Director of Liturgy and Ministry

Carol Schubert
Phone: 630-773-1272 (ext. 201)
E-mail:liturgy@stperteritasca.com

The Director of Liturgy has the responsibility for coordinating the worship of the faith community. This includes training and scheduling Extra-ordinary Ministers of Communion, Lectors, Altar Servers, and Ushers. The Director of Liturgy is involved with the Art and Environment Committee and church cleaners that prepare and decorate the Church as a fitting place for worship. Additional responsibilities include preparation and planning sacramental liturgies, wedding coordinators/weddings, and bereavement/funerals. The Director works with the children at St. Peter the Apostle School to prepare for the School Liturgies and other prayer experiences.

More than 40 years ago the Church went through some profound changes with Second Vatican II (1965) as it relates to lay ministry in the church. In the Document Lumen Gentium it states that “Sharing in the function of Christ, priest, prophet and king, the laity have an active part of their own in the life and activity of the Church.” (Lumen Gentium means Dogmatic Constitution of the Church).

This is reiterated in the document “Co-Workers in the Vineyard of the Lord” by the Unites States Catholic Conference of Bishops in 2005. (Develop Lay Ecclesial Ministers “paid positions” but I view this as everyone who is in any type of ministry in the parish. You all are examples of living your faith).

A. It restates that “Through Baptism we put on Christ and become members of his Body. We are initiated into the Christian community and called to a holiness of life in the world befitting disciples of Jesus . . . . Baptism initiates all into the one priesthood of Christ, giving each of the baptized, in different ways, a share in his priestly, prophetic, and kingly work.
B. And so every one of the baptized, confirmed in faith through the gifts of God’s Spirit according to his or her calling, is incorporated into the fullness of Christ’s mission to celebrate, proclaim, and serve the reign of God.”
C. It also states that “Discipleship is the fundamental vocation in which the Church’s mission and ministry find full meaning. The call to discipleship is, first of all, a gift.” All ministry is relational.

In May 2009, during the opening of the Pastoral Convention of the Diocese of Rome, the Pope gave a homily about “Church Membership and Pastoral Co-Responsibility. The Pope said too many of the baptized do not feel part of the ecclesial community and live on its margins; only coming to parishes in certain circumstances to receive religious services . . . What paths can we take? In the first place we must renew our efforts for a formation which is more attentive and focused on the vision of the Church, of which I spoke and this should be both on the part of priest as well as of religious and lay people to understand ever better what this Church is, this People of God in the Body of Christ. At the same time, it is necessary to improve pastoral structures in such a way that the co-responsibility of all the members of the People of God in their entirety is gradually promoted, with respect for vocations and for the respective roles of the consecrated of the lay people. They must no longer be viewed as “collaborators” of the clergy but truly recognized as “co-responsible” for the Church’s being and action, thereby fostering the consolidation of a mature and committed laity.