For seven graduates of the Lay Ecclesial Ministry Institute (LEMI), the evening of June 27 was an end and a beginning.
During Vespers at St. Patrick, Richmond, Bishop Barry C. Knestout commissioned Marissa Ayala, Ana Cristina “Cristy” Barton, Jennifer Gonzalez, Jo-Ann LaClair, Yenni Leon, Patricia Pabis, and Melanie Weser as lay ecclesial ministers for our diocese.
LEMI is a four-year ministry formation program offered to lay leaders. With financial support, participants can earn a certificate of study or a master’s degree in theology from an accredited Catholic university; workshops and retreats also provide pastoral and spiritual growth.
“It’s not just a master’s degree,” said Barton, bilingual associate director for the diocesan Office of Christian Formation (OCF), who earned her master’s in theology from St. Leo University. “LEMI forces you to grow in other areas.”
The program is guided by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops document “Co-Workers in the Vineyard of the Lord,” which states: “The four areas of formation – human, spiritual, intellectual, and pastoral – that provide a framework for the formation of deacons and priests provide a framework for lay ecclesial ministers as well.”
LEMI graduates, however, are not consecrated. Rather, their task is to serve their communities in their established lay leadership roles with a new level of knowledge and formation.
“Through prayer and study, you have received from the wealth of the Church in your spiritual life,” Bishop Knestout said in his homily. “Those who work for the Church have a special role to assist in the life of the Church. To those who are receiving this commission, we hope you … bring the life of the Church into the lives of others.”
More than a degree
Ayala entered the LEMI program in 2013. She is the coordinator of religious education and coordinator of the Hispanic Apostolate at St. James, Hopewell, and Sacred Heart, Prince George. She graduated with a master’s in theology from St. Leo University.
“Some people might say, ‘12 years? She took forever!’ But there was a break in between, where I was pursuing a doctorate degree instead,” said Ayala, who has a master’s in education. “But then I realized, spiritually, I needed something more, and I came back to LEMI. This degree has formed me spiritually, and I’m able to do much more with it.”
In her work with the Hispanic Apostolate, she added, “I have seen firsthand the deep need our Hispanic community has for well-formed, pastoral leaders, people who understand their struggles, speak their language, share their cultural values, and truly walk with them. I’m excited to share with the Spanish community the knowledge I’ve been blessed with.”
Weser, who graduated with a master’s in theology from St. Joseph’s College of Maine, is an economics teacher at Peninsula Catholic High School, Newport News, and an Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (OCIA) team member at St. Kateri Tekakwitha, Yorktown. She took a class on Catholic social teaching through LEMI that served as an inspiration for a course she developed at Peninsula Catholic: Economics of Social Justice.
“It combines economics with a Catholic view of social justice,” Weser explained.
She added that she is now more comfortable answering questions from her students about a variety of topics.
“Say, for example, that my students have a question about Mary. I’m much more comfortable now explaining Church teaching on Mariology,” said Weser.
LaClair, coordinator of OCIA at St. Thomas More, Lynchburg, earned a master’s in theology from St. Leo University. She likewise mentioned that learning made her better able to teach.
“A lot of the people who come into OCIA have already started studying on their own, and they often come with questions,” she said. “Now, even if I haven’t read what they’ve read, I recognize what they’re talking about, and I can direct them to find the answers.”
“Our faith is vast,” LaClair continued. “We can never understand it until we actually get to heaven. But the best thing to do is keep learning.”
LaClair stood as godmother and sponsor of Gonzalez when she and her family entered the Church in 2016. Gonzalez, a lay Dominican and a volunteer at St. Thomas More, earned a certificate in catechesis from the University of Dayton.
Before entering the Church, Gonzalez said, “God was in my life, but not in the center. My family were believers, but not churchgoers – the only prayers we said were ‘Now I lay me down to sleep.’”
“As a Catholic, I’ll be learning forever,” she continued, “and LEMI has given me a great foundation.”
Pabis, who earned a master’s in pastoral theology from St. Joseph’s College of Maine, echoed: “Even though my LEMI experience is over, I will continue to be a lifelong learner.”
“It was a wonderful experience. I was able to grow within my own spirituality, as well as develop new skills … in my ministerial role at my parish,” Pabis continued. She is the coordinator of religious formation and sacramental preparation for grades K-5 at St. Thomas More.
Leon, who earned a master’s in theology from St. Joseph’s College of Maine, serves as the director of religious education at Sacred Heart, Richmond.
“This is a new stage,” Leon said. “I feel more prepared, I feel the spiritual accompaniment of God, and I feel that he guides me.”
Spiritual formation
The seven graduates will no longer be spending hours studying Scripture, philosophy, Church history, and Christology in a formal setting. But they can still go on spiritual retreat with LEMI; the annual retreat, typically held in the fall, is a requirement for participants and optional for graduates.
“The retreats gives us an opportunity to get away from our everyday responsibilities and just experience God quietly,” said LaClair.
Barton, who helps plan retreats for others at OCF, said that she took lessons from her LEMI retreat experience.
“We get into the mindset that we just have to provide content, but we have to be mindful of what a retreat really is,” said Barton. “it’s very important that it feels like a true retreat – that there are moments of silence, moments of meditation.”
Ayala said the retreats were a central part of her LEMI experience: “Every time that I went to a retreat, I always came back filled with so much knowledge and energized, because I knew that God was calling me to be there.”
Read more about the LEMI graduates.