By Marlene Quaroni - Florida Catholic
Photographer: MARLENE QUARONI | FC
Maria Arguello and Nancy Reyes, newly-commissioned ministers from St. Joachim Church in southern Miami-Dade County, pose with friends after the Mass.
Photographer: MARLENE QUARONI | FC
Eleonora Zelaya from the Spanish class that met at St. Brendan Church receives her School of Ministry certificate from Archbishop Thomas Wenski.
Photographer: MARLENE QUARONI | FC
Alba Luz Bellini from St. Michael the Archangel Church in Miami is re-commissioned in worship ministry.
Photographer: MARLENE QUARONI | FC
Newly-commissioned youth ministers Maxine Mitchell Alvarez and Siulin Kang from Little Flower Church, Coral Gables, watch as Archbishop Wenski processes out of the cathedral after Mass.
MIAMI | Ernestine Raad found that by helping others she could help herself.
“There is so much need, the journey of life is difficult,” she said after receiving her certificate in lay pastoral ministry from Archbishop Thomas Wenski at St. Mary Cathedral June 4.
Raad was one of 52 people to graduate from the archdiocesan School of Ministry. Another 49 graduates were commissioned or re-commissioned to serve in a specific ministry for a period of five years.
When her husband’s failing retail business and infidelity led to a marital separation, Raad, 55, reached out to God for help and guidance.
“The pain was unbearable,” she said. “I wanted to get to know the Lord more and more. I read the Bible. I went to several retreats. I started to go to daily Mass. I was left with three children to care for on my own. We had to move from a luxury home in Miramar’s Sunset Lakes to a small efficiency apartment. In addition, my mother and sister both were diagnosed with intestinal cancer.”
Raad, who is an elderly care provider, signed up for the School of Ministry but had to drop out because of car troubles. On her second attempt, she dropped out because of her father’s death. The third time around she completed the program.
Three ministries
She said she has three ministries in mind: helping single mothers, helping young adults discover who they are in God’s eyes before entering a relationship, and helping the sick and elderly to liberate their souls from resentments.
Raad said that through the ministry program she learned to forgive her husband.
“I was able to pray for him, without an apology from him,” she said. “Forgiveness was especially good for my children, now 16, 18 and 20 years old. “The program teaches you to become less self-oriented and more Christ-like,” she added. “Every Catholic should take the program. It teaches you about the early Church and that leadership is not about being powerful but about guiding people.”
Archbishop Wenski echoed Raad’s sentiments in his homily at the Mass.
“Faith in Jesus Christ is the antidote to the ‘globalization of indifference,’ to use a phrase that is often on Pope Francis’ lips, an indifference that closes us within ourselves and within our own little worlds,” he said. “Experiencing the joy of knowing ourselves loved by God allows us to draw nearer to those who are suffering and alleviating their pain.”
He thanked the lay pastoral ministers for their commitment and said that he prayed that their service would be a joy, a grace, a treasure received and shared.
“Whatever particular ministry you are engaged in, it is a call to you to be people who bother about other people as Jesus did. Thank you for your generosity,” the archbishop said.
Two-year program
Applicants to the School of Ministry must receive two personal recommendations, one from their pastor and one from a lay person. The two-year program requires students to attend classes once a week in the evening, one weekend overnight retreat and one enrichment day. Classes are offered in English and Spanish, both in person and online.
Tuition can be paid in 20 installments of $28 per person plus a nonrefundable registration fee.
Candidates for the Pastoral Ministry Certificate must also be fully-initiated Catholics, complete a ministerial project during the last six months of their formation and be willing to serve at a sponsoring parish for five years while attending ongoing formation.
