FAYETTE COUNTY, WV (WOAY) – A local man is hosting a Catholic ministry outreach at Saints Peter and Paul Church in Oak Hill just in time for the holidays.
Renewed is a four-week event, held on the first three Thursdays of December and the following Tuesday, to help the community prepare for Christmas and reconnect through a relationship with God.
Dominic Re was a seminarian for four years who felt called to the priesthood. He says deep theological truths really fell into a beautiful relationship with the lord.
“It was a lot of time spent in deep prayer with a bunch of other holy men,” said Re. “And over the course of that time, I felt like I was being drawn out of seminary, but still very much invited to share my faith and bring people together.”
According to the Catholic speaker, one of the closest things to his heart is feeling called to serve community outreach here in southern West Virginia. He says it’s no coincidence that, at this time of year, days are getting shorter and nights are lasting longer.
“That’s immediately when Christ wants to enter into our lives, when the darkness seems almost overwhelming,” Re said. “And that’s why we celebrate Christmas on Christmas Day. It’s actually the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. And at that moment, Christ’s incarnation starts to rain into that darkness.”
People love to congregate because it is colder and may be a little lonelier.
“And so people crave relationships. People crave a relationship with the lord primarily, but also a relationship with others,” said the Catholic speaker. “And so that’s really what I’m going to be talking about. I just know that our call as Christians is to speak the truth and the gospel and to claim it to the ends of the earth. Every baptized Christian.”
We all experience this lack and have to face suffering.
“We all have to actually sit face to face with evil,” Re said. “But that’s not the end of the story. The end of the story is that we’re encountered by love in the midst of that suffering.”
The Catholic speaker’s journey led him home to share his faith with the community.
“The lord is just asking me to grow in another area, to grow in a new setting. And it was always a dream of mine when I was a kid to be a Catholic speaker at some bigger events,” said Re. ” And so I think that’s sort of what he’s orchestrating right now, which is super beautiful, and I’m grateful.”
