Florida Catholic | Lay Ecclesial Ministers Answer Baptismal Call To Discipleship

Lay ecclesial ministers answer call to discipleship

Foundations for Lay Ministry is a three–year program that meets at San Pedro Center in Winter Park one weekend per month.

BETTY ANN WEBER | FLORIDA CATHOLIC CORRESPONDENT

Published: 05.09.08

ORLANDO | The experience has been eye-opening.

“I thought I knew some things about the Catholic Church,” said Tomás Evans, 46, diocesan director of Catholic Hispanic Communications and editor of El Clarín newspaper. “I soon realized that I didn’t know too much.”

It’s a confession that is not uncommon among the 24 members of the 2008 graduating class of the Foundations for Lay Ministry program, the official diocesan program for formation. Having completed three years of study, they are slated for commission by Bishop Thomas Wenski as lay ecclesial ministers Saturday, May 17, 12:30 p.m., at St. James Cathedral. Their charge, in agreement with their pastors, is public service in their parishes.

As editor of El Clarín, the official diocesan Spanish-language newspaper, and weekday radio host of Buena Nueva FM, Evans is called to evangelize – spreading the good news of Jesus Christ throughout the nine counties of central Florida.

“I needed a strong understanding of our Catholic faith,” said Evans, a native of Santiago, Chíle, and a Holy Family parishioner. “The (Foundations for Lay Ministry process made me a better person. It is so powerful that once begun, it’s impossible to drop. I understood more profoundly the divinity, secular human lessons. And what I learned, I passed on to radio listeners.”

Evans’ life also centers on his wife, Beatrize, and their children Christopher, 11, and Geraldine, 17. “Christopher assists me at the radio station,” Evans said. “He sets up the mikes and calls himself ‘DJ Chris.’ Our family – that’s Beatrize’s ministry.”

The three-year program meets at San Pedro Center in Winter Park one weekend per month. Through courses in Scripture, liturgy, ecclesiology, sacraments and church leadership skills, as well as engaging in human, pastoral and spiritual formation experiences, women and men are led through discernment of their call to lay ministry.

Classmate Ruthven Jakie, Holy Family liturgy associate, said, “I was longing to be better equipped in my understanding of church and ministry. I wanted to help inspire a lasting awareness in minds seeking truth.

“As a boy in Trinidad and Tobago, I was consumed by a zeal for God. My days were filled with retreats, youth rallies and charismatic conferences.

“My dad was a living example of someone truly in love with Christ. He taught me to play classical guitar, a gift that developed into a lifelong passion and vocation.” Jakie earned an associate degree in music at Trinity College in London, and lectured on performance and arranging at Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts in Jamaica, where he was musical director for the Jamaica Hummingbirds Steel Orchestra.

“My supreme pleasure was playing at two Masses celebrated by Pope John Paul II in Jamaica and Trinidad,” he said. “In 2002, with my wife Guerline and daughter CG, now 9, I moved to Florida to develop a steelpan program for Florida International University.”

Today, with a go-ahead from his Holy Family pastor Father William Ennis, Jakie calls his Foundations for Lay Ministry project “Putting a Name to the Face.”

“I realized that the wider parish community is not informed of the passing of a member,” Jakie said. “The lack of community representation at many funeral services for parishioners might leave bereaved families feeling lost and without support. Primarily, it’s an attempt to make a large community seem small.”

Also from the class of 2008, are Graziella and Vanessa Russo, ardent sisters with related projects, both ministering to Brazilian immigrants.

At 21, Graziella Russo was the youngest member to enter a class. Now 24, she and her sister, Vanessa, 29, were born in Brazil, the world’s largest Catholic country, where they walked to their neighborhood church and rarely was there a stranger sitting beside them.

When the aunt they were visiting in San Francisco moved to Orlando, they came along to help her settle in. A church home awaited them at Resurrection Parish in Winter Garden, boasting a sizable contingent of Brazilian immigrants with a litany of basic needs. The sisters entered ministries and reached out to confused parishioners.

“They were wonderful,” said Father Alex Dalpiaz, pastor. “Fluent, marvelous, apostolic. They fulfill what they promise.”

Both are catechists, share ministries, go to the same meetings, serve on the parish council and, generally, speak as one.

“The Foundations for Lay Ministry program was highly recommended,” Vanessa Russo said. “We wanted to grow in knowledge and spirituality, as ministers and persons.”

The Brazilian community at Resurrection is planning to open a center for immigrants, to provide information regarding everyday issues. “My third year … project,” said Graziella Russo, “is to assist by starting a database related to immigration services, reviewing the ‘Manual of the Immigrant’ in Portuguese, and participating in the meetings with clergy and other community members to develop a social ministry.”

“And I’ll be initiating a communication ministry,” said Vanessa Russo, “to provide information to Brazilian immigrants in the community, parish and on a diocesan level – vital for ethnic communities. What we treasure most are the people we meet. We’re honored to participate in the commissioning and to serve. We never dreamed this could happen to us as immigrants.”

Graziella Russo added, “Speaking as the youngest person in the class, I believe the church should encourage more young adults to have this kind of experience. Most people are not used to having someone our age in church leadership. Even when we started the … program, people seemed surprised to see us there because of our age. People usually expect that youths are interested in church life only if we combine it with some kind of party environment.

She concluded, “Pope John Paul II called youths to be watchers of the morn, the light that is Jesus. To serve, evangelize. Not just for him, but with him.”

Return to Diocese of Orlando Front Page

Lay ecclesial ministers answer call to discipleship

Other Stories