Pastoral associate fills many roles in Stamford

"I want to get to know the people and become a 'listening ear' to their concerns," said Louise B. Evans, the new pastoral associate for faith formation and parish life at Sacred Heart Church in Stamford.

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

The new position was implemented to help Rev. Joseph Cebula, then pastor, with the parish life and faith formation part of his job at Sacred Heart/St. Philip Neri and Most Precious Blood of Jesus in South Kortright. When Donna Donaldson left as religious education coordinator in June 2000, the parish included parish life duties to make it a full-time position as a pastoral associate.

Full-time job

According to Mrs. Evans, a native of Syracuse who holds a degree in elementary education and a master's in social work, the job offered a full-time position with diversified duties, giving her the opportunity to realize her dream of working in a full-service ministry for a Delaware County parish.

When she accepted the new position, Mrs. Evans picked up where Mrs. Donaldson left off with the religious education program. Mrs. Donaldson had been in charge of the religious ed program for 11 years prior to moving out of the area.

Mrs. Evans, who started in August, has begun to implement the goals that Father Cebula set for the position. Both felt that the goals would help parishioners live out the Gospel message of Jesus Christ.

Grief minister

One of her new duties is ministering to the bereaved, an area in which she has experience. She is a widow and helped with her father's care for two months before he died.

"In this new position," she explained, "I will be able to maintain the connection with family members one month after death, as well as six months and one year later. I feel that this is very important since no one from my home parish kept in touch after my father died."

Mrs. Evans noted 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 that person to feel connected "somehow, in some way, to someone, especially their faith community."

Many roles

Mrs. Evans has spent many years as a volunteer in religious ed, faith formation and other areas of parish life. She is now a member of several parish committees, such as the recent Capital Fund Campaign, the cemetery, buildings and grounds, religious ed and parish council. In June, she was asked to help with planning the Mission 2000 that the parish Renew leaders put on in October. "That gave me an opportunity to meet some of our parishioners and to share my faith with them on a personal level," she said.

In delineating her new ministry, Mrs. Evans said she has always felt that the parish community deserves service from its staff.

"Church has always been a place where people come for spiritual nourishment," she said. "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 where I can serve in the life of this parish."

Vision

The pastoral vision set forth for Mrs. Evans by Father Cebula, who is now the pastor of Our Lady of the Assumption parish in Schenectady, includes:

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

* enabling college students away at school to maintain a connection with their parish, possibly through an on-line newsletter;

* helping the relationship with Sacred Heart's sister parish in Honduras by having the students in the religious ed program extend communications and collaboration between the two;

* cataloguing a video library for parishioners and offering occasions to watch movies together, visit with one another and possibly establish a core community within the parish.

Mrs. Evans is confident that her position will allow her to implement these goals for Sacred Heart/St. Philip Neri parish.

"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."