https://youtu.be/8zMF8zzw6kA
Diocesan Pastoral Associates are lay people who are appointed by the Bishop to parish leadership. They work closely with pastors to provide both administrative and pastoral care. Our Dennis Biviano had the chance to speak with two of the five Diocesan Pastoral Associates in the Youngstown Diocese, and he explains the ministry and public call to action.
Canton natives Deacon Greg Wood and Amy Benedetti-Dike represent two of the five Diocesan Pastoral Associates in the Diocese of Youngstown. They are responsible for four parishes in Stark County; Regina Coeli Parish, Saint Joseph Parishes in Alliance and Maximo and Saint Ann Parish in Sebring. Together they work with Pastor David Weikart to meet the needs of the parishes, cemetery and Regina Coeli School among other duties.
“We work a lot, Amy and I and Father, to work to develop programs for the people—educational programs, retreats, that type of thing. We’ve tried to do that quite a bit. And the rest of it is a lot of administrative things,” says Deacon Greg Wood.
Those called to this ministry have typically already served for years as a director of religious education, parish pastoral associate, or another form of pastoral ministry. Deacon Greg was ordained in 2008, previously in parish council, a lector, eucharistic minister, along with a 50-year career as a pharmacist. Benedetti-Dike is in her 25th year of church work, her 4th year as a DPA, and she oversees the religious education aspect of the collaboration. She says as situations often change in parishes across the Diocese of Youngstown, more lay people are needed for various ministries.
“Ministers that are needed for the mass, eucharistic ministers. We have ministers who are needed to visit the homebound, in the nursing homes. We need people in music. We need people in the funeral luncheons and funeral preparations,” says Amy Benedetti-Dike.
Deacon Greg says one of his goals as a DPA is to inspire more men to join the ministry—noting that current deacons in the diocese are getting older.
He says another goal of a Diocesan Pastoral Associate is calming any fears of parishioners at his four churches.
“The biggest challenge is the concern of the parishioners that their church is going to close, that they’re going to be the one that is excluded from this group. And our attempt is to reassure them that it’s not the Bishop’s intention, and it’s certainly not our intention to do it,” says Deacon Wood.
I also asked both Deacon Greg and Benedetti-Dike to describe their prayers lives.
“My technique is to flip on the coffee pot, say the morning prayer, and start with a cup of coffee to be able to go through the day, to get started on the day. And that’s what I like to do, that’s the way I like to start it. And then the evening prayers, usually sometime before I go to bed,” says Deacon Wood.
“Word on Fire has a booklet that they put out monthly that has morning prayer, evening prayer and night prayer. So a couple years ago I started to get that book. Another thing that has been very instrumental in my prayer life is the Halo app,” says Benedetti-Dike.
Deacon Greg says its critical to increase the amount of Diocesan Pastoral Associates in the future, to relieve some of the pressure and workload of priests across the six counties. There are currently 10 people in the diocese who are training to be future DPA’s. He says they must continue the mission of promoting these various ministries in the church to people of all ages and backgrounds.
“Part of the job that you do in a job like this is, there’s an enjoyment factor in knowing that you’re helping people. Vocations aren’t just limited to religious life. So, yes you can do as a Deacon you can get that. But there’s also, it’s a vocation to be a DRE. It’s a vocation to dedicate your life to the church,” says Deacon Wood.
