MEET PARISHIONER ED WITULSKI: Loving and Serving Our Neighbors

Serving our brothers and sisters in Christ is at the heart of stewardship. The act of serving others is very close to parishioner Ed Witulski’s heart.

“I feel like, for years growing up, that I was a taker,” Ed says. “I was selfish and individualistic.

I am now paying it forward and I feel, down to my core, that this is the right path for me to be on in living out my faith and in living in community with others in our greater church and world family.”

Ed has been a parishioner at St. Monica since 2001. He has been involved with various social justice efforts in the parish community and beyond — such as the Beggars for the Poor Ministry, Just Faith, and Faith in Indiana — and he has been working to restart our Social Justice Committee. Although Ed has been Catholic his whole life, active involvement in parish life is something that was relatively new to him when he came to our parish more than 20 years ago.

“I grew up a cradle Catholic and my family, in essence, only went to church on Sundays and didn’t really get that involved in church activities or ministries,” Ed says.

Through his attendance at St. Monica, Ed’s faith life flourished for the first time.

“I hadn’t really been going to church regularly before starting up at St. Monica,” Ed says. “St. Monica was where I began the process of transforming my life and really attempting to grow my faith. My life is truly better over these past 20-plus years and the common denominator is that I went back to church and St. Monica is where I gratefully landed in that process.”

Ed attended a Christ Renews His Parish (CRHP) retreat soon after coming to St. Monica. After that, he was invited to a small group where he began learning more about Catholicism and how to live out his faith. Soon after, Ed answered a call in the parish bulletin to join Just Faith (JF), which at the time was a new ministry at St. Monica.

“JF taught me about the rich history and tradition of the Catholic Church with regard to social teachings and works,” Ed says. “Through JF, I learned the importance of befriending and getting to know folks ‘on the other side of the tracks,’ which I had never done before. JF truly transformed me.

“From there I got involved with a faith-based, grassroots community organization (Faith In Indiana) for several years and also began mentoring several folks that I met on the street,” he adds. “This led me to switch professions from banking (30 years) to working at a small not-for-profit called Trusted Mentors, for the past five years.”

Ed’s role at Trusted Mentors involves serving our community in a very particular way. He helps to recruit, train, and match volunteer mentors with at-risk adults to help them stay housed and out of prison. He also journeys alongside the mentors to help them work with the mentees to become more stable and self-sufficient. “This is the best job I have ever had,” Ed says. Serving his community is of great importance to Ed, who says that St. Monica has been an ideal place for him to grow and serve.

“I feel that being a part of communal gatherings and ministries is a great way to learn about and grow one’s faith and learn about others,” he says. “It also lends itself to helping others, learning how to love thy neighbor as thyself, and even evangelize.”

Ed gathers with members of the Social Justice Committee.