By Joe Pisani
RIDGEFIELD—Dr. Claire Ganal had never been to Bible study before, so she didn’t know what to expect when she joined a weekly program at St. Mary Parish in Ridgefield, offered by the St. Jerome Center.
Raquel Gmelin had eight years of Catholic education at Nativity Blessed Virgin Mary School in Queens but had never read the Bible, so when she heard about the program, she wanted “to be immersed in God’s Word” after a family tragedy.
They, and some 20 other women, gather every week for 90 minutes in the Holy Family Hall to preview the upcoming Mass readings, recall the previous week’s Gospel and homily and share stories of how God touched them through Sacred Scripture.
“When I am at this Bible study, the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit are on full display and absolutely alive,” said Dr. Ganal, a pediatrician, who has experienced the graces in a remarkable way.
Gmelin was so inspired that she brought three other women to the group.
“It’s like a workout for your body and food for your soul,” she said. “Everyone looks forward to the day we meet. You walk out happy, and it helps me day-to-day in a society where you can be nervous to talk about how God is working in your life.”
Deacon Patrick Toole, DMin, chancellor of the diocese and founder and director of the St. Jerome Center for Preaching and Biblical Studies, says the program, which is supported by the 2026 Bishop’s Appeal, is being used in almost 20 parishes. According to Deacon Toole, studying the Mass readings gives Catholics “a deeper level of engagement during the Liturgy of the Word and makes Scripture more relevant in their lives.”
“Our motivation for doing this was to help people be prepared to hear the Word of God when they come to the Sunday liturgy. Then, they can be transformed by it and a little more attentive to the homily. They’ll come away with ideas about how it affects their lives and live the Gospel in the week ahead,” Deacon Toole said.
The program is offered in partnership with the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology in Steubenville, Ohio, where Deacon Toole gets the materials, which include a guide written by biblical scholar Dr. John Bergsma titled “The Word of the Lord: Reflections on the Sunday Mass Readings” and Dr. Scott Hahn’s acclaimed Ignatius Catholic Study Bible.
“The Spirit is at work,” he said. “It’s been very successful, basically by word of mouth. I simply provide the resources and the training, and the parishes do the heavy lifting. If we give the parishes high-quality materials and programs and the necessary training, I believe we will bring many more people to Christ.”
During the weekly sessions at St. Mary, facilitated by Carol Incarnação-Schirm, JD, the women discuss the Gospel and homily from the previous week and share insights they’ve had and then delve into the upcoming readings.
“This serves two purposes,” Dr. Ganal says. “When you go into church, you have primed the pump. You have heard it, digested it, and your ears are open, so you hear what you were meant to hear. Then, you listen to the homily and bring your thoughts back to the group for discussion.”
What is especially rewarding, she says, is that the process makes the Word of God “incredibly personal,” as they discuss how it applies to their lives with “zero judgment.”
A lifelong Catholic, she says her father had a tremendous faith and her mother, who attended Bible study, was active in their parish. She and her husband Dr. Edton Ganal and their children have also begun watching the TV series The Chosen together.
“For so long, the Bible was something that was read to me,” she said. “You sat at Mass and hopefully you were getting the message, but it was a passive process. This is an active process. You’re not just asked to listen but to discover what you are being called to do….Now, when I have questions in my life, I’m more likely to pray as I discern what I should do.”
Gmelin joined the group last September, shortly after her son Brandon, 18, was killed in an accident.
“That tragedy brought me to my Christian counselor,” she says, “and then I saw there was a Bible study. I had never read it before and wanted to be immersed in God’s Word and wanted to be closer to my son. It’s lovely and it’s freeing to be sitting with a group of women of all different ages, looking to understand how God is working in our lives and have the freedom to talk about him.”
Meeting with the group also helps the women confront the challenges of life together and strengthen each other with their spiritual camaraderie.
“If you sense someone is going through something, we pray together at the end and lift each other up,” she said. “And if someone asks how it’s going, you can answer honestly because they are always there for you. It’s a very trusting room to be in.”
When their four children were younger, she and her husband Daniel took them to Mass regularly, but later sports and other activities infringed on their commitment. That has changed.
Now, Daniel is also reading the Bible, and the family watches The Chosen together, and they discuss life and faith with their children.
“Their faith is growing along with mine,” she said. “Now that I’m reading the Gospels, it helps me understand how much Jesus loves us and what he went through for us. All the miracle stories remind me that I have to trust that God brings good out of everything … and this Bible study is building a foundation for me to trust God.”
Deacon Toole facilitates a Wednesday class at St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Trumbull and gets great satisfaction from it.
“As a deacon working in the diocese, I do a lot of things, but there’s just something special about discussing the Word of God with a group of people and immersing yourself in the richness of Sacred Scripture,” he says. “What’s so amazing is that Scripture has been around for thousands of years, going back to the Old Testament, and it is forever new. That’s clearly the work of the Spirit. Even today, the miraculous nature of this sacred text continues to touch people in their daily lives in deeply profound ways.”
The members agree. Thomas Matthews, who attends the sessions, said: “The Bible study program has made the content much more relatable and accessible for me, thanks to the discussions led by Deacon Toole. Before, the words felt distant, but I now find myself connecting with them in a meaningful way. The program has made me recognize the beauty of the language in the Bible.”
(The St. Jerome Bible study is one of the many programs supported by the 2026 One in Christ Bishop’s Appeal. Bishop Frank J. Caggiano urges the faithful to consider a gift to the Appeal, which has a goal of $8 million and provides for works of charity, formation in faith, education and catechesis. For more information, visit www.2026BishopsAppeal.org.)
