Reflecting on 25 Years of Lay Formation

By TODD GRAFF

There are some people God calls and sets apart in convents and monasteries. There are others God calls and leaves in society, the ones God does not 'withdraw from the world.' These are the people of ordinary life. The people we meet on any ordinary street. We, the ordinary people of the streets, believe with all our might that this street, this world, where God has placed us, is our place of holiness. We believe that we lack nothing here that we need. If we needed something else, God would already have given it to us.

-Madeleine Delbrel, The Holiness of Ordinary People

The fundamental objective of the formation of the lay faithful is an ever-clearer discovery of one's vocation and the ever-greater willingness to live it so as to fulfill one's mission. God calls me and sends me forth as a laborer in his vineyard. He calls me and sends me forth to work for the coming of his Kingdom in history. This personal vocation and mission define the dignity and the responsibility of each member of the lay faithful and makes up the focal point of the whole work of formation, whose purpose is the joyous and grateful recognition of this dignity and the faithful and generous living-out of this responsibility.

-Pope St. John Paul II, Christifidelis Laici, #58

Greetings of peace in these early summer days! Back in September of 1999, a colleague took me to lunch. Her purpose was to encourage me to consider applying to be the Director of Ministry Formation for the diocese. At the time, I had been working in social action for Catholic Charities for nine years, and I enjoyed my work in this area. My wife's and my twin sons had also just been born a month earlier. So, I didn’t think that this was the time for me and our family to take on a professional transition.

But, I told her that I would consider and pray about it. Then, that same week two or three other trusted friends and colleagues also reached out to say that they thought this would be a great position for me. I took these conversations to heart and felt that the Spirit might be speaking to me through the words of encouragement and support I was receiving.

And, after discernment and prayer, I decided to apply for the position and was hired as the diocesan Director of Ministry Formation (now called the Director of Lay Formation). I began this work on December 1, 1999.

Fast forward to last month and the first weekend of May. I gathered at the Alverna Center in Winona with lay women and men from across the diocese for a retreat to conclude the year we’d spent together seeking to grow in our eucharistic faith and witness.

We reflected and prayed on that Friday evening with the gospel reading of the Road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35). These two disciples were met by Jesus on their journey as he opened the scriptures to them and revealed himself in the breaking of the bread. Their hearts burned within them as they encountered the Risen Lord, and the hope and faith they’d lost after his crucifixion were restored and renewed.

It was a fitting conclusion to my own journey over these past almost 25 years leading our diocesan Institute of Lay Formation. The Institute seeks to “form lay women and men for discipleship and gospel witness.” Like these two disciples’ experience “on the road,” the Institute invites lay people from our diocese to walk with Jesus, to learn about him through the scriptures and church teaching, to encounter him in their sacramental life, and to be his presence in their families, work places, neighborhoods, and communities. And, we do this together in a community of faith, prayer, sharing, and trust.

Fittingly, the co-leader for the retreat was my dear friend and colleague, Annmarie DeMarais, who was part of our first Institute of Lay Formation class that began in 1998. Since its inception that year, begun under Bishop John Vlazny and with the leadership of Brad Harmon, the Institute has formed seven classes of lay leaders for the diocese (19982000 / 2000-2003 / 2003-2006 / 2006-2009 / 2010-2013 / 2014-2017 / 2018-2022). The Institute has also provided one-year formation offerings for our alumni and other lay participants in 2010-11, 2013-14, 2017-18, 2022-23, and 2023-24.

Including this year’s group, over 350 lay people have participated in the Institute’s formation process, representing 70+ parishes and four church institutions of the diocese. In addition to these lay leaders, 25 of the deacons of our diocese participated in the Institute before entering diaconate formation.

This summer, I will be transitioning out of my role as Director of Lay Formation. Our diocese is now in the process of hiring a Coordinator for Adult Faith Formation/Institute of Lay Formation. I will continue to work for the diocese on a part-time basis directing RCIA/OCIA ministry.

As you might imagine, this is a moment of mixed emotions for me. I truly believe that I have had “the best job” in the diocese working in Lay Formation these many years. It has been the greatest blessing and privilege to learn, pray, and share our love for Christ and His Church over this time with the members of our Institute of Lay Formation community. They are (and will continue to be) held very close to my heart and in my prayer!

Having said that, I am not “going away.” I will continue to serve our diocese and look forward to continuing to develop our RCIA/OCIA ministry here. And, I will continue to be present at our diocesan activities and events.

I believe deeply in the vocation of the laity, which is realized primarily by being the presence of Christ in the world through discipleship, and also through service to God’s People in various ministries open to the laity. It is not a “default" vocation, simply indicating that one is not called to the vocations of ordained ministry or religious life.

As Pope Francis teaches, the lay vocation is to “bring the perfume of Christ’s love … in every environment. In schools, in universities, in workplaces, in hospitals, in prisons; but also in the city squares, in the streets, in the sports centers, in places where people gather.” I am truly blessed to share this lay vocation where my call to holiness is realized in being husband, father, neighbor, citizen, co-worker, and friend.

My final word for this column is, “Thank you!” I am deeply grateful for the gift of working in Lay Formation over these years and for the care and support of so many people from across our diocese. It has been a most profound experience of God’s grace and of His Love! Deo Gratias!

One of the great challenges facing the Church in this generation is to foster in all the faithful a sense of personal responsibility for the Church’s mission, and to enable them to fulfill that responsibility as missionary disciples, as a leaven of the Gospel in our world. This will require creativity in adapting to changed situations, carrying forward the legacy of the past not primarily by maintaining our structures and institutions, which have served us well, but above all by being open to the possibilities which the Spirit opens up to us and communicating the joy of the Gospel, daily and in every season of life.

-Pope Francis,

We know that all our work consists of being at peace, one with God, while not avoiding the very things that need to be done. Basically it is letting God act through us. It matters little what we have to do, pushing a broom or a pen, speaking or listening, sewing a dress or teaching a class, taking care of a sick person or tapping away at a computer. All this is the meeting place of God, minute by minute, the very place where God's love is revealed.

- Madeleine Delbrel, The Holiness of Ordinary People

Todd Graff is the Director of Lay Formation & RCIA for the Diocese of Winona-Rochester