and the one-year enrollment
individuals are remembered 100 times during a 12-month
period.
Prior to 2001, for 50 years the Mass-card business was local,
serving mostly northern Connecticut, with most patrons coming
to the monastery and the rest calling on the phone or making
a request by mail. Mosher said they have had some interesting
communications over the years.
The most memorable request for a Mass card was one from a
woman whose daughter was killed in 9/11 on the top floor of
one of the twin towers. Mosher felt it hard to keep her
composure as the woman told her over the phone how a few days
before her daughter had just bought her wedding dress and had
planned to marry very soon. “I could hear the suffering in
her voice and had a hard time trying to speak to her without
crying myself,” said Mosher.
The woman was so appreciative of the Mass card from Holy
Family that it reaffirmed to Mosher that Mass-card offerings
are a ministry as well. With the Mass-card office online for
almost 10 years now, Mosher said she has heard countless
tragic stories from all over the country and all over the
globe, but she is quick to add that there have been
heartwarming ones as well.
Mosher said it is always a great pleasure for the staff of
the Holy Family Mass-card office when a recipient of a card
calls to say how much it meant to them and their family.
There have even been international calls.
“We do get to reap the benefits of what we at Holy Family
like to call a ‘ministry,’ when I hear how our Mass cards and
folders affect a grieving family in need of prayer and
comfort,” said Mosher.
With Holy Family and other Mass-card organizations in the
United States going online, the international offering in
Mass cards works both ways as is evident “across the pond” at
the Shrine of Our Lady of Knock in County Mayo, Ireland. The
Knock Shrine receives many Mass-card requests from people of
Irish descent in the United Kingdom and the United States,
but patrons of the Mass cards from the internationally
recognized Marian shrine come from all corners of the globe.
The fact that the Web site of the Knock Shrine is translated
into six languages cultivates a widespread following for the
Mass cards. People wanting Mass-card offerings from the Knock
Shrine need to fill out the information request form on the
Web site and a prompt response will follow.
The Passionist Fathers who staff Holy Family are from the St.
Paul of the Cross Province, which is one of two Passionist
provinces in the United States, the other being the Holy
Cross Province. There are now 300 Passionist priests and
brothers in the United States. The Holy Family Monastery has
been serving Catholic men and women through retreats for 60
years and this ministry is now greatly aided by their other
ministry of offering Mass cards online to people all over the
United States and in all corners of the world. “In this
high-tech world of ours, we constantly hear about the evils
that come with the Internet,” said Bureau. “It makes me feel
good to know that such an important ministry like retreats is
being fueled by the offering off Mass cards over the
Internet. Ironically, the word “catholic” means “universal”;
the Internet has allowed the Mass cards offered by Holy
Family to be Catholic in two senses of the word. I am
heartened that people in other countries have the same access
to the Mass cards as I do.”
Lorusso writes from Terryville, Ct.
