Cathedral parishioners put faith into action during service day
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“Stewardship through Service, Discipleship in Action.”
The theme for Cathedral of St. Joseph Parish’s inaugural St. Joseph Serves Day says it all.
“Such awesome disciples in action!” Julie Gramlich, director of adult faith formation for Cathedral of St. Joseph Parish, said of the Saturday, April 29, event.
St. Joseph Serves was an opportunity for parishioners — especially families — to spend a Saturday morning engaged in acts of service to others.
About 150 people participated.
“People were way more excited than just getting to spread mulch or paint a wall or visit people at home,” stated parishioner Julie Gates, who helped organize the event.
“When you get people together and all the energy that it creates, you definitely see the Holy Spirit coming through,” she said.
Volunteers signed up online ahead of time to work in a manner of their choosing.
Possibilities included: landscaping and clean-up work on the parish grounds; painting and cleaning in the school; stocking food at the Catholic Charities Client-Choice Food Pantry; doing some light cleaning at the HALO transitional living program; spending time at two local nursing homes where parishioners live; preparing 100 bags of donated snacks, bottled water and personal-care items for parishioners to give to people who are homeless.
Another group spread out to drop by about 50 parishioners’ homes and personally thanked them for being engaged members of their faith community.
The event’s organizers noted that many people in the parish already regularly volunteer at church, in school or in the community.
“Our biggest goal was to provide an opportunity for members of this parish to serve together,” said Mrs. Gates.
Another goal was for parents and children to be able to spend time serving together.
“We offered a wide variety of activities so individuals and families could select something that was important to them and gave them fulfillment,” said Mrs. Gates.
Sent forth
Mrs. Gates believes the Holy Spirit was hard at work alongside every participant.
“The Spirit was with us in all of our planning meetings — and definitely throughout the day,” she said.
Everyone gathered in the school gym at 8 a.m. for prayer and encouragement.
Father Louis Nelen, pastor of the Cathedral Parish, reminded the people that they were doing God’s work, and asked God to bless them.
Members of the parish choir sang some uplifting songs, followed by a group photo.
Then, the groups headed off to work, wearing matching T-shirts that enhanced the sense of parish identity and cooperation.
The weather cooperated beautifully, so everyone who signed up for outdoor work got to do it.
Most of the projects were completed by noon, with participants parting company to think and talk about what they’d experienced and learned.
“We’ve received great feedback from these activities,” said Mrs. Gates. “We have some great ideas for how we can expand it and do more next time.”
More to come
Mrs. Gramlich and Mrs. Gates began organizing the service day in January.
They convened a team of parishioners to coordinate each aspect of the event.
“We put people in charge of things they’re interested in, and they all ran with it,” said Mrs. Gates.
She said it’s incredible what happens when the right people are gathered in the same room.
“You get people with a passion for acts of service together, and you’ll be amazed at what the Holy Spirit will have you do,” she said.
“What we were offering families was a chance to give back while spending time with each other,” said Mrs. Gates.
“You also had people getting to know people they didn’t know very well before, or visiting people they hadn’t seen in years,” she said.
The parish plans to schedule additional service days each spring and each fall.
“But we also hope we’re helping to create an ongoing ministry where we’re doing acts of service year-round,” said Ms. Gates.
“We hope this becomes an ongoing ministry,” she said. “We want this to be the nature of what we do.”
Mrs. Gates is convinced that any parish in the diocese could organize a similar event, scaled up or down based on the size of each parish and needs of each community.
“The important thing is, you’re providing opportunities that fulfill people’s desire to give back, and then they want to go back and do it again,” she said.
