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| Sept. 4-10 , 2008 |
| By Luke Eggleston/ SUN staff writer |
| SUN photo(s) Paul Finch |
| Le Moyne College now offers pastoral ministry program in partnership with diocese
Grabowski, a parishioner at St. James Church in Cazenovia, was interested in finding a way for Le Moyne to help alleviate the priest shortage in the Syracuse Diocese. For Father Maldari, the question presented an opportunity to implement his own ideas regarding the role of the laity in ministry. “To see my theory getting translated into action is very exciting,” Father Maldari said. “ Baptism really makes Christians ministers but, as time goes on, we have to figure out how to actualize that. We all have particular charisms or gifts — we’re all good at some stuff, but we’re not good at everything. But there are a lot of good people in parishes so let’s get them involved and give them the training for their particular ministries so they can all continue to keep the parish alive.”
Leigh Marquis is the director of finance at Holy Cross Parish in DeWitt. Msgr. Robert Yeazel, the pastor at Holy Cross, encouraged her to expand her training through the program offered at Le Moyne. “Catholic theology is our only required course and the rest of the courses we can take that fit our ministry. This will just give me more in-depth knowledge,” Marquis said. “I just think it’s a wonderful opportunity. I can’t believe there isn’t a waiting list for this program.” In addition to practical training, Marquis believes the certificate will simply provide lay ministers with more self assurance. “I think it gives them more confidence to pursue whatever ministry they’re in and to go forward with their work in the church and to serve the church. You can’t have enough knowledge,” Marquis said. Joanne Delaney volunteers at the Bishop’s Academy at Most Holy Rosary and she hopes to participate more actively in parish life as well, particularly in the area of religious education. A Le Moyne alum, Delaney knew that the program was perfect for her after reading a release published in The Catholic SUN. “It’s something for me to do and I’ve been asked by Father [Fred Mannara] before to help with the inquirers and people who are fallen away Catholics who have come back for more instruction and I just feel like I want to know more,” Delaney said. “It will give me more knowledge of the faith. I’ve been away from school for over 20 years.” With the decline of priestly vocations, Delaney knows the laity is playing an increasingly pivotal role in ministry. “We need the laity. Priests are not coming,” she said. The diocesan committee that met with members of the Le Moyne community was spearheaded by Episcopal Vicar for Parishes Father James Lang and included Sister Katie Eiffe, CSJ, Deacon Les Distin and Eastern Region Religious Education Director Catherine Cornue, along with Father Scardella. For those interested in becoming pastoral associates or parish business administrators, for example, the applicable courses include financial accounting, principles of microeconomics, nonprofit marketing and a course entitled “The Church: Community in Christ.” For the catechetical leader category one can select from courses that cover the Old Testament, Christian ethics and Catholic social teaching. Only two baseline courses are required: a course on Catholic theology and another on the Nicene Creed. Father Maldari stressed that any course that might help a student pursue ministry is open to them. “We have three certificate ‘goals’ and in the brochure, we gave examples of courses, which they can choose, but they’re not limited to those,” he said. “As a matter of fact, any course that’s offered at the college that could help the ministry that the person is working toward would be a possibility.” Students are expected to already have 60 college credits or an associate’s degree before entering the program. Moreover, Father Scardella stressed that the program is not intended to replace Formation for Ministry. “At the outset let me say that the candidates should have been at least through the Formation for Ministry Program or its equivalent,” Father Scardella said. “This is not replacing Formation [for Ministry], this is to be done after Formation for continuing education. I want to make that very clear.” The program includes two financing tracks. Under “Track B,” students are responsible for full tuition. Under “Track A,” students are responsible for one third of the tuition, while a sponsoring parish provides a third and Le Moyne supplements another third. Father Scardella noted that in order to qualify for “Track A,” students would need to be shepherded through the program by mentors. “The academic part is only one part of the certificate program. They also have to be mentored. If they go through ‘Track A,’ they have to have a diocesan mentor and a spiritual director to guide them through their time so that they’ll be evaluated throughout the process much like the Formation for Ministry Program so that a person’s not out there just getting a certificate and thinking they’ll get hired through a parish because they have the certificate,” Father Scardella said. “They have to be endorsed by their pastor. A person can also go in on their own, but they won’t get any tuition assistance.”
He added that the Le Moyne program supplements Formation for Ministry. Father Maldari echoed the same idea, adding that students who have already gone through the Formation for Ministry Program will have a chance to enhance their previous education. “The students that we have may have already done Formation for Ministry and this would take them beyond that, going deeper,” Father Maldari said. The program is still early in its development with only a handful of students enrolled. Currently, students are intermingled with conventional students at Le Moyne. Father Maldari underscored the fact that Le Moyne sees the program as an opportunity to help foster the life of the Syracuse Diocese. “I really believe — and this isn’t just PR — that we really are here to promote the life of the Catholic Church in the Diocese of Syracuse,” Father Maldari said. Retired Le Moyne professor Dr. Nancy Ring is currently teaching the Catholic theology course that most of the new pastoral ministry students are enrolled in. She believes the course will give students a deeper understanding of their faith.
“I think one of the greatest things we can do for people who are in pastoral care is help them understand that the faith is not just something that happened in ancient times. It has relevancy today,” said Ring, who received her doctorate in theology from Marquette University. “We call that ‘self appropriation.’ I think that’s one of the things that the church has fallen way behind on is just teaching the doctrine without giving people the tools to understand that in our culture. So I’m trying to help people to do that.”
A brochure detailing the program can be obtained through one’s parish or through Le Moyne’s Center for Continuing Education.
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The Syracuse Diocese and Le Moyne College will begin a new phase in their mutual history this year with the certificate in pastoral ministry.
The program offers three categories of study for potential lay ministers: pastoral associate, parish business administrator and catechetical leader.
According to Father Maldari, a January meeting with diocesan pastors revealed there was a need for more pastoral associates. Father Joseph Scardella, who served on the diocese’s committee working with Le Moyne, added that Syracuse’s Formation for Ministry Program does not offer a formal curriculum for parish business administrators. He believes the program offered by Le Moyne will help in that area.
“One of my main concerns is that we don’t have in the Formation for Ministry Program formal business courses. And that’s what they’ve done, they’ve given us formal business courses for those people to take, which is very good,” said Father Scardella.
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