Liverpool parishioner is formed again for a new challenge
By Dc. Tom Cuskey
Editor
Commemorating October as Respect Life Month is a national observance, but like any good ministry, it ultimately comes down to one-on-one personal experiences and support. A Liverpool woman has taken on the leadership role in her linked parishes by re-engaging with the Formation for Ministry program being recommissioned as a lay minister.
“I approached Father [Rev. Zachary Miller, pastor] more than a year ago, being in Bible study and studying the Old Testament,” Laura Ryder told us. Her studies and daily Mass attendance at the linked parishes of Christ the King and Pope John XXIII in Liverpool helped give her a deeper context of the Gospel message. It ignited a desire for more.
“He said that I could be in a formal program that they had in the diocese through Formation for Ministry,” she said. “And he knew that I had already been commissioned, and said, ‘You know, you could be recommissioned if you wanted to.’”
She wanted to.
Ryder was commissioned as a Respect Life minister for the parishes, dovetailing with her previous commissioning in human development.
“When Laura first approached me about being recommissioned in family-respect life, I encouraged her to have a conversation with me,” Father Miller shared, “just to talk about what the image of respect life that we have as a church is, and that we have as a community.”
Father Miller’s concern was focusing on the total scope of respect life ministry.
”People just think about abortion, and it’s so much more,” he said. “It’s really taking the understanding, that it’s a continuum of life, from the very moments of conception, in the very spark of life in those moments, to being called home to the Lord in natural death.”
One of Ryder’s first tasks will be to help develop a collaborative Respect Life team of parish volunteers and then to build an agenda of programs and events to help the linked parish communities come to a deeper understanding of the total Respect Life mission.
Laura Ryder receives her commission from Bishop Douglas J. Lucia.
“We’re going to start in four basic areas, or four pillars, starting in the beginning stages of life,” Father explained. “When a family first conceives or finds out that they’re pregnant, into the understanding of married life … to family life and to the end of life, to those last stages of bereavement, care and transitioning care in one’s life.”
Father advised Ryder to start small, be intentional and to contact Lisa Hall for guidance on moving forward.
“The very beginnings are just sitting down and having a conversation and making sure that Father’s involved from the very beginning,” Hall said. As director of the diocesan Office of Family/Respect Life, a primary duty she has is to support the parishes in their efforts. “And that we’re seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit, too, in the ways that this particular parish, or parishes, are looking to serve the needs of their families.”
Hall expressed that proclaiming the “value and dignity of every human life” is key to embracing all that respect life ministry is. “That’s a great beginning.”
Father Miller articulates the mission in question form.
“How do we care for one another, and how do we care for each other?” he asked. “And to be in the initial stages of re-energizing a Respect Life committee? It’s a lot, but I think the essence of it is we start small and allow ourselves to grow in the understanding that almost everything we do has an element of the respect of human life. It’s a part of what we do.”
For more information on this ministry, visit https://syracusediocese.org/family-respect-life or call 315-472-6754.
