Always on Mission

In a Life in the Spirit seminar I once attended, the presenters analogized the Holy Spirit in the soul: If your soul were a glass of milk, the Holy Spirit received at baptism is like chocolate syrup poured into your glass, which is stirred up at Confirmation1. Over time, the weight and density of the syrup tend to settle to the bottom.

So, we find ways to stir the mixture and activate the Holy Spirit. A Life in the Spirit seminar, a retreat, sacraments like Eucharist or Reconciliation, a great session with a spiritual friend, a heartfelt prayer, a good read, etc., stirs up the Spirit.

Sometimes the stirring is palpable. Sometimes it’s quiet. What changes is not His presence, but our activation.

Larry and Helen Pighini had such a spiritual activation at a charismatic revival and healing event in 1976 called Jesus 76 held in the former Giants Stadium. In the Meadowlands Sports Complex located in East Rutherford, New Jersey, the Holy Spirit stirred the ecumenical crowd of 40k, of which Larry and Helen were a part.

Larry was already a faithful Catholic, yet his Jesus 76 experience supercharged his prayer life. Though not of the same faith tradition as Larry, Helen’s own spirit reenergized and refreshed.

To keep up the momentum of that Holy Spirit wind, Larry sought raise-the-roof praise and worship groups.

At that time, in 1976, the Catholic charismatic movement was in its early formation, less than 10 years in. Larry and Helen had not heard of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal before attending Jesus 76.

Instead, Larry found what he was looking for in the Assembly of God church. Their prayer and praise group meetings motivated him to bring the group’s principles and renewing energy back to his Catholic parish home.

Larry, with his pastor’s approval at St. John in northern New Jersey, enlisted a fellow parishioner, Bill, along with his wife Helen, to help kick off a new praise and worship group. This first-of-its-kind group, called Spirit of Christ, started by offering a Life in the Spirit seminar and followed these sessions with praise and worship meetings that included songs, scripture readings, and prayer.

A natural leader and teacher, when Larry sensed the Spirit of Christ group needed teachings, he gave them summaries from Ralph Martin’s books (of the Catholic Charismatic renewal movement). Each meeting, participants came alive in the Spirit; new people joined the group.

Larry advertised the Spirit of Christ meetings in local church bulletins, and parishioners from other parishes, including Our Lady of Grace, Epiphany, and Sacred Heart, joined the group. Each meeting gathered hundreds – one person driving a distance of 1 ½ hours. The meeting by then had become a region-wide gathering.

While the group soared high, Larry’s health was at a low. In his late 40’s, an autoimmune disease took a toll on his liver, and he needed a liver transplant.

Yet, Larry’s main concern remained with the group. A few years into their Spirit of Christ meetings, Larry felt a lull. The group’s initial mountain-top experience brought enthusiasm, yet commitments made during spiritual high moments settled over time.

Larry worried, saying,

“Helen, this group NEEDS something. They are in a lull.”

At the same time, his liver malfunction caused esophageal problems and internal bleeding. With their leader in such poor condition, the Spirit of Christ group prayed for Larry’s improved health -- a halt to his coughing up of blood and for a new liver.

But he kept coughing and bleeding.

The Spirit of Christ group gathered in intercession for Larry, praying on their knees with fervency.

Larry kept bleeding and coughing; things went from bad to worse.

The group prayed with greater fervency and intercession, both prone and on their knees.

Larry was hospitalized, and miraculously, a new liver was immediately available to him. He had his liver transplant surgery on Friday, and on Tuesday, he said to Helen, “The prayer meeting is today. You should go.”

She replied, “I’m not leaving you. You just had surgery.” Larry encouraged her in their joint commitment, so Helen went.

When the Spirit of Christ group saw Helen, the members said, “What are you doing here?” To which she replied, “Well, you know Larry.”

They did; they all nodded.

