Crunching the data Deacon David Duhamel armed with information as he leads schools' sustainability

By Jim Wogan

Deacon David Duhamel is aware of the expectations that come with his new job.

Among the lessons that came with battlefield leadership and a 20-year career in the U.S. Marine Corps, and the accomplishment of earning a master’s degree in business administration and turning that into another career in corporate leadership, the deacon has earned his stripes in more ways than one by adapting to challenges.

In May, Deacon Duhamel stepped away from the corporate world, leaving his position in international transportation security at Oak Ridge National Laboratory for a chance to lead the Diocese of Knoxville in areas that include strategic planning, training, and school sustainability.

During an interview prior to the start of the new school year, he reflected on his background and experience, and how those fit into plans the diocese has for this new position.

“Working with my combat experience, a high-stress environment, and being able to adjust on the fly, not being married to a single plan, and having worked with so many different cultures and so many different people in my project work at the Oak Ridge National Lab, I have seen a lot and done a lot. Those are experiences that may not be directly transferable, but the skills you develop in those situations are skills that are absolutely transferable to church work,” he said.

Deacon Duhamel, who serves in ministry at St. Mary Parish in Oak Ridge, will work alongside new diocesan schools superintendent Mary Ann Deschaine to address school issues like enrollment, admissions, and future sustainability.

“At the school level, I am just starting to peel away at the very basic level of data as it relates to budgets,” Deacon Duhamel said.

“From a sustainability aspect, we’re also telling them that they cannot enter the Church because of their marital state and not giving them any solutions to fix it, we are effectively permanently banning someone from grace, and finally from salvation. This constitutes a serious abuse.”

“Similarly, using annulments as a scapegoat is another abuse. I’m talking about those situations where we say, ‘you need an annulment before you become Catholic,’ and then we allow them to persist in their adultery. They are able to get the required annulments, but they never repented of their state the whole time. As an RCIA catechist I’ve solved the practical problem, but I haven’t actually helped bring about a true conversion. That person is still in the dark about marriage, divorce, and remarriage and how that all relates to Jesus and the Church and the indissoluble new covenant,” he added.

Mr. Ross concluded his presentation with a final question: Is the Eucharist worth it?

“As catechists, we should be able to help them answer that question correctly, with tact and great love,” he said.

“We anticipated that Tyler’s expertise as a canon lawyer and catechist would stir the interest of our parishes,” Deacon Bello shared. “Each of his presentations was designed to encourage those seeking full communion in the faith to experience evangelization and learning as a more welcoming, and in many cases, expedited journey into the beauty of Catholicism. Tyler took some very difficult material and presented it in a way that was thorough but practical.”

Seeking the Catholic faith

Deacon Bill Jacobs of Our Lady of Fatima Parish in Alcoa led a presentation titled “Before the Beginning and After the End: Matters of Inquiry and Mystagogy for RCIA Catechists.”

Deacon Jacobs discussed the challenges and opportunities of encountering faith-seekers after the RCIA program is well underway.

“We all recognize that the Holy Spirit inspires individuals, and people respond to those inspirations at unpredictable times,” he said.

“It is important to note that while this seeker moment, right, from the moment they call the parish, it may mark the formal start of their initiation, but it’s not the beginning of their faith journey,” Deacon Jacobs continued, noting that each seeker has a lifetime of experience and is on a journey.

“These experiences have eventually led to the gift from the Holy Spirit of the strength and the courage to make the phone call. So, recognizing that it is that action of the Holy Spirit that drives our seekers to us, and we must respond in kind, not with a registration form or a stack of papers, not with a date for when the next sessions will start,” he said.

“Whoever greets this seeker must greet those are the areas that I am interested in, but it’s very much in the infancy stage. We can look at where we are gaining efficiency or where we are not gaining. Can we look at some good practices to share among (all the schools)?”

Enrollment in kindergarten through 12th grade increased almost 3 percent at Catholic schools in the diocese in the 2022-23 academic year, but the trend in Catholic education nationwide is different.

The National Catholic Education Association says that school enrollment across the country is down 2.6 percent since 201920. Schools in the Southeast are them as Christ would greet them. Unfortunately, time, malaise, and bureaucracy have a tendency to rule our parish offices and staff. You and I can be overburdened with the weekly grind of teaching and coordinating RCIA. More often than not, seekers aren’t greeted by Christ but with a form to fill out. We need to begin the initiation process not with forms and paperwork and schedules, but with simple conversation. It is all about personal contact. This contact is absolutely invaluable in order to demonstrate to these seekers our faith and the excitement that we feel in hearing that they want to join our faith community,” he added.

