Associate lends ear to fellow parishioners

"I want people to know I can be the one who will 'hold their hands' and walk with them through their bad times as well as their good times," she added.

The new position was implemented by the parish council just a few months ago, when Rev. Joseph Cebula, then pastor, assumed additional duties at Most Precious Blood of Jesus, a neighboring parish in South Kortright. The aim was to relieve him of administrating two separate parishes.

Dream come true

When she accepted her new position, Mrs. Edwards was director of the religious education program for the parish, working about ten hours a week. In her new role, she coordinates additional parish activities and has a higher visibility in the parish.

Mrs. Edwards, a native of Syracuse, holds a bachelor's degree in elementary education and a master's in social work. She has spent many years as a volunteer in religious education, faith formation programs and other lay ministries.

Goals

Another of her new duties is minister for the bereaved. She does follow-up with family members of deceased parishioners. Because she has experience in this area, she has been able to expand the parish's current program.

"I used to belong to a bereavement committee in another parish. We would do a one-time follow-up with family members, but that was it," she explained. "In this new position, I have been able to implement an extended program, maintaining the connection with family members not only one month after death, but six months and one year later, as well. I feel that this is very important for continuity."

Mrs. Edwards said that sometimes, especially with the elderly, the widowed spouse is left alone with few, if any, outside connections. She believes that it is vital for a person to feel they are connected "somehow, in some way, to someone."

Many hats

The faith-sharing segment of Renew, she recalled, "gave me an opportunity to meet many of our parishioners and share my faith with them on a personal level."

In delineating her new ministry for The Evangelist, Mrs. Edwards said she has always felt that the parish community deserves quality service from its staff.

"Church has always been a place where people come for spiritual nourishment," she noted. "I believe that we also need to be advocates for people on other levels so they can receive what they justly deserve. I think there is a very definite role I can play in the life of this parish."

Much to do

* future implementation of a committee of parish volunteers who will go to people's homes and provide necessary services to the homebound and the elderly who can no longer care for themselves;

* a committee that will enable college students who are away at school to maintain a direct connection with their parish, possibly through a computer-accessed newsletter;

* deepening the relationship with the parish's sister parish in Honduras by extending communications and collaboration between the two parishes;

* establishing a video library for senior parishioners so they can come together and watch movies, visit with each other, and establish their own core community within the parish.

She is confident that her new staff position will allow her to implement these goals for the rural parish community of Sacred Heart.

"I believe that God wants me here and that I was definitely called by Him to do this work," she said. "We're all called to be 'God's hands,' to do some kind of work for the Lord. We never stop learning; faith formation is from the cradle to the grave."

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