Leading the faithful is both rewarding and exhausting. There will be times when you face opposition and take on complicated challenges. It's in those moments when you find people you can trust to journey with you through those difficult moments. Ideally, those people would be coworkers and volunteers ready to serve alongside you, but that's not always the case. Sometimes, we struggle to trust that anyone really cares about the parish or the ministry as much as we do. And when there is a lack of trust, it can kill any vision that God has placed in the hearts of the faithful. Stephen Covey wrot ..read more

When you work from the parish campus, does the door to your office stay open or closed? I'll close it when I have a sensitive call to make, or want to focus on a project. But, if I'm being honest there are times when I'm just hoping to avoid people ..read more

Recruiting volunteers isn't a big secret. If we want people to accept our invitation, we need a clear vision and clarity around their roles. However, these efforts are meaningless without a willingness to establish personal relationships ..read more

I recently asked a friend, what was one of her biggest pet peeves in ministry, and she said, "It's when people make ministry the excuse behind why their value is diminished." Her comment gave me pause because I've realized over the years how much I've heard people say: "I don't need to get paid a lot because I'm in ministry." "I work odd and long hours because I'm in ministry." "We're not going to have the resources we need because we're in ministry." Serving in ministry involves sacrifice, and there are limitations; however, it is not at the expense of our integrity and value as ministry l ..read more

As we approached the fall, we faced a shortage of volunteers, which was unfortunate given the increasing number of children and teens participating. We did not want to close registration early or turn away families, so we consulted with our pastor. Fortunately, we planned several weekends to make pitches from the pulpit and invited people to open houses and coffee conversations, which successfully yielded new volunteers. The last-minute scramble for people to serve was a red flag for us. After securing enough volunteers, we stepped back and recognized a shortage of willing participants in our ..read more

In 2016, at the National Conference for Catholic Youth Ministers in San Jose, California, I had the pleasure of meeting John Rinaldo. Our paths crossed thanks to social media and a shared interest in podcasting—I had co-hosted the Rebuilt Podcast, which John appreciated. At that time, I was navigating a challenging period in my career, having just departed from my parish of 12 years and in the early stages of forming Marathon Youth Ministry. My future seemed uncertain. It was during this pivotal moment that John proposed an exciting idea: “You want to do a podcast together?” Without hesitatio ..read more

I was taken aback and at first didn't know how to respond. I had only been at the parish for two weeks and wasn't sure how much I should push back. But, you could see that this older gentleman wanted my opinion because he asked again, "So, what do you think about those people taking over ..read more

A coworker recently asked me about my approach to observing the Sabbath. It was clear the question had lingered in her mind, especially since transitioning from being a parishioner, where Sunday was the Sabbath, to joining our staff. This is a conversation I've navigated with priests, clients, coworkers, and volunteers alike. In Church service, the conventional Sunday-as-Sabbath concept isn’t always straightforward. I understand that not everyone working for the Church is on duty on Sundays. Moreover, there's a range of views on whether one should worship where they're employed. There are com ..read more

I recently received a call from one of my leaders, informing me that he wouldn't be able to lead his small group of middle school guys for a few weeks. This was due to a work project and his responsibility to care for an elderly relative, making the Wednesday night commitment overwhelming. As the leader of this ministry, I was sad for the teens to lose their leader for a few weeks, but I wasn't concerned. This small group leader had reached out to his co-leaders and was ready to connect with parents. He knew exactly what to do. There is nothing better than working with a competent and confide ..read more

As a kid, I would spend my summers with my grandparents in Staten Island. When they found out I was an altar server, they were more than happy to get me up early (for 6:15 am Mass) and drag me to their parish to assist the pastor. At first, it was intimidating because it felt like the protocol at their parish was completely different than mine. They rang bells, but we did not. The altar servers had chairs at my parish, there was a bench at their church. But, as I look back at it as an adult, I appreciated them bringing me to Mass and encouraging my faith. If it hadn't been for altar serving ..read more