Pastoral leaders discuss permanent diaconate/lay ministry formation programs

by Mark Kemmeter

Coordinator of Diocesan Staff

When Pastoral Leader Days concluded on February 21, 2006, priests, pastoral administrators, and diocesan staff of the New Ulm diocese had spent two days focusing on establishing permanent diaconate and lay ministry formation programs in the diocese.

The discussion on the permanent diaconate was led by Fr. Godfrey Mullen, OSB, the Director of Continuing Education at Saint Meinrad Seminary in Saint Meinrad, Indiana. Fr. Godfrey gave presentations on the history of the permanent diaconate in the Roman Catholic Church, the role of the deacon, the qualifications and recruitment of candidates, and the formation program of Saint Meinrad Seminary.

Saint Meinrad has developed a deacon formation program that travels around the country. It is a one-of-a-kind program. Seminary faculty and other lecturers provide course work in a four-year curriculum which meets the standards of the U.S. Bishops’ Conference for diaconal preparation. Lecturers meet with candidates for one weekend per month over a ten month period. The weekend gatherings are held at a location within the host diocese. Saint Meinrad is presently providing deacon formation for eight dioceses around the country, most of them in rural locations.

Dr. Gregory Sobolewski, the Director of the Institute in Pastoral Ministries at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota in Winona, addressed the growing phenomenon of lay ministry within the Catholic Church in the United States. The number of full-time (a minimum of 20 hours per week) lay ministers involved in parish and diocesan work now exceeds the number of priests in active ministry in the United States. The average American parish has nearly two such ministers on the parish staff.

In response to this emerging development, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) recently published the document, Co-Workers in the Vineyard of the Lord. Dr. Sobolewski provided an overview of the document and its relationship to other documents from both Vatican II and the Bishops’ Conference.

Saint Mary’s University offers a Masters degree program that could help train future lay ministers for the Diocese of New Ulm, such as pastoral administrators, directors of religious education, youth ministers, and pastoral associates or parish workers. The program is designed for students already engaged in full-time ministry. There is a two-week summer residency in Winona and the remainder of the year is spent in home study, reading, and consultation with faculty.

The University is also interested in collaborating with the diocese on parish leadership formation and basic study in theology and scripture. The latter program concept is similar to the FOUNDATIONS program which the diocese conducts with St. John’s University in Collegeville and funds through a grant from the Catholic Home Missions.

An Ad Hoc Committee, appointed by Bishop Nienstedt under the chairmanship of Fr. Steve Verhelst, has completed a proposal for the introduction and development of these formation programs in the diocese. The proposal will be discussed by pastoral leaders at their pastoral leader region meetings and then reviewed and discussed by the Priests’ Council and Diocesan Pastoral Council.