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Ministry Futures: Vocation for the 21st Century
The landscape of ministry is changing rapidly. New opportunities for lay people are emerging—beyond parish and congregational boundaries and the now common roles that laity have come to play in religious education and pastoral ministry over the past several decades. In recent years, lay persons are increasingly serving in healthcare ministries—as hospital chaplains, spiritual advisers in hospice settings, and pastoral workers in long-term care venues. Innovative educational ventures that serve economically deprived communities and prepare students for higher education draw idealistic young professional into teaching and learning environments. And a broad array of non-profit organizations that work for social justice, community development, and environmental protection are now faith-based service opportunities for people after a year or two of post-college volunteer work.
Lay people seek careers as pastoral counselors, spiritual directors, retreat leaders, and change agents who serve as community organizers and advocates for social change. Professionals who have spent their lives in the marketplace earning six-figure incomes are taking early retirement to use their experience and talent in service projects that provide them with opportunities to give back and to spend their remaining years in work that blends faith with pragmatism—in order to make a difference.
A new entrepreneurial approach to ministry leads believers to form their own 501c3’s to create mission-oriented organizations that recruit medical personnel and supplies to serve poor communities in cities and rural areas of the United States and abroad. Summer camps that serve children and teens with disabilities, organizations that support low-wage workers and advocate for better wages and decent benefits, environmental groups creating urban gardens and lobbying for clean water, clean air, clean energy—all of these are among a growing array of ministry initiatives that people of faith have developed on their own, expressions of their belief that discipleship means acting on their hope. They write grants, recruit volunteers, cultivate donors, and build marketing plans for their organizations.
Many of these new ministries are ecumenical, bringing believers from different Christian denominations together for community and service. Some are interfaith in sponsorship and membership—and include opportunities to mutually grow their understanding and appreciation of religious traditions and practices. A new spirit of collaboration replaces competition and enmity in their outreach to people in need and their desire to create “the beloved community.”
Loyola University in Chicago will showcase these new directions in ministry in two one-week conferences to be held in June at their downtown campus, just off Michigan Avenue. Social justice, community development, and environmental ministries will be featured in Week I (June 14-18), and healthcare, education, pastoral care and counseling and spiritual direction will be features in Week II (June 21-25). Plenary speakers include Franciscan theologian Fr. Richard Rohr, Episcopalian author Phyllis Tickle, Vatican journalist John Allen, leading Community Development organizer Mary Nelson, Hispanic leader Ronald Cruz, and executive director of Spiritual Directors International Liz Budd Ellmann. Ministry Entrepreneurs who will profile their organizations include the Muslim founder of the Interfaith Youth Corps Dr. Eboo Patel, Juan Lorenzo Hinojosa (Solidarity Bridge), Carol Ludwig (Center for Spiritual Care), Fr. Bill Creed, SJ and Tom Drexler (Ignatian Spirituality Project), and Orrin Williams (Center for Urban Transformation).
Faith-based educational efforts will be addressed by John Horan (charter schools), Fr. John Foley, SJ (Cristo Rey schools), Br. Edmund Siderewicz, FSC (San Miguel schools), and the principal of Providence-St. Mel’s School in Chicago Jeannette Dibelia. Pastoral care and counseling will feature Sr. Patricia Talone of the Catholic Health Association, educator Any Florian, Chaplain Dan Lunney, Fr. Robert Petite, David Lichter of the National Catholic Chaplaincy Association, and Rev. Doug Ronsheim. Environmental ministry will be addressed by Sr. Janet Weyker, OP, the Rev. Clare Butterfield (Faith in Place). Ginger Geeding will discuss her creative ministry initiatives in rural Missouri, and Fr. Chuck Dahm, OP will speak on “Turning Your Parish Into a Ministry.”
Participants will attend “How To” workshops on “Launching Non-Profits,” “Recruiting and Training Volunteers,” “Fundraising,” “Growing Your Organization,” and “Grant Development.” Gregory Pierce, founder of the National Center for the Laity, and Rev. Laura Truax, pastor of the LaSalle Street Church in Chicago, will be honored at conference banquets, receiving awards for their pioneering work in developing lay ministry initiatives.
Each week will conclude with presentations on Women Religious in America as Ministry Pioneers. Sr. Nancy Schreck, OSF will speak on “The Rich Legacy of Religious Women” (June 18th) and Sr. Carole Shinnick, SSND will speak on “Accidental Entrepreneurs: Women Religious Help Build a Nation (June 25th).
Throughout the conferences participants will be led in a vocational discernment and integration process by Lucien Roy and Maureen Gallagher of the Reid Group.
© 2010 Robert A. Ludwig, Ph.D.
About the Author
Robert A. Ludwig, Ph.D. is the director of Loyola University Chicago’s Institute of Pastoral Studies and Professor of Pastoral Theology. Dr. Ludwig is a frequent presenter at conferences, workshops, symposia, and ministry gatherings throughout the country. He is past president of the Catholic Campus Ministry Association (1979-1980) and has served as consultant to the U.S. Catholic bishops in their pastoral letter on campus ministry (Empowered By the Spirit: Campus Ministry Faces the Future, 1984) and for the bishop-delegates to the international synod on the laity (1987).
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