HICKORY — “Somos el cuerpo de Cristo. We are the body of Christ. Hemos oído el llamado; we’ve answered ‘yes’ to the call of the Lord.”
That verse from the recessional hymn “Somos el Cuerpo de Cristo/We Are the Body of Christ” summed up the graduation celebration June 30 for 80 graduates of the Diocese of Charlotte’s Lay Ministry Formation Program. The day was the culmination of a two-year journey for the graduates, who were joined by over a hundred friends and family members at the Catholic Conference Center for Mass and a celebration of their commitment.
Pictured: Graduates of the Diocese of Charlotte’s Lay Ministry Formation Program receive their certificates from Monsignor Mauricio West, vicar general and chancellor, during a Mass and graduation ceremony June 30 at the Catholic Conference Center. Through this two-year formation program, laypeople learn more about the faith so they may better fulfill their baptismal call to participate in the Church’s mission to spread the Gospel message. (Patricia L. Guilfoyle | Catholic News Herald)
Through this two-year formation program, laypeople learn more about the faith so they may better fulfill their baptismal call to participate in the Church’s mission to spread the Gospel message. It focuses on four areas of formation: human, spiritual, intellectual and pastoral. The program is comprised of 150 hours of classes – everything from Scripture, Church history and Church councils, Christology, liturgy and the sacraments, to Catholic moral and social teachings, prayer and gift discernment.
This year’s celebration featured the graduates from the diocese’s new Spanish-language Lay Ministry program, which was piloted in 2008 and established in Charlotte in 2016.
For everyone who completed the program, June 30 was a day of celebration and anticipation about where God will lead them next. The past two years of study were worth the effort, graduates agreed, because they learned more about their Catholic faith than they ever expected.
Dennis Bowie of Greensboro was among the graduates who said they appreciated being introduced to praying the Liturgy of the Hours.
“This gave me a formalized way to approach my daily prayer life – very, very beneficial for me,” Bowie said.
Learning about the history of the Church also fed a “strong desire to grow closer to Our Lord,” he added.
“The most surprising thing was how much I learned from my fellow classmates,” said Robert McCarson, a member of Sacred Heart Church in Brevard. “We all come to the Church with different experiences and knowledge and I found our discussions to be very enriching. The most profound discovery I made was when one of my classmates, David Mayeux, said that everything changed for him when he read paragraph 460 of the Catechism and everyone asked, ‘what is the paragraph 460?’ ‘God became man so that man could become God,’ he said. That is our challenge. That crystallizes the call to holiness and is why I believe all adults should take the Lay Ministry classes whether they plan to be a lay minister or not. Being a well-formed Catholic is an important step on the road to sainthood.”
McCarson began the Lay Ministry program because it is a preliminary requirement for the permanent diaconate program, but even though he did not realize his hope of joining the aspirancy program for the diocese, he decided to complete the Lay Ministry program anyway.
“I believe it is important for us to always be in the process of formation of our faith, and I trust in God’s will to lead me to the right place,” he said.
Learning about Catholicism was also just the stepping-off point for Ron Groover, a member of St. Matthew Church in Charlotte.
“I loved the educational aspects (i.e., learning about the Catholic faith and Holy Scripture in a deeper way),” Groover said, “but what occurred to me towards the end of the program was that I had become much more firmly committed – not only to Jesus Christ, but also to the idea of serving in and evangelizing the people in my parish in the unique ministerial way God was calling me to serve. But I must remember that the ministry is His, not mine. I am there as His catalyst. He is the true servant and evangelizer. It’s about Him, not me.”
Monsignor Mauricio West, diocesan vicar general and chancellor, was the celebrant at the Mass and presented the graduates with their certificates.
In his bilingual homily, Monsignor West described the African American tradition of preaching known as “call and response,” a form of dialogue in which the preacher speaks and the congregants reply.
“Employing call and response encourages the congregation not to be passive, but to involve themselves much more deeply in the liturgy or the worship experience,” he said. “In so doing, the community of believers more readily sees the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Savior, and it deepens their awareness of what God wants them to do with all of the gifts that He has given them. The congregation must make a decision: what am I going to do in response to the call of the Gospel?”
Likewise, the Lay Ministry graduates have heard a call from the Lord, he said. They have responded, and they will continue to respond.
At the end of the celebration, Frank Villaronga congratulated the graduates for their achievement and thanked all of the teachers who taught the various classes in locations around the diocese.
New classes starting
The 2018-’20 Lay Ministry Formation Program begins this fall, with sites in Arden, Lenoir, Greensboro, Charlotte and the Smoky Mountain region. Classes meet 9 a.m.-4 p.m. on designated Saturdays. All Catholic adults are welcome to apply.
For details, contact Frank Villaronga, director of the diocesan Evangelization and Adult Education Office, at 704-370-3274 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
— Patricia L. Guilfoyle, editor