Diocese launches new program for lay leaders

BY DAVID AMICO

This year, the feast of Blessed Kateri Tekawitha (July 14) holds special meaning for the Albany Diocese. Under the auspices of the Office of Ministry Formation, the Diocese will launch The Kateri Institute for Lay Ministry Formation this autumn.

The Kateri Institute will combine the best of two programs: the diocesan Formation for Ministry Program (FMP), and the Certificate for Designated Ministry program (CDM) formerly offered by St. Bernard's School of Theology and Ministry in Albany, the Diocese's graduate school of theology.

The Kateri Institute will continue to nurture women and men to respond more deeply to their baptismal call to ministry in the parishes and regions of the Diocese.

Through a three-year process, participants will be able to earn either the Foundations for Ministry Certificate (similar to the certificate received through FMP) or the Leadership for Ministry Certificate (similar to the certificate received through CDM), which will include a concentration in a particular area of ministry.

In addition to the ministry concentrations previously of-fered (catechetical leader, youth ministry leader, liturgical coordinator - including RCIA - and pastoral associate for administration), the institute will offer two new certificates: pastoral care coordinator and pastoral associate for parish life.

Like FMP, the institute will offer most of the courses at regional sites throughout the Diocese. With sufficient enrollment, the Saturday sites for this fall will be:

• St. Edward's parish in Clifton Park (to serve the greater Albany, Schenectady, Troy and southern Saratoga areas);

• Our Lady of the Annunciation, Queensbury (to serve the "north country" area);

• St. Mary's, Oneonta (to serve the southwestern area); and also

• a Tuesday evening site at the Pastoral Center in Albany.

Other sites are planned for the future. Formation sessions will include time for prayer, learning and faith sharing/theological reflection in small community groups.

Over the three years, there will also be days for retreat and for developing the skills needed for ministry. The goal is to foster growth on the human, spiritual, intellectual and pastoral levels in order to help participants discern with their pastors and parish life directors how God may be calling them to serve God's people.

Some aspects of the institute will be offered online in collaboration with Boston College's "C21 Online" effort and our own diocesan distance learning initiative.

While this will ease some of the travel for participants, it will also afford them the chance to learn from well-known presenters such as Rev. Michael Himes, a theology professor at Boston College. Distance learning also frees time in the schedule to focus on other areas of formation that might otherwise not receive sufficient attention.

We hope for 100 new participants! We are already receiving applications. We also invite those who have completed FMP or taken courses through CDM to contact the Office of Ministry Formation to explore how the institute might enhance or complete their own ministerial formation.

To launch the Kateri Institute is both an exhilarating and daunting prospect - yet, it seems that now is the time. The recommendations of the "Called to be Church" pastoral planning process for parishes in the Diocese highlighted the need for the involvement of a well-formed laity to live out the mission of Jesus in collaboration with our bishop, priests, deacons and vowed religious.

Moreover, in addressing the ecclesial convention of the Diocese of Rome last year, Pope Benedict XVI reminded us that the laity must be seen as "co-responsible for the Church's being and action."

Therefore, we move ahead trusting in the prayers of Blessed Kateri Tekawitha, the institute's patron and our Diocese's native daughter, who heroically ministered as a laywoman to her people.

We pray that the institute will form men and women of deep faith and dedication who like Blessed Kateri, will draw their sisters and brothers closer to Jesus.

(David Amico is director of the diocesan Office of Ministry Formation. For information on The Kateri Institute for Lay Ministry Formation, call 453-6670, email david.amico@rcda. org or visit www.rcda.org.)

(07/15/10)