Beryl Harriott, Pastoral Associate, St. Gerard, Detroit Watch the Interview

My name is Beryl Harriott; I'm the pastoral associate at St. Gerard's Church on Pembroke and Evergreen in Detroit.

How long have you been in professional lay ministry? Describe the career path that led you here.

I've been in professional ministry for approximately 5 years and as I'll explain later this is a second career for me which I'm excited about. I worked for one year as a director of religious education at St. Matthew's church and later went to my home parish as a pastoral associate. I became interested in professional lay ministry because of my volunteer work in the parish. I'm a convert and during the mystigoia phase, I was asked to make a commitment to service and I was asked to be a lector and I thought couldn't do it. I said I cannot read because I put the emphasis on the wrong syllable, I'm from a foreign country and they assured me I would do just fine and I've been reading ever since. Now I'm now reading for the Archdiocese at the mass for shut-ins and once I started to lector and proclaim the word, I volunteered for many, many other services working on various commissions as chairperson, been the parish council president twice, working on committees, working as a liturgy planner, and as I pursued this volunteer work knowing that I was working in God's vineyard and doing God's work and developing a deeper relationship with him, I had that "ah-ha experience" that here is a choice that I can make now to go into a second career by preparing myself for ministry. I was at Sacred Heart Seminary with Sr. Mary Finn and at the end of the semester I asked her what was my grade and she gave a card and said I'll write the grade and mail it to your home. Low and behold, a couple of weeks I got the card and instead of just a grade, she wrote a poem the Magnificat of Para and it was so moving and so touching and inspiring that I thought here was my message to pursue the ministry. I made an appointment to see Sr. Barbara at the Institute of Ministry and started the program the graduate program in pastoral studies.

Do you remember the poem that was?

I don't think I can recite it but I know it was really in Mary's humility that she encouraged me to step up to the plate and be whatever God is calling me to be.

So for you it started through volunteer work?

It started through volunteer work and I started the courses from my present job. I was working with Metropolitan Hospital as director of dietetic services and later Henry Ford Health System bought us and I decided that I would take an early retirement because I wanted this to be my second career. So after I graduated, I retired and took a couple of months off and went into ministry.

Why did you feel that you needed to go to school for lay ministry whiles you were working in your first career?

It's obvious that as a volunteer, I didn't have sufficient background in theology and pastoral studies, and I needed that training to prepare me adequately for ministry. The quality of training that I received I could not have gotten anywhere other than at Sacred Heart Major Seminary so it was almost mandatory for me to prepare myself adequately for ministry by going that route.

What kind of time commitment did you have to make to the program?

I pursued the program on a part time basis but I accelerated it by going to summer school and taking advantage of the spring courses that they had. I allowed myself five years to complete the program and I finished it within that time frame. It was by no means easy because it took a lot of hours of studying and extending myself but it was worth the while – it's worth every bit of it.

Can you talk a little bit about your first career? Were you satisfied? Why was there a desire to pursue a second career?

I am from Jamaica and I came to New York. My aunt and uncle encouraged me to go to school and I chose New York University. I did a bachelor's in medical dietetics. I was interested in the hospital field; I wanted to help people and I chose that area of dietetics because that was an interest to me at that time. It was in the 60s and it was a time when there were lots of social changes in society and lot of reaching out to minority groups.

Because I had the academic background and I performed effectively, I was offered a management position within four years of graduation and I worked through that four year period getting a masters degree. I was offered the position at NY University medical Center as the assistant director in charge of dietetics. I enjoyed working with patients and I enjoyed managing employees and it was very satisfying. After twelve years at NY University Medical Center, I decided to relocate to Michigan because my sister lives here. But I was kind of detained not being able to sell my house in time and so I stayed on for another year and I worked as the executive dietician at Mt. Sinai in New York, a Jewish Philanthropic Hospital and then I came on to Michigan and worked at Metropolitan Hospital for 23 years. The fact that I stayed in the field so long is indicative that I really enjoyed it. I started doing volunteer work when I made that commitment to the Lord. Having been converted to Catholism during that mystogia phase I decided that here is a field that I want to pursue because there could be no other greater gift to give back to the Lord the blessings he has given to me. I just hungered and thirsted to get into the field of Pastoral Ministry because I knew how fulfilling that would be for me.

And is it?

And it certainly has been. I imagine if I had to do it all over—to make a choice of a career, my choice would be to go into ministry rather than the career path that I took, with one exception.

What's the exception?

I think that one exception is the compensation for pastoral ministers.

