Lay Catholics with thirst for ‘more’ chose ILEM

By Peter Finney Jr., Clarion Herald Commentary

Maureen Wright considered herself one of those blessed Catholics who had just about everything – a loving husband, a beautiful daughter and enough scientific degrees that with any luck she could spy one day rising to the heavens, just like Jack’s beanstalk, from her office at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s regional research center near City Park.

“When I first got my Ph.D., I remember sitting in my office at the U.S.D.A. and I told God, ‘I know this isn’t all you want me here for,’” Wright said. “I was married to a man of faith. I had a healthy child. And I told God, I know you didn’t give me all these gifts for me to be a scientist.’ And so I asked, ‘What do you want me to do?’ And, he said, ‘Just be ready.’”

For the last 2 1/2 years, Wright gathered with 11 other lay men and women from the Archdiocese of New Orleans and beyond in an intentional effort of deepening their faith and pastoral leadership skills through the Institute for Lay Ecclesial Ministry (ILEM) at Notre Dame Seminary.

Last Sunday, the eight members of the graduating class from the archdiocese gathered in the sanctuary of St. Louis Cathedral to be “commissioned” by Archbishop Gregory Aymond, who sent them off to their disparate future ministries in the church, like seeds tossed into the wind awaiting fertile ground.

Wright and her class were the fourth such “cohort” to be commissioned by Archbishop Aymond in the last decade, and those 45 laypersons have used their formation to further the Gospel in parish and school ministries such as RCIA, adult faith formation, CYO leadership, religious education and prison visitation.

“The ideal candidate is anyone and everyone who serves as a layperson within the church doing ministry,” said Jordan Haddad, director of ILEM. “It can be someone who works full time or part time as a director of religious education or as a teacher or a youth minister or someone who helps out on a regular basis with the RCIA or youth group. Maybe it’s someone who works in prison ministry or with the homeless.”

The intriguing thing about the lay formation program is that it is taught by the same professors who teach seminarians who are discerning a call to the priesthood. It also follows the same “four pillars” of priestly formation: intellectual, spiritual, human and pastoral.

“We want to ensure that our students have not only adequate intellectual formation but also have the practical skills and knowledge necessary for them to serve within the church and do effective ministry,” Haddad said. “They receive the same quality of instruction that our seminarians do.”

Wright never met an intellectual challenge she couldn’t handle. She was a Catholic school graduate through college – St. David Elementary School, Seton Academy and Xavier University of Louisiana, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in microbiology. Her final two years of doing research at Xavier turned into a research passion, and while pursuing her doctorate, she focused her research on the Formosan termite, which in its gluttony was destroying all things made of wood in the sub-tropical buffet of New Orleans.

Toward the end of her 31-year professional career, Wright felt called to move beyond her involvement in the  RCIA program at St. Anthony of Padua Parish and heard about ILEM at the annual Gulf Coast Faith Formation Conference.

“I was looking for something deeper and more regular,” she said. “The ILEM program had a booth, and I went to the open house, and the rest is history.”

Wright will go on to pursue a master of arts degree in pastoral leadership. She finds excitement and God’s blessings in seeing new people find their way into – or back into – the Catholic Church.

“I find predominantly people come into RCIA because of the example of someone they’ve seen, someone they’ve encountered,” Wright said. “They see that joy and happiness, and they see that peace in the person, and they want that. We’re seeing more and more people coming in who are really hungry and eager to learn more about what Christianity is and how it fits into history.”

Wright says ILEM is for anyone “who just wants to know God better. Any layperson in the church could benefit from what is taught.”

ILEM will host an open house March 11 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at Notre Dame Seminary. For more information, go to www.nds.edu under the “programs” tab.

Peter Finney Jr. can be reached at [email protected].