By Gretchen Keiser

Sitting in a circle, near a living room fire, the men and women gathered about St. Thomas Aquinas rectory meeting room didn't look the part of evangelists.

Bundled up in sweaters, slacks, turtlenecks and jeans against the late December cold, only a hint in the conversation betrayed that one is a salesman, another a woman with young children at home. They were drawn together to hash out the strengths and weaknesses of a program in which they had been evangelists for a month, and a willing ear to hurting people who called a phone number they saw in the newspaper. Those in the room, husbands and wives, had each taken two 24-hour phone shifts during the month, talking to people who had seen ads inviting questions about the Catholic Church and visually extending the Peace of Christ" to those in need.

The impression, to be determined precisely by logs kept of the 500 or so calls, was that at least as many non-Catholics as Catholics had called the number during the month-long program, conducted under the auspices of the archdiocese's Evangelization Committee.

Perhaps the most joyful were the reconciliations several encountered as Catholics, who had mistakenly thought themselves barred from sacraments, learned through a phone call that they were not. These calls, from divorced Catholics who had not remarried, but believed they were barred from receiving the Eucharist because of their divorce, brought great joy, said one man who had been part of the phone team. "They were just overwhelmed when they found out they could receive the sacraments," he said. One woman who phoned had been attending Mass for a year and a half, but had not been able to take the step of asking anyone in her parish about receiving the Eucharist. Her phone call and conversation broke the barrier, leading her to a meeting, and the sacrament of reconciliation.

Other phone calls came from Catholics who had not been in a church "for anywhere from a year to 25 years," another team member said. "Almost every call I got from a Catholic, they said they felt abandoned," wondering whether anyone cared that they felt strangers in a changing Church.

Weaknesses in the program raised at the meeting, which was held while all those participating kept fresh memories, were coordination between the phone-answering team and parish follow-up teams who were to receive the names of any callers in their parishes who were willing to identify themselves and need further support. One of the proposals raised was to involve parish volunteers in the preparatory meeting which the phone team had during the November-December ad campaign, so that those at the parish level would be as prepared as those receiving the initial phone call. Other suggestions, should a similar campaign be conducted in the future, were to prepare a comprehensive list of support services for different groups in the archdiocese, such as divorced and separated, singles, etc., and a schedule of parish inquiry classes to people interested in entering the Church or renewing their faith.

A clear strength of the program seemed to be the opportunity for anonymity, which enabled some callers to unburden themselves and then, in some cases, give their names or ask for material to be sent to them. Another strength was the freshness of those answering the calls, who admitted that they became so involved in their work, they hated to relinquish duty when their 24-hour period ended.

"I had the best Thanksgiving I've ever had," said one woman flatly. All involved were enthusiastic about working for a similar campaign in the future.

A businessman also acknowledged that those accustomed to receiving calls for help may get tired and busy, as he does at work. "I know in business, you have stock answer No. 1 to 94. If I'm extremely busy, I give'em stock answer No. 37," he said. "But in this kind of situation, you can't give a stock answer." Using lay people to answer the phone calls placed the emphasis on one-to-one concern and often gave the caller a sense of someone's genuine interest and love, even if the problem that prompted the call was not solved.

One husband and wife team said that they were most affected by those in such need that they called just to have someone listen. "It just touched me so greatly that these people could be hurting so much that they just want someone to hear them," the wife said.

Her husband said that those who called for help also helped him to "appreciate more what I take for granted -- my family, my relationships, the sacraments I receive, the community I have here."

Listening on the phone, he often heard the story of someone "who has a desperate need for what you have," he said. "It made me more thankful."