In the process of petitioning for Larry, the group recovered its initial spark that Larry had seen waning. Their prayer fervency for Larry’s medical condition had burst a renewed Holy Spirit energy into the group.

As though reawakened, the Spirit of Christ group recommitted to their work of service and evangelization. The community flourished.

In contrast to Larry’s health, Helen has the energy of someone half her age; she offers a rapid-fire line-up of life stories that gives a writer hand cramps when taking notes.

Despite her Methodist parents’ skepticism of Catholics, Helen had agreed to marry cradle Catholic Larry in the Catholic Church. Her first experience with the church made Helen think her parents were right about Catholics.

The priest who was supposed to marry Helen and Larry didn’t show up at their wedding. Without a priest to marry them and a church full of guests, they urgently enlisted another priest at the rectory to marry the high school sweethearts.

Later, the young couple found out that the priest who was supposed to marry them was at a high school football game instead.

Even though she raised eyebrows at the odd, questionable representatives of the Catholic church, Helen meant to keep her word that she would raise the children in the Catholic faith. So, she brought her toddler son, Mark, to daily Mass at St. John’s.

“The Eucharist is something I didn’t have in my Methodist faith. Every consecration at Mass felt like a conversion experience to me. That became my favorite part of Mass.”

The priest (not the one who failed to marry them) recognized Helen as a daily Mass-goer. One day after Mass, this priest put on his confession stole, approached Helen, and offered,

“Helen, you haven’t committed too many sins in your life, have you?”

Rarely at a loss for words, Helen didn’t know what to say and wondered where his question was leading.

“How about you do a general confession? So, I can absolve and baptize you.”

Adding this to her growing list of skepticism about the church, Helen nonetheless did as the priest suggested and made a general confession. When it came time for her baptism, while her two-year-old son, Mark, held her hand, the priest looked around in search of a witness.

The town vagrant lay drunk, yet coherent, in a pew.

“Hey, Clarence. Come here and witness Helen’s baptism.” That’s how Helen was baptized (again).

Then, by mistake, Helen was confirmed before she had a sponsor or had selected a confirmation saint. Though shaken from this thrust into the Church, Helen chose to accept her fate instead of dwelling on mistakes and miscommunications. Proper catechesis followed Helen’s unconventional entry into the Church.

Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much. (Luke 16:10)

While forced to retire early due to health, retirement gave Larry time to commit to the ministry of evangelization. By that point, the Pighinis had split their time between St. John’s in northern New Jersey and St. Veronica’s on the South Jersey shore. Larry and Helen established prayer groups at both spiritual homes.

Wherever there was an opportunity and an open door, Larry took it. He noted where the Spirit was moving and where it wasn’t, and he adjusted.

Helen confirmed in her thick Jersey accent, “Forgedda ‘bout it. No one said no to Larry.”

She said in disbelief, “Any door he knocked on opened for Larry”.

Pastors at both St. John and St. Veronica parishes said yes to Larry and all his sometimes novel, sometimes crazy-sounding ideas. And Helen was right there with him with her gift of prophesy and spiritual motherhood.

When Helen (who had kept her job for the health insurance) retired from her job as a Registrar at Town Hall, the Pighinis moved full-time to the South Jersey shore, where they consolidated their spiritual home at St. Veronica Church.

There, Larry invigorated his faith commitment and mission. When one series of his teachings ended, people asked for more. And he brought more. Larry serialized offerings by topic: first was Life in the Spirit Seminar (LISS), then Basic Christian Maturity (BCM), then teachings from the Catechism.

If conversions and commitments lead to strengthened disciples, then a series of them leads to a tight-knit community, like family.

Infused with the understanding that a main principle of evangelization is building relationships, Larry grew disciples.

He strengthened the group by sharing monthly meals together. Outside the group, he built community connections by establishing a Christmas caroling tradition for his parish. He also started a team of church greeters who welcomed parishioners by name. Beyond his parish, he traveled around the archdiocese assisting priests in consecrating homes to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary.

