April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
RETIRING
Parish life director promoted 'radical hospitality' for decades
Parish life director promoted 'radical hospitality' for decades
Mrs. Rowe-Manning has been making significant decisions ever since -- for herself and in her many roles in offices and parishes of the Albany Diocese. Her most recent decision was momentous: retirement.
After nine years, she's leaving her position as parish life director at St. Vincent de Paul parish in Albany.
At almost 70, Mrs. Rowe-Manning has had a colorful life. She has been a woman religious, single and married; a teacher, curator of an art gallery and director of a diocesan office.
She's excited at the prospect of having a little free time -- maybe.
Growing up in Syracuse, Mrs. Rowe-Manning attended parochial schools, taught by Sisters of St. Joseph. Inspired by that religious community, she entered the convent in 1964.
During her years as "Sister Betsy," Mrs. Rowe-Manning was an art teacher for fifth- through seventh-graders. She earned degrees from The College of Saint Rose in Albany and La Salle University in Philadelphia and worked in Herkimer-area parishes as a director of faith formation.
"I've always been busy," she told The Evangelist.
Making inroads
In 1985, the Diocese advertised for a director of its Office of Prayer and Worship. Sister Betsy got the job. She was the first woman and the first non-priest to hold the position; she stayed for a decade.
From 1988-2007, she also served as director of the diocesan Office of Ministry Formation and as curator for the Visions Gallery, an art gallery that operated in the diocesan Pastoral Center for more than 20 years.
During those years, she also decided to take a leave of absence from the Sisters of Saint Joseph.
"What was meant to be a break turned into a permanent separation," she said. But she sees her time in religious life as "wonderful -- not a mistake."
The former sister married John "Jack" Manning in 2005. Mr. Manning was the director of the diocesan Office of Pastoral Planning for many years.
He proposed to his future wife on Sept. 15, 2004, exactly 40 years after she'd entered the convent. The coincidence was a surprise to him: "He had no idea," said Mrs. Rowe-Manning.
As director of ministry formation for the Diocese, Mrs. Rowe-Manning had been instrumental in creating requirements and a formation process for candidates who wanted to become parish life directors, leading parishes without a resident priest.
"I thought maybe someday I'd like to do that, so I went through the process," she said.
In 2007, then-Bishop Howard J. Hubbard asked Mrs. Rowe-Manning to become parish life director for St. Vincent de Paul Church in Albany.
Best job ever
"I was nervous," she recalled, but she came to realize that "this job is the best that I have ever had."
As a woman who manages a parish, Mrs. Rowe-Manning has often been in the position of having to describe her job to people. She usually just tells them she's a pastor.
In fact, a parish life director does many of the tasks a pastor does at a parish. Mrs. Rowe-Manning doesn't celebrate Mass, but she's responsible for administration of the 750-household parish in a busy Albany neighborhood. She worries about the roof, makes sure the church's wheelchair ramp is safe and attends every liturgy. She helps arrange for children to receive sacraments, attends meetings and does pastoral care; she works with heads of ministries and with sacramental ministers Revs. Richard Vosko and Leo O'Brien.
"It's a privilege to be involved in people's lives," the PLD stated. "You're involved in times of joy and times of sorrow."
Once a month, she offers a reflection during a liturgy. "It's challenging," she noted. "It takes me hours" to write a 10-minute talk.
Mrs. Rowe-Manning has helped the parish grow by about 20 percent in recent years. There are parishioners from more than 40 zip codes who attend Mass each weekend.
She uses the term "radical hospitality" to promote inclusivity in the parish community.
Team effort
"I am an idea guy," said Father Vosko, who's a nationally-recognized consultant on worship space design. "I design churches and synagogues down to detail. Sometimes an idea needs time to develop. Betsy would take an idea and, like a true artist, she would let it mature a bit before looking for ways to implement it."
Mrs. Rowe-Manning believes that, together, the staff at St. Vincent's can do anything. Her role as parish life director is "life and it's faith," she said; it's "making [religion] make sense in people's lives."
The soon-to-be-retiree was just honored for her work toward inclusivity. She received the Rev. Joyce Steinkraus Giles pastoral award from the ecumenical Capital Area Council of Churches -- the first parish life director to receive the award.
In retirement, Mrs. Rowe-Manning will be working part-time at McVeigh Funeral Home in Albany. She believes that will help her feel more comfortable with the difficult transition.
She'll also look for a new parish to attend, since she doesn't want to intrude on a new parish life director. Her goal is to find a parish that has good homilies, with a pastor who's "challenging, but affirming" -- something others say Mrs. Rowe-Manning has tried to be for five decades.[[In-content Ad]]
250 X 250 AD
250 X 250 AD
Events
250 X 250 AD
Comments:
You must login to comment.