---

The Kateri Institute, the diocesan program to train parish lay ministers, was launched three years ago to replace the Formation for Ministry Program. At the end of June, the institute will commission its first "graduating class."

Several aspects have distinguished the Kateri Institute from FMP: The program is longer, with more courses, and includes prayer services led by participants who share faith experiences.

The institute also partnered with an online course series through Boston College, which enriched its offerings and "allowed us to do more in the same basic September-to-June format," said David Amico, diocesan director of the Office of Ministry Formation.

Mr. Amico said the program has taken "the best of FMP" and used a 2005 document on lay ministry from the U.S. bishops to help it expand and grow.

The Kateri Institute "brings faith to life and life to faith," he continued. Most participants in the institute are interested in more active roles at their parishes, and "having people who have a greater sense of confidence in ministry is really helpful. It is very hard to describe how transformative this process can be for people. [It makes] them better disciples, more enthusiastic, more joyful and [puts] them in touch with Jesus."

Fred Shellard, one of the first group of 26 graduates, can attest to this: "I feel rejuvenated, energized, more confident," he said. "Some of us might think we know all there is to know, but we find out we only know a thimbleful."

Mr. Shellard, who works for a statewide professional association, is a parishioner of St. Kateri Tekakwitha Church in Schenectady. He expected the Kateri Institute to provide "a broader perspective on the Church and [help me] learn more about my faith and how to better share it and getting beyond our own little community."

Inspired by the program, the longtime catechist and lector recently joined the Knights of Columbus and started preparing youth for confirmation, in addition to his other ministries at St. Kateri parish. He's discerning a possible call to the diaconate.

The Kateri Institute taught him that "our faith is universal. We all share something in common. We are all loved and we are all made in the image of Christ. Some of it's very personal, but at the same time, the sharing of the Spirit should not be a personal thing."

Mr. Shellard's parish helped defray the $575 annual cost of the program; diocesan Capital Campaign leadership grants also assist participants. Classes are offered for nine-hour sessions one Saturday a month at locations throughout the Diocese. The newly-commissioned participants studied in Clifton Park, Queensbury and Oneonta; the program has also added Watervliet and Stuyvesant Falls/Stottville sites.

Mark LaSalle, an art dealer who converted to Catholicism in 2009, was encouraged by his pastor at Our Lady of the Assumption parish in Latham to attend as a way to enrich his lectoring and eucharistic ministry. He's since joined the pastoral council, funeral ministry and the Angel Tree ministry for prisoners' children. His pastor has asked him to be a liturgical coordinator.

Without the Kateri Institute, "I would not have felt nearly as experienced as I do now," Mr. LaSalle said. The program has helped him "understand the need to meet people where they are. I think it can benefit anybody who is listening to God. Each of us within the Catholic Church and all people in general are called to be holy people."

Mr. LaSalle is also discerning a call to the diaconate.

Mr. Amico admitted the program's three-year commitment "can seem daunting, but for the people who have gone through it, they say, 'Where has the time gone?'

"You learn how to be with one another" and respect opinions and "spirituality that may be different from your own," he said. "There's a great value to that and it really grows over time."

St. Kateri Tekakwitha's 2012 canonization celebrated "that she, in her own day, was a lay minister," Mr. Amico said. "It reemphasized the fact that the laity are indeed called to ministry by their baptism."[[In-content Ad]]

---