Disciples of Christ: Echo graduates move into catechetical leadership positions

Alexa Puscas, right, the new director of religious education (DRE) at St. Pius X Parish in Indianapolis, speaks during a DRE Skills Series meeting on Oct. 16 at the Archbishop O’Meara Catholic Center in Indianapolis. The program is sponsored by the archdiocesan Office of Catholic Education.

By Sean Gallagher

Two young faces are making a difference in catechetical leadership in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.

Paul Sifuentes, youth ministry coordinator at St. Simon the Apostle Parish in Indianapolis, and Alexa Puscas, director of religious education at St. Pius X Parish, also in Indianapolis, have come to serve the Church in central and southern Indiana after spending two years in training for this specific ministry.

Last spring, both completed their participation in Echo, a two-year service program in faith formation leadership established in 2004 and administered by the University of Notre Dame’s Center for Catechetical Initiative.

Puscas is not new to the archdiocese. She served as an Echo apprentice at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Indianapolis. Sifuentes spent his two years of service in the Echo program in the Diocese of Peoria, Ill.

Both, however, only came upon their current ministry positions early last summer, ordinarily after parishes have filled open staff positions.

As her time in Echo was coming to a close, Puscas, who enjoys oil painting, was considering studying at an art school. Then she interviewed for her current position at St. Pius X Parish.

“As I was walking out, I just really thought, ‘I can do this. I can really be happy here,’ ” Puscas said. “I felt God’s call.”

Sifuentes was called about an opening at St. Simon the Apostle Parish last June while he was on a golf outing at a family reunion. He interviewed for the job, and was at a restaurant when he received a call on his cell phone from St. Simon’s pastor, Father Paul Etienne, offering him the position.

“I felt so comfortable there,” Sifuentes said. “I prayed about it and just decided to take this position.”

In addition to serving two years as apprentices in parishes under veteran catechetical leaders, Puscas and Sifuentes also took graduate-level theology classes through Notre Dame. At the end of their time in Echo, they earned master’s degrees in theology from the Catholic university in northern Indiana.

Both Puscas and Sifuentes said Echo gave them good training for their current ministries.

“[It] prepared me in every way,” Puscas said. “I could not imagine doing this job without having had my time of formation. The classes prepared me ­academically to be knowledgeable about the faith and, in a pastoral way, how to be a minister.”

Kenneth Ogorek, archdiocesan director of catechesis, praised Echo’s combined academic and pastoral approach to forming possible future catechetical leaders.

“Echo apprentices who are now ­

full-time professional catechetical leaders have the advantage of an excellent academic background,” Ogorek said. “But the pastoral experience these people gain while they’re apprentices is priceless.”

Sifuentes views his ministry position as a profession. But at the same time, he doesn’t lose sight of his overarching call to holiness.

“As a disciple, I see my vocation as one to holiness, of course,” he said. “But as a staff member here at the parish, I see myself in a professional way. I may not always dress the most professional in a three-piece suit, but I find myself as a professional in being a representative of the parish … .”

Ogorek said that more young adults are considering entering catechetical ministry full time than in the past. One reason, he said, is because men and women currently in their 20s have grown up knowing professional youth ministers and directors of religious education.

“We have a generation of people now who have grown up seeing that this is a profession,” Ogorek said. “I think that may be a little bit of what’s going on. And I think that’s a good thing.”

According to the Center for Catechetical Initiative at Notre Dame, Echo has produced 26 graduates. Of them, 18 have moved into full-time catechetical ministry or educational positions.

Puscas noted that the young adults entering full-time catechetical ministry through programs such as Echo are still relatively small in number. However, she added that they are growing and are committed. There are 23 apprentices currently in the Echo program.

“We may be starting small and starting slow just to familiarize ourselves,” Puscas said, “but I think we understand this ministry as a vocation, our own vocation in living our discipleship of Christ.”

(For more information on Echo, log on to www.nd.edu/~cci.)†