Echo apprentices, parishes find
first year of program fulfilling

By Sean Gallagher

Last fall, five graduates of the University of Notre Dame started learning the ropes of parish catechetical ministry in five faith communities in and around Indianapolis.

Participants in Echo, Notre Dame’s two-year program designed to train prospective parish administrators of religious education, the five young men and women have now completed their first year of apprenticeship in the archdiocese.

The year turned out to be beneficial not only for the apprentices, but also for their mentors and the parishes in which they served.

In the past, Christ the King Parish in Indianapolis had struggled to develop an active youth ministry program.

Kyle Bertoli, the parish’s Echo apprentice, created a successful outreach to high school-aged members of the parish through High Grounds, a program focused on Bible study, theological reflection and faith-sharing that met on Sunday evenings during Lent at a nearby Starbucks.

One of the Higher Ground participants was Christ the King parishioner Colin McSharar, a junior at nearby Bishop Chatard High School.

“It definitely helped because when you come out, you’d think about it at home before you went to sleep, about what exactly you got out of it,” Colin said. “And I always got something different out of it every single time.”

Cindy Flaten, Christ the King’s director of religious education, had thought that after Bertoli’s arrival he would “tag along” and “basically be an assistant.”

But her opportunity to watch him develop Higher Grounds—as well as a successful adult-oriented workshop on Pope Benedict XVI’s first encyclical “Deus Caritas Est” (“God is Love”)—changed her mind.

“Anything that he was given or anything that he developed, he just took off running with it,” Flaten said.

In Bertoli’s case, his arrival on the scene helped the parish reach out in new areas.

In the case of David Ballintyn, his service as an apprentice at St. Mark the Evangelist Parish in Indianapolis helped him grow.

Because of his relative youth, Ballintyn thought that he would be asked to primarily minister to high school and college students. He soon discovered that he would pass on the faith to people across the age spectrum.

He was surprised when Mary Lyn Cavanaugh, St. Mark’s director of religious education, asked him to give a Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults presentation on marriage because “I wasn’t in a relationship. I wasn’t well-qualified to give a talk on marriage.”

But Ballintyn sat down, thought it out and read resources such as the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

“I went into it thinking [that] no matter what, these people have to know that I want them to revitalize the presence of Christ in their marriage,” he said. “So I just belted everything that I could at those people about love and marriage and Christ-centered relationships.”

Despite his claims of being unqualified, Ballintyn touched the hearts of many of his listeners.

“He was so full of the Spirit,” said Cavanaugh, who was brought to tears by the presentation. “We all felt it. The room was just dead silent.”

As important as these experiences were for Bertoli, Ballintyn and the parishes they served, their impact was broadened even more by the fact that the apprentices lived together throughout the year, sharing the blessings and crosses of ministry that came their way in their service.

“It amazes me that some youth ministers and DREs [directors of religious education] are able to just jump into a parish without this kind of support and opportunity to come back and reflect on shared experiences,” said Kenna Brewer, an Echo apprentice at St. Monica Parish in Indianapolis.

But given the often unpredictable schedule of parish catechetical leaders, nurturing the community life of the apprentices can be challenging.

In order for it to happen, a required part of the program is a weekly community night, where all other schedule demands fall by the wayside to shared prayer, discussion and a meal.

“The community aspect of the program was one of the reasons why I wanted to do it,” said Alexa Puscas, an Echo apprentice at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Indian-apolis. “And it has been very supportive in ministry and also in personal development.”

“I did not expect the community life to be like this,” Ballintyn said. “I expected it to be like a roommate situation where I’m doing my thing and you’re doing your thing, and if we happen to ask each other how the day’s going, great.

“But it’s been a far more rewarding experience and supportive experience. I like coming back home.”

The apprentices lived in a home in Broad Ripple and will return there in August after taking a break and completing summer graduate courses in theology at Notre Dame.

“I’m really looking forward to the summer,” said Rose Beauclair, an Echo apprentice at St. Malachy Parish in Brownsburg. “I’ve missed the classroom environment. We’ve taken an online course, but that’s very different. And now that I’ve experienced one year of parish ministry, I think that my eyes are going to be a lot more open to my classes.”

After completing the second year of the program, the apprentices will earn a master’s degree in theology from Notre Dame.

But before getting there, they will spend another year of service in their parishes.

“The fall is going to be crazy,” Ballintyn said. “It’s going to be even more work than what I’m doing right now. But it’s going to be good.”

At least one other apprentice will be turning his thoughts to northern Indiana on Saturdays in the fall as the leaves start to turn.

“I’m looking forward to the Notre Dame football season next year,” Bertoli said. †