Meet Parishioner Bill Pratt: Accompanying Our Young People in the Faith

Parishioner Bill Pratt has worked with young people in various church ministries for many years. It’s always a joy when he gets to see students he taught become successful, get married, and have children of their own.

As a member of Our Lady of Lourdes for the past eight years and a few Catholic parishes before that, he has worked with youth through Confirmation preparation and youth groups. Through all of this service, it has been his great joy to watch youth learn the Catholic faith. He currently teaches high school Confirmation preparation.

“I love working with high school kids,” Bill says. “They have so many toxic distractions these days. It’s nice to engage them and talk about what they are dealing with, but not lecture them. I want to help steer them to a better way.”

Bill has found that, by teaching Confirmation preparation, he is constantly learning as well. Often, the youth will have questions that require him to look up the answer. He also serves as a teacher for the Family Honor apostolate, a chastity-based sex education program. He went through rigorous training for this ministry about 10 years ago.

“This program is a way to jumpstart parent and youth conversations on the topic,” Bill says. “We teach that there is beauty in individual sexuality. Reproduction is an incredible gift from God and one of the greatest ways for people to express love through marriage.”

In addition, Bill is involved in the weekly men’s group, That Man is You! He also serves as an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion and a lector.

Bill was raised Catholic, while his wife, Cathy, converted to the faith about 16 years ago. The couple has three children — Carter, Anna, and Mary. They also have a “pandemic dog” named Roxy. In their free time, they enjoy hiking and spending time at the dog park with Roxy. The Pratt kids are involved in many activities, and Bill and Cathy enjoy watching all of them. All three Pratt children also stay involved in various ministries at Our Lady of Lourdes.

Being involved in the faith has had a significant impact on Bill’s life. He loves that Our Lady of Lourdes has a ministry for anyone. He was recently attending a Saturday morning Mass at an area parish when he saw a group come out to clean after Mass. He was so impressed by their commitment.

“I thought to myself, ‘Wow, you guys are awesome,’” Bill says. “It made me think about all the behind-the-scenes people, from the Parish Council to the people putting together the Sunday bulletins.”

Bill encourages everyone to get involved at Our Lady of Lourdes. He tries to do what he can to pitch in — he feels it’s the best way he can fulfill the Baptismal Promise.

“It isn’t a lifelong commitment — you can do a ministry for a while and try something different,” he says. “There’s a place for everyone. Just find something that you enjoy doing.”

The Pratt family — Bill, Cathy, Carter, Anna, Mary and their pup, Roxy