Deacon Jacobs suggests that, after the seeker contacts the parish, parish-office staff offer a solution to welcome them, no matter where the parish ’ s RCIA program is on its timeline

The first option: continue one-on-one with the seeker.

“Pair up a seeker with a trusted and available parishioner. This person could get to know the seeker and discuss things about the Catholic faith periodically with them until a formal inquiry opportunity becomes available,” he said. “Conversely, a married couple or another group of individuals could invite a seeker and their spouse to join them for dinner on a bi-weekly or monthly basis. Again, these would be informal sessions by design. This also affords an opportunity to assess the seeker’s needs and determine the best way to serve them going forward.”

Option two: have monthly inquirer drop-in sessions.

“A priest or deacon or competent layperson or RCIA team member could field questions or offer a short presentation on an element of our faith, nothing too heavy yet. Give a personal testimony or lead a reflection on a fitting Scripture passage. This could be an evening once a month. … Potential sponsors could be invited to those same sessions and eventually paired up with the seekers who progress in the process. Parishioners who are looking for some way to introduce their friends or their coworkers to the faith might welcome this as a no-commitment event to which their non-Catholic context could be invited on an ongoing basis.”

Option three: providing good books for the seeker to read.

“Now I bet you could think of lots of introductory titles that might help spur a seeker to know more about the faith, but you shouldn’t just hand them that book and say see you in September,” Deacon Jacobs said. “You should ask them to periodically visit with a priest or deacon or a competent layperson for discussion on what they read in the book.” showing growth, but the NCEA says most of that growth is driven by an increase in enrollment in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.

Option four: invite the seeker to plug into existing parish programs.

“Consider other parish programs like adult-ed classes, book studies, Bible studies already going on in the church,” he said.

Enrollment and admissions are just part of the equation. Last year, the Diocese of Knoxville and its parishes provided almost $5 million in tuition assistance for families. That’s a financial stress that the diocese and its parishes are willing to embrace, but is it sustainable?

“The diocese hasn’t been as effective as a support mechanism as I think it should be,” Deacon Duhamel said. “Do (the parishes and schools) need us right now? No, but it’s not going to get any better. What they are going to find is that they are going to squeeze as much as they can out of what they’ve got, but they might not know where else we can be looking.

“We are too small of an organization not to look for areas where we can be a lot more efficient. We don’t have the resources to waste. The data allows us to be more efficient with whatever resources we are given. We can try trial and error to a certain extent, but there is a cost to that.”

During his military and civilian career, Deacon Duhamel visited 72 countries and managed the scope, schedule, and budgets for more than 30 international

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“Men’s groups, women’s groups, they often start at different times during the year, so you can invite the seeker. … Be sure to give a heads up to the program coordinators.”

Option five: playing “catch up.”

If the seeker is baptized and well catechized, there may be an opportunity to catch them up on all that has happened in the RCIA class.

“Now the problem with using the catch-up approach is it’s easy to rush a person through that material without allowing proper time for reflection and conversion, and it also may be logistically difficult for you because you know, people gave talks the last three months… so it may not be easy to play catch up,” Deacon Jacobs shared.

Lastly, Deacon Jacobs invited the catechists to consider how they might serve their catechumens and candidates after the Easter Vigil.

“If the Holy Spirit has influenced these new Catholics through the catechumenal process, and if we have done our jobs well, they’re excited to grow further in the faith and to explore the faith more deeply,” Deacon Jacobs said. “In addition, we have spent time in the formation process not only teaching them but also forming them into a community, a community that is worth sustaining and continuing to foster after the Easter Vigil.”

He encouraged catechists to invite those newly entered into the Church to their parish’s first Communion and confirmation Masses, as well as communal penance services, infant baptisms, and the Sending of the Neophytes Mass at the cathedral.

Deacon Jacobs praised the RCIA catechists in attendance.

“I want to say that I don’t think that all of you get enough acknowledgement for the great work that you do with RCIA, it’s sometimes a thankless job. … Many souls come to experience the richness of our Catholic faith through your efforts,” he said.

Deacon Bello said that “any conversation with Deacon Bill is sure to be entertaining and informative. His energy during the start of his presentation paved the way for some great information designed to help our catechists and parishes anticipate and navigate some common obstacles before, during, and after the normal RCIA cycle. Deacon Bill's presentation was well-received, practical, and will be useful in many ways as we prepare to launch our RCIA Programs in August and September.”

“This conference was assembled for the purpose of helping our RCIA coordinators and catechists provide a more welcoming and efficient program for those seeking to learn more about this beautiful Church,” Deacon Bello continued. “Both Tyler Ross and Deacon Bill Jacobs did exactly that. I believe these presentations will be beneficial to each parish to cooperate with the Holy Spirit and continue our diocesan growth in faith and number.” ■