I had to agree on a package that is below subsistence level, to put it very mildly. I do get a number of fringe benefits like a staff development allowance, adequate time off with pay, partial empowerment scholarship to help me through and I don't have to repay the loan but if it were not for my social security and pension, I could not adequately maintain my standard of living on what I earn. Hopefully in the future, the church will see professional lay ministry as credible vocation for people to embark on and be paid at least above subsistence.

Do you think the church values the important work of lay ministry?

I think that they're beginning to see the importance of the job. I think with the decline in priests and religious, there are going to be many openings and opportunities for and especially ecclesial lay ministry. I see the priest continuing to do the work that is involved in sacramental ministry but I see the lay people doing more administrative and pastoral work.

How does one encourage others to go into lay ministry when there is an issue with compensation?

I think the focus has to be on your priorities, commitment, which the Lord is for you and your commitment to work. It means someone has to do it and I feel very strongly that God has called me to work in his vineyard. With that I would say there is a reward of giving back the blessings that you have received, and it's a privilege to work in God's kingdom. There is a difference to work in ministerial work and a secular job. Here in ministry you have developed a relationship with God and you are working with for a God who loves you unconditionally. That would make a difference to many people who are in no relationship to the Lord to go into ministry. This is not real weak but we're saying the Lord is more important and I feel that one day we will receive justifiable wages.

What are some of the gifts you have? What makes you good at what you do?

Well I think my primary gift is one of program development and implementation. I love a challenge, I love to work with programs and bring them to fruition and to see the final product laid out and know that it made a difference. My organizational skills are excellent. I also work very well with people, because we are in the people business whether it's in the field of dietetics in the hospital or in the church community with volunteerism. The basic difference is when you're working with people in the hospital setting, it's a little different from the volunteer because volunteers are good and they're very positive, but some are not as committed as the person in the hospital that's being paid, as a comparison. The people business aspect is one of my gifts and I think my love for community and the importance of community to me is another gift that I have. It means a great deal to me and there's a lot of love and the communal aspect that is handed down from the early church to today. I don't know if I would've made it this far without community so I put a lot of credence on community.

What are some of the various hats you wear in life and in your career?

My name is Beryl Harriott and I'm a mom, I'm a homemaker, I'm a dietician, I'm a teacher, I'm a spiritual director, I'm a pastoral associate. As a pastoral associate I coordinate evangelization, I plan funerals for families, I work with grief ministry, I work with parish health ministry, and I work with the Haiti Humanitarian Mission. I'm a liturgy planner, I work with the community in my neighborhood and whenever they plan activities I'm there to help them my famous fruit salads, there's a lot of versatility in my life.

What the main emphasis of your ministry?

The main focus of my ministry is Social Ministries. I do supervise a Christian Service Coordinator. In addition, I do the projects or develop programs like parish health ministry, grief ministry, and evangelization.

How is your spiritual life nurtured, grown and shared?

The spiritual dimension and faith formation dimension—I did go for two years to the Dominican Center for Religious Development to do a course in Spiritual dimension and I went to Manresa for a year.

The spiritual direction I do—I wanted to help the directees to help themselves to develop a deeper relationship with God and to sort of help them to bring out those areas where they might need growth, areas where they might have experiences that are deterrent to their relationship with God and to help them along to for growth and development so they can love the Lord more dearly and more deeply.

Do you have a spiritual director as well?

Yes, I do I see her once a month and I do a lot of retreats. I go to many retreats. Another part of my life that I didn't share with you is that I'm an associate of the Immaculate Heart of Mary sisters so it's a non-vowed role, but we are part or affiliated with the sisters so I belong to a mission unit and I enjoy what they do as sisters and the community of women there are a marvelous and excellent part of my life.

You mentioned your conversion to Catholicism. Why did you convert?

There was emptiness in my life. My mother died and I reflected on what was my purpose? My sister and I went to Jamaica for the funeral and we came home and she wanted a baby and I reflected on my life. And when the baby was baptized, she invited the priest and I had to talk with him--nothing about Jesus. We just talked about life and he was so happy like a young person tripping on a life fantastic. He was just so effervescent and buoyant and three weeks later I went down to the church and knocked on the rectory door and I said I'm here to become a catholic. He said we just started the class should they have to wait for a week and I said no I am ready right now! And the sister says "I'll take her inside" and so I did and the priest that opened the door to show me the way is still a great friend of mine and we're in a prayer group together and that has been over 25 yrs ago and there was no turning back.

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