March 6, 2018

Westfield parish welcomes Catholic author and speaker Bryan Mercier

REGIONAL
Story and photos by Carolee McGrath

Pictured (left to right) are parishioner Rita Hutchinson; Lisa Laferriere, catechist and youth minister; speaker Bryan Mercier; Father Daniel Pacholec, pastor; Deacon Paul Federici; and Mary Federici, pastoral minister.

WESTFIELD – Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Parish in Westfield is marking the 40 Days of Lent again this year with a speaker series and a theme of “Faith in Action: If we are the body.” The series is being held each Wednesday during Lent at 6:30 p.m. inside the church on Holyoke Road.

Catholic author and speaker Bryan Mercier was second in the line-up. He shared his conversion story, Wednesday, Feb. 28. Mercier, who wrote the book, Why Do You Believe in God?, told the crowd gathered that he was bullied for being small in high school.

Catholic author Bryan Mercier speaks at Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Church in Westfield. He was the second speaker int he parish’s Lenten series, which continues on Wednesday evenings at 6:30.

“I became really angry, sad and depressed. I became angry in an unhealthy way. I started dressing in all black. I started carrying weapons. I wanted to hurt people,” Mercier recalled, speaking about how desperate he had become. He said his mother, who had all six of her children pray the rosary every day, intervened, sending him to Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio.

“The only reason I never did the things I wanted to was because I was Catholic,” Mercier explained about his rage and violent thoughts. “I prayed the rosary every day, not because I wanted to but because my mother made me. Growing up in my faith prevented me from doing those things because I was going down a dark path.”

Mercier said even though he didn’t want to attend college in Ohio, it saved his life.

“Over the next year, God pulled out all the hate in me and filled me with love. He put my broken heart back together,” he said. “Jesus is the answer every person is looking for in the whole world. With all of the shootings, all of the violence, all the eating disorders. We are the richest society ever, and yet we’re still not happy.”

Mercier, who lives in Milford, Conn., founded the R.O.C.K. Group, or Revival of Catholic Kids, which is a ministry team that leads confirmation retreats in the Northeast. He is also a pro-life speaker and was the keynote at the political action committee for the Civil Rights for Unborn Children, held last October in Chicopee. He said every church should have a youth group.

“The teens are the church now. Teens today are rising up and making a difference. I speak to thousands of teens a year because I want to raise up an army for Christ,” he said.

“I thought his talk was really powerful. I didn’t expect him to start the talk like that,” said 15-year-old Ariana Roldan. She said she was surprised that Mercier, now a devout Catholic, had such dark thoughts. She said his message hit home for a lot of people, especially given the school shooting in Parkland, Fla.

Catholic author and speaker Bryan Mercier signs a copy of his book, Why Do You Believe in God?

“When he started talking about his past and how dark it was and how he grew up Catholic, but had these emotions to hurt people, I didn’t expect that,” Roldan said. “But when I heard his conversion, I thought it was beautiful.”

The series began on Feb. 21 with a talk by Ortrud Bianchi. Father Warren Savage, the Catholic chaplain at Westfield State University and Amherst College, will be the featured speaker Wednesday, March 7. Caleigh Rockwal will speak on human rights on March 14; Nancy Amanti will speak on her ministry Hope for Children on March 21; and Deacon Pedro Rivera Moran will finish the series March 28, sharing the story of Blessed Carlos Rodriguez.

“Our series has been a wonderful thing for our parish in terms of helping people walk with Christ in this Lenten season and to be his body in the world,” said Father Daniel Pacholec, pastor of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Parish.
For more information about the series, call the parish office at 413-562-3450.

A video version of this story will be featured an upcoming edition of “Real to Reel,” the Diocese of Springfield’s weekly television newsmagazine that airs Saturday evenings  at 7 on WWLP-22NEWS.