By Marlene Quaroni - Florida Catholic

MIAMI � With 86 ministries to oversee in a parish of 6,000 registered families, the three priests at Our Lady of Lourdes Church need all the help that lay ministers such as Filippo and Maria Baglio can give them.

�We will serve as middlemen between the various groups and our pastor, Msgr. Kenneth Schwanger,� said Filippo Baglio. �This is a new idea, a pilot program.�

Another Our Lady of Lourdes parishioner, Toni Pallatto, has also created a new ministry to help her church, evangelization through communications.

�Msgr. Schwanger was looking for a communications team leader,� said Pallatto, who worked for 28 years as a marketing and communications executive. �He wants to improve awareness and attendance at workshops and retreats. We�re working on various communication projects and are giving the parish bulletin a new look.�

On June 12, the feast of Pentecost, Archbishop Thomas Wenski commissioned 76 lay pastoral ministers to work five years in a specific ministerial field and gave certificates to 59 graduates who completed two years of coursework in Catholic studies. Classes are taught in English, Spanish and Creole and meet once a week. Online courses have recently become available.

Participants in the program come from various parishes throughout the archdiocese and their ministries take all forms, including ministering to prisoners, the poor, the sick, the bereaved, youths and others.

The goal of pastoral ministries is to make God present again in society, Archbishop Wenski told those present at the graduation ceremony.

�We have been grappling with secularization, which is the great challenge of our time,� he said. �Pope Benedict calls secularization a way of living and presenting the world as if God did not exist. In such a dark, foreboding world, man exists only to die.�

Archbishop Wenski stressed the importance of prayer. He said the archdiocese offers seminars and training to help with the mechanics of ministry. �Only prayer will keep you humble.�

Prayer also is what distinguishes apostolic ministries from secular non-profit organizations dedicated to doing good works.

�Without prayer, ministry loses its soul,� Archbishop Wenski said, �and it becomes sterile, incapable of �spreading and growing� the Church because without prayer it is no longer rooted in the Word.�

Cheryl Whapham, director of the Office of Lay Ministry and Adult Faith Formation, thanked the graduates and lay ministers for responding to God�s call.

�You were truly a gifted class filled with the Holy Spirit,� she said. �You will serve the archdiocese well.