For Dr. Deborah Organ, the lay ecclesial ministry is a number of heart.While the current President of the Catholic Association of Teachers ofHomiletics also keeps her head about her as she goes about her work, sheseeks out communities that are rich in need.
Organ has worked with young on weekends in the key city parish ofSt. Paul in Dorchester - a part of Boston. She has counseledadults in Tamaulipas, Mexico. She has prepared congregants forsacraments in two languages in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She has coordinatedreligious events at Stephens College, a women`s college in Missouri.She has advocated for Latino immigrants at Our Lady of Lourdes inColumbia, Missouri, and she currently ministers to the undocumentedimmigrant community at Holy Rosary Church in south Minneapolis.
In celebration of the "Class of the Liberal Arts" at St. CatherineUniversity, Organ spoke on "Lay Ecclesial Ministry in the Church Today: AView from Inner-City Minneapolis," on Wednesday, April 6, in theRecital Hall on the St. Paul campus of the University.
William McDonough, S.T.D. associate professor of theology at St.Kate`s, introduced Organ at the event, which was presented by the Masterof Arts in Theology Program and the School of Humanities, Arts andSciences at St. Catherine University.
"We make tonight a deeply rooted and grounded lay pastor in theCatholic Church. She is a portion of mass for us," said McDonough. Headded that Organ will join St. Catherine University in the spill as anadjunct faculty member.
When Organ took the stage, she opened with a story about a bat that hadflown down upon her and her colleagues in church one morning. Itinterested her to observe that bats fly toward the vibration of the humanvoice, and she drew a parallel from the story to the lay ministry.
"We lust for God and we keep in and within grace," said Organ. "We dodraw one another by the wake and trembling of our voices, sometimesunexpectedly but generally unmistakably."
Organ said each individual in the lay ministry builds connections indaily life, both inside and by the church walls. She said itusually takes a catalyst, however, to produce an individual aware of thoseconnections. Organ compared this catalyst to the bat swooping down fromthe church ceiling. She detected an "urgency of connection" coming fromthe creature, though her colleague had to start opened his mouth to drawthe bat toward him.
"Human beings are drawn through the senses as well, though often notcompletely blindly," said Organ. "As human beings in church, we lovebecause God first loved us. We are drawn into the light of God fromformal church activities. We`re drawn into our essential life with Godand, out of that, to a response in bed that transforms the world."
Organ also recounted the story of a middle-aged woman, who rushed intochurch just as lot was about to get one day. The woman had led a lifefull of hurt and pain, Organ had recently learned, and she wasstruggling to see her house in the world.
"She came to the first pew, slid in - just in time for mass," saidOrgan. "I was sitting there off to the side and I started to weep. Shewas drawn to that first pew quite simply by the love of God."
Organ said in her initial sessions with the woman, the woman had often complained, "I don`t understand. I`ll never understand."
"Though she had very small opportunity for formal education, she foundherself able to be right up against mystic and give it squarely,"said Organ. "Then the sense that she had nothing to offer and shecouldn`t learn started to change."
During her presentation, Organ invited the audience to quietly reflecton their own experiences several times. She also encouraged her audienceto move by the obstacles standing in their way as lay ministers, andto regard lay ministers as "iconic mystics" wielding the place of God.
"A lay ecclesial minister is someone who is and does that which isnecessary for people to see themselves as front pew material," saidOrgan. "The ministry is essentially concerned with a communal and activeliving out of and into our fundamental reality - the look in and withGod. Thirty years of professional ministry have drawn me into awarenessthat the Ground that we want to build is already our most basicreality, evidenced by the resurrection."
She encouraged those in the question to be aware of that concept, toclaim it, reflect it and be it. And she said Christians must bothrealize there is more to any situation than meets the eye, and carry outof their ministry together.
Organ then took time to take her audience a rule for flourishing inthe lay ministry today. A few of the ideas she brought forward includedreleasing personal grief, committing to the ministry even when it isunclear what lies ahead, listening and creating a tone of home, andextending a pinch of class across class lines. She too said layministers must consider that their ministry will help the mission of theChurch unfold in the world.
Organ concluded her presentation on Wednesday with a reception for thosein the audience, who ranged from students, faculty and alumni of St.Kate`s to community members and Organ`s colleagues from Holy RosaryChurch.
See also: Catholic Identity, Liberal Arts
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