Sherry Weddell, Associate Director
Over and over again during the last few months, I’ve been approached by lay men and women who are eager to join in the work of the Institute. At workshops, on the phone and via e-mail, I am asked: "This is a movement. How can I be involved?"
This is an exciting development, because our tiny 4-person staff is stretched to the max. We don’t have the gifts, expertise, or time to accomplish all the things that our mission—helping local parishes empower and form lay apostles—requires. We need to collaborate with other apostles, lay and clergy, to answer the call of the Church.
I’ve already been amazed by the creative energy and generosity of some of our collaborators. For instance, Rafael Goldsmith of Manassas, Virginia, has spent an enormous amount of time these past six months translating the Catholic Spiritual Gifts Inventory into Spanish. This Spanish language translation, which will be published soon, will enable us to help the largest group of Catholic laity in the world. Not satisfied with his efforts to date, Rafael is planning to translate the rest of the Called & Gifted materials. His dream (and ours) is to make it possible to offer a full Spanish-language Called & Gifted Workshop. Rafael has given freely far more than we would have dreamed to ask.
Then there is Eryn Huntington of Bellevue, Washington, whose article is featured in this edition of the Siena Scribe (see link). Eryn astonished us last October by announcing that she was a professional ghost-writer and that she wanted to help us write the "Called & Gifted book". Talk about divine providence! Fr. Michael and I have long recognized that there was a great need to make the basic vision of the lay office and charisms available to a much larger audience, but our teaching and travel schedule is so heavy that it doesn’t leave much time for writing books. Thanks to Eryn, we are now planning to publish the book in the next year.
Our website is currently being transfigured into a thing of beauty by a team of young Catholic web-designers who are volunteering their expertise and time: Marcellino Tanumihardja, Nino Yuniardi, Titania Limanardja, and Toby Karyadi. Our goal is to make our site the website for all things that pertain to the formation and mission of lay Catholics. Want the most comprehensive list of truly Catholic resources for family life? The role and mission of women? Cultural renewal or marketplace ministry? Apologetics and evangelism? Life issues or Catholic social teaching? Lay movements or third orders? www.siena.org will be the place to look first. But without the gifts and expertise of our web-design team, this vision would probably never become a reality.
An important note: our volunteers need to be fairly independent self-starters. Institute staff are often on the road (sometimes on opposite sides of the globe—as we will be this spring) and when we’re home, we’re often working away to meet deadlines. We want to support and encourage those who collaborate with us as much as possible, but we can’t provide constant attention. Those who work with us need to be energized and motivated as we are: by the vision of what God desires to do in this world through the lay men and women that he has called to be apostles.
In a work like ours, there’s room for nearly every charism, talent, or expertise. The list below represents only a few of the possibilities. As we’ve already discovered, God often prompts people to lead the way by offering assistance in areas that we haven’t yet considered. So if you want to be involved in some other way, don’t be a stranger. Give us a call!
Requires comprehensive familiarity with workshop content. Friday-Sunday. Some Thursdays. National and international travel. Expenses covered. Fluency in Spanish would be a bonus.
Provide cooordination for Called & Gifted workshop/Extended Discernment Program in your area.
Friday/Saturday, travel and expenses covered.
Identify and contact groups, foundations, or individuals who would be interested in supporting our work.
Help establish national publishing and distribution centers for our materials in these countries.
Please pray for:
Organize and support intercession for the Institute