Mass Excursions

St. Michael the Archangel Parish: Active, diverse and welcoming

By Natalie Hoefer

There was good cause for Archbishop Paul C. Schulte to create St. Michael the Archangel Parish on the west side of Indianapolis in 1948—the population of the township where it resides increased 45% between 1940 and 1950.

In its 77 years, the faith community has had some trials by fire—literally. The original church was destroyed by fire in 1967, and fire severely damaged the second church’s sacristy in 1989. And the current steeple was installed in 2016 after a storm toppled the former one in 2015.

But the parishioners’ faith prevailed. Father John Kamwendo, the current pastor of St. Michael the Archangel Parish, uses three words to describe the faith community now: active, diverse and welcoming.

Active in faith and charity

The Divine Mercy Chapel, located in a convent next to the parish rectory, used to offer perpetual adoration and also Benediction once a month. But the COVID-19 pandemic took its toll. The chapel reduced its hours and limited exposition of the Blessed Sacrament.

Father Kamwendo began to see “a hunger of people wanting to do Benediction more.”

He began to offer adoration with simultaneous confession and ending with Benediction prior to the parish’s 6 p.m. Mass on Tuesdays and Fridays. And time for praying the rosary was added after the 8:30 a.m. Saturday Mass.

“We have daily Mass in the morning on Wednesday and Thursday, too,” he says. “But those evening Masses on Tuesday and Friday and the Saturday morning Mass, there are so many people who come. It’s 50, 100 people sometimes.”

Benediction is offered at the chapel at 7:30 p.m. on the first Wednesday of each month, preceded by confession and the recitation of the rosary and other prayers at 7 p.m.

For other chapel hours, weekly hours of exposition, the code needed to enter the building with the chapel or to sign up for an adoration hour, contact Lisette Shattuck at 317-283-5422 or Dyan Huey at 317-627-2658.

Parishioners also have a spirit of charity, says Father Kamwendo, expressed most visibly through the parish’s St. Vincent de Paul Society conference.

“They serve a number of people, most who are non-parishioners,” he says. “I’m just humbled by how strong and how positive that ministry is, and I’m just amazed by the participation of the parishioners and their commitment” to the parish’s monthly second collection for its St. Vincent de Paul conference.

Father Kamwendo also notes St. Michael-St. Gabriel Elementary School’s outreach through its Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) athletics ministry.

“They don’t say, ‘If you don’t go to our school, you are not part of our teams,’ ” he says. “They involve not only the school kids, but kids from the neighborhood who are not even Catholic.”

There are many other ministries as well. Last year’s St. Michael Festival—held each year in October—included a ministry fair.

“It was eye-opening to see how many ministries there are and how many parishioners are involved,” Father Kamwendo says. “You could feel their spirit.”

‘We are very diverse’

The parish began with 106 families in 1948. Now, more than 600 families call St. Michael the Archangel their faith home.

“We are very diverse,” says Father Kamwendo. Among the parish’s Anglo and Black members are many “longtime parishioners, some who have been here since the beginning.”

St. Michael the Archangel has also become home to African, Filipino and Hispanic members in recent years, reflecting the changing demographics of the area.

Among the Hispanic community are those involved in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, he says. Twice a year, they organize a charismatic retreat in Spanish attended by Hispanics from other parishes and states.

For the Filipino members—and all who wish to join—the parish has occasionally hosted Simbang Gabi, a Filipino tradition of a novena of Masses leading up to Christmas.

Father Kamwendo categorizes the parish’s African members in two groups: those from Eritrea and Ethiopia in East Africa, and those from countries in West and Sub-Saharan Africa.

“The Eritrean and Ethiopian members are very active and involved,” says Father Kamwendo. “But what’s unique about them is they have their own Catholic rite called the Ge’ez Rite,” also known as the Alexandrian Rite.

Three times a year, a priest is invited to offer Mass at the parish “in the Ge’ez Rite and in their language,” he says. “Catholics of that descent and that rite from Indianapolis and in the neighboring areas join them. So, it’s a large community in that sense.”

Among the parish’s other African members are those from Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) and the Benin Republic, says Father Kamwendo.

“We also have a large number of people from Congo, and these people went through [refugee] camps in Rwanda, Tanzania and other places.”

Those who lived in Tanzania and eastern Congo speak Kiswahili—as does Father Kamwendo, a native of Tanzania.

“So, once a month I offer Mass in Kiswahili,” he says. “People travel from Greenwood, Bloomington, from Shelbyville and Columbus for that Mass.”

‘It’s our job to show them to Jesus’

The parish’s embrace of those from other countries speaks to the sense of welcome offered by St. Michael the Archangel members.

“Many people have complimented the parish to me personally or written letters saying that when they come to St. Michael, they feel welcomed, they feel at home because of that diversity,” says Father Kamwendo.

With the parish’s proximity to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, many of those comments come from Europeans and Catholics from other parts of the globe in town for races—especially the Indianapolis 500 in May.

“There are a lot of people who are involved in the racing teams and things like that who are here for that whole month,” he says. “There are racing team members who come every year, wearing their team jackets. And they say, ‘Father, we are back!’ ”

Whether it’s international travelers or those who have settled in the area, ministering to those who speak another language can be challenging, says Father Kamwendo.

But they feel welcomed at St. Michael the Archangel because its members “speak the language of love,” he says.

Members of the faith community “treat them as human beings. [They] respect their identity and who they are. It starts with the ushers and the people sitting next to you, and then everybody is welcoming, respectful and loving.

“At the end of the day, it’s our job to show them to Jesus. That’s why they keep on coming to St. Michael the Archangel.”
 

(Mass Excursions is a periodic feature highlighting archdiocesan parishes. View past features at www.archindy.org/excursions.) †