Lay Ministry program offers opportunity to ‘know history behind faith’
On Nov. 9 in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel of the SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Indianapolis, Archbishop Joseph W. Tobin presents Wendy Braun of St. Simon the Apostle Parish in Indianapolis with the archdiocesan lay ministry certificate she earned. Four others also received the certificate: Anita Bardo of St. Rita Parish, Michael Clouse of St. Christopher Parish and Therese Hartley of St. Luke the Evangelist Parish, all in Indianapolis, and Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Sister Ushatta Mary of Our Lady of the Greenwood Parish in Greenwood. (Photo by Natalie Hoefer)
By Natalie Hoefer
On Nov. 9, Archbishop Joseph W. Tobin made an interesting connection involving a church in Rome and five members of the archdiocese.
“Today is the feast of the [dedication of the] Lateran Basilica, … the church the pope uses when he’s acting as bishop of Rome,” he said to the small congregation, but particularly to the five people who had completed a lay ministry formation program sponsored by the archdiocese. “I think that’s a wonderful celebration to commission ecclesial ministers, because after all your hard work, your mission is about the Church—please God, it will be in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis!”
The five, along with family and friends, were gathered in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel of SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Indianapolis for a prayer service and to receive from the archbishop their recently earned lay ministry certificates.
(Related story: Archdiocese offers discounted educational, catechetical courses)
Each earned the certificate from the archdiocese by completing 12 continuing education theology courses through the University of Notre Dame’s Satellite Theological Education Program (STEP). Four of the students participated in the program remotely, taking the courses online.
“We have been offering the program for over 10 years, and over 50 people have earned certificates,” said Ed Isakson, archdiocesan director of human resources, who oversees the archdiocesan program. “We offer the program to help people prepare for ministry in the Church, and also to provide continuing education to people already engaged in ministry at the parish, school, deanery or archdiocesan level.”
To make the certificate more affordable, all archdiocesan employees, volunteers and parishioners receive a 20 percent discount on each $99 class, resulting in nearly two and a half of the 12 classes being free.
Additionally, full-time and part-time employees of archdiocesan parishes, schools and agencies receive a 30 percent reimbursement upon course completion.
“I think we all like to save money,” admitted Wendy Braun, a member of St. Simon the Apostle Parish in Indianapolis who started the program in 2012. “But it’s money well-spent.”
Braun decided to pursue the lay ministry certificate program after her husband, Michael, was ordained a permanent deacon in the archdiocese.
“That deacon formation was awesome for us, and I came out thinking, ‘I’m really going to miss this formation I’ve received,’ ” said Braun. “I saw [information about the lay ministry certificate program] in The Criterion and thought this would be perfect for me. And it was. You learn about your faith, but by doing that, the whole reason is to grow closer to God, and each of the classes did that.”
Braun appreciated the flexibility of taking courses at her own pace. And the program introduced her to the online learning experience.
“It’s well-managed, the website is easy to move around, and I think all of us got used to the chat rooms—that was the most fun,” she added with a grin.
The availability of taking classes remotely came in handy for Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Sister Ushatta Mary, who completed some of her coursework online while visiting her motherhouse in India.
Sister Ushatta coordinates extraordinary ministers of holy Communion, prepares children for their first Communion, and serves as spiritual director for many ministries at Our Lady of the Greenwood Parish in Greenwood.
While she learned much in her formation to become a religious sister, there are cultural aspects of Catholicism in America that were illumined through the STEP courses she took, “especially [the class on] Catholic social teaching,” she said. “Teaching on women [is] not very prominent in India, but [through this course] I learned much about solidarity and pro-life movements, the teaching that every human life is important. It was really inspirational.”
Michael Clouse of St. Christopher Parish in Indianapolis found the courses to be “just a tremendous amount of fun. It’s like eating potato chips—you take one and you say, ‘Yeah, I think I want another, and another.’ ”
He also found his faith to be enhanced by what he learned.
“I just finished a course on the Creed,” Clouse said. “Now it’s difficult for me to say the Creed because I look at it and want to think of all the history I learned behind it.
“You’re looking at the Church in a whole new way. You know the history behind the faith, and that makes your faith stronger. It’s life changing.”
(For more information on the Lay Ministry Certificate program, log on to www.archindy.org/layministry/certificate.html, or e-mail hr@archindy.org.) †