As Larry’s health challenges continued, the couple left their beloved spiritual home of St. Veronica’s parish of 11 years and moved to Dunwoody, in north Atlanta, to be closer to their son, Mark.

The medication from the long-ago liver transplant eventually affected his kidney health, which, in turn, affected his heart. It came to the point where he needed a kidney transplant.

With Helen’s help, Larry applied to the kidney transplant program near their new hometown.

Months without a response from the program, Larry assumed his application was in process. One day, he got a call.

“We have a kidney for you.” He and Helen looked at each other. Helen quipped,

“I guess that means you’ve been accepted into the transplant program.”

After his kidney transplant, Larry’s heart health declined.

Helen nursed him through hospitalizations and infections, where she had to administer antibiotics through a picc line. Then he lost most of his sight due to macular degeneration, and Helen became the designated driver. Larry never complained, but joked,

“Helen, when I’m gone, you’ll have nothing to do,” to which she joked,

“Finally!”

Larry passed at the hour of mercy on September 10, 2023, but not before he established a praise and worship group in his new home parish in Dunwoody, where he and Helen had made lifelong friends.

Though they had been away from St. Veronica’s in New Jersey since 2011, Helen received 75 Mass cards from there when Larry passed. Larry’s funeral was held at their former spiritual home on the Jersey shore.

Gino, who had planned to leave the church, but Larry urged, “Don’t put a limit on what God can do in your life.” Gino stayed. Now on a new mission as a deacon, Gino gave the homily at Larry’s funeral.

He started, “We are here to celebrate the life and legacy of Larry Pighini. That Larry, he was relentless. What did Larry always say?” The people in the pews replied,

“With God, there’s always more!”

Larry also liked to say of faith, “No one else can choose it for you. You are the only one who can say yes.” Larry and Helen said yes every day. And, in so doing, stirred up the Holy Spirit in themselves, those they encountered, and the parishes they served.

Helen, now a widow, evangelizes to people of her former and current parish and to service providers. Recently, when the termite inspector came to her home, she prayed with him. Firefighters arrived after her neighbor’s car sparked a fire that charred her yard. They asked about her accent, “Are you from New York, ma’am?”

She says she talked to them about God but not before she tells me, “Where I’m from, when they ask me something like that, I’d say, yeah, I’m from there. You got a problem with that? But here in the south, it’s yes ma’am, no ma’am. They ma’am me to death!”

~~~

Faith is like love. Love is not a feeling but is a decision; so is faith. Faith often feels humdrum, low and base, fleshly, and uninspired, in the dregs, on the bottom of our glass of milk. Sometimes we don’t feel the Spirit, but the Spirit resides in us always. We have to decide to stir it up and to be stirred. Larry’s and Helen’s faith lives remind us that sometimes we have to be the spoons to invigorate others in their missions.

~~~

Graduates of Larry’s (and Helen’s) LISS and BCM programs have gone on to the following ministries: Diaconate Formation; Extraordinary Ministers of the Holy Eucharist; RCIA/OCIA Mentors and Sponsors; ISS Sponsors, Leaders, Witnesses; BCM Guest Lecturers, Teachers, Leaders, and Mentors; strengthened marriages through conversions; Parish council; Ministry leaders in Parish Vision meetings; Adorers of the Holy Eucharist, Intercessor formation; Witnesses for conversion experiences (LISS and BCM); Parish Festival; Fellowship Committee; Welcome Committee; Home Enthronement Ministry; Marriage Retreat; Passover Seder; Men’s and Women’s Retreats; Charismatic Rally; World Marriage Day; Christmas Carol Festival; March for Life; Fireproof Ministry; CCD; and more.

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Frances Smit serves in-the-pews Catholics seeking more by sharing witness stories to encourage and uplift. Whether penning witness stories, writing children’s books, or catechizing littles, she invites others to experience God’s love through story. Because with God, there’s always more.