Mary Dumm, Pastoral Associate, St. Linus, Dearborn Heights
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What does it mean to be the Pastoral Associate at St. Linus Parish?

My job is a little bit of everything. In fact, the joke is the last line of my contract reads, "Whatever the pastoral reasonably requests". At St. Linus, we have a different structure then some parishes so I am also the DRE (Director of Religious Education) and the Christian Service coordinator but as pastoral associate I'm kind of like the mortar, the bricks. I train people to do the wake services or I do the wake services, I get people to do communion calls or I do communion calls, I lead Morning Prayer, I lead evening prayer, I do lots of things with the school—training incense servers, bringing them all in. In fact, the joke is when it comes to the big Easter celebrations, I am the stage manager. I am the one that ushers in lectors and the Eucharistic ministers and the servers and then RCIA candidates and the Catechumens all look to me to make sure that everything's going to go just right. I kind of hold it all together.

Describe the career path that led you to lay ministry.

I have wanted to do this my whole life. So from the time I was a teenager looking at what I was going to do, it kind of came down to computer programming or church, which everyone thought was kind of odd. In fact, this job didn't even exist way back then, but I had been helping out at the parish, my mother was involved—pouring the coffee at pancake breakfast, helping out in religious ed. I went to a Catholic high school and this was not too long after the Vatican council and they just kept saying, "Well, you have a responsibility, you're baptized, you have things to do" and I said, "Well what" and they said, "Work at the church" and I said, "Okay". So, when I graduated from high school, I went to college and got a degree in theology and then got out and taught in Catholic high schools for 11 years. I taught at Benedict in the city and Cabrini in Allen Park. The last few years of that I went back to school at Sacred Heart and finished up my masters and finally got the job I always wanted, working in the parish.

Would you be in computer science if you weren't in lay ministry?

That's funny, because it's hard. I love computers. I am one of those people that at the parish, we joke that I don't have a secretary, just got a good computer and that's all I need. Probably, but I love teaching. Part time I teach for Siena University in the Lansing Diocese training their lay ministers. So I guess if I didn't do church full time, I might go back to teaching full time. If it wasn't anything church related, knowing me, I'd probably end up in some kind of counseling situation, going back to school for that.

But why church work? What is the draw for you?

The real answer is it's kind of written in my heart. I remember when I was in high school—because I also did the math and science—thinking I might want to be an engineer so gets that background. And I did all the languages because you never know; you might need that—lay a big foundation. So I had friends who went off to law school and engineering school and I remember trying to figure out what I wanted to do and it came down to, where did I feel happiest? What kind of people did I like being around? When I was doing it, where did it seem in a sense easy even though it was hard? I had wonderful high school teachers who did more than just ask, "How do you feel about this?" We actually studied church documents and they pulled me into Easter vigils at the Seminary my senior year, just to see what that church stuff was like and I felt like I was at home. When I was doing the math and science and going to field trips to U of M and all that, it was fun, but I watched my engineering friends get into it and I wasn't "in to it." So the church thing, it seemed like the only thing I could imagine doing for my entire life and still being happy my whole life with it. In a sense, I've switched careers from teaching to parish. It always makes me happy. I always enjoy it even on the hardest days and the most difficult moments and when I look at other people 20 years into their working life and they have ulcers and heart problems and are unhappy when they get up in the morning to go to work, and I am never like that. I always like going to work even on the hard days and the tired days and all that, there's an inner sense of this is where I'm supposed to be. And so, I just enjoy it.

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

I like people, all people. I'm not good teaching little kids, though they are a lot of fun to be around, but I'm really good at teaching teens and adults. That's where it's a lot of fun and I get to do a lot of that. I like the preaching part and I get to lead services, obviously not Sunday, but we did our September 11 service for example. We did Morning Prayer and so I led Morning Prayer and to have everybody come on such a tragic anniversary and to know that I had to be really good that day was fun. I mean it's wonderful to be able to lead those kinds of things. So I like being out there, I guess, I like the preaching, I like the teaching and I am really good at organizing. I'm kind of the point person and I can get other people to use their gifts. So I don't have to do it all. I just have to get someone else to kind of have the confidence to step up and do what they should be doing anyway. So that makes it fun too, to watch some of the kids get up there and once they're confirmed they're lectors, they're Eucharistic ministers. This past year confirmation was on a Thursday and one of our newly confirmed then lectored on Sunday. He looked at me and said, "You said I have to be confirmed" and I said, "Ok, I know you're trained" and to watch him up there for the first time, it kind of makes me feel good.

Is there a downside to your job?

The downside of my job is the time required. I take one day off a week and I try to get it, but if you're in Lent or Easter season, it's kind of hard. So there are days when it's a 14-hour day backed up against another 14-hour day and then a funeral comes and that puts it 3 in a row and everybody wants you there on your day off—that becomes really hard. It's also hard with family. I work on the weekends because that's when people come to church and so family birthdays and all of that have to be adjusted--both my schedule and the family's schedule and that can be difficult at times. I missed my nephew's 1st birthday and I absolutely had to be at work. On the other hand, they understand most times. We always have to work the holidays; Christmas and Easter are big church days. So you adjust, but not everybody understands that.

How is the compensation in lay ministry?

Historically, one of the difficulties in ministry has been financial, there's no doubt about it. Thirty years ago, it was Father and Sister who basically did everything in the parish. Sister of course, was supported by her community and really had great job security and no worried about benefits. She had her rent paid for; she had her food, and everything else. Whereas my mortgage company really does want their check every month. And that is difficult because the church has to get used to the fact that they have to pay people a living wage. It's certainly gotten a whole lot better, but we still have a lot more to go. As pastors start realizing what it takes to live on (because their income is different) and as people who are newer and younger are coming in, the new, young pastors are know what it's like to have to pay bills too. Very few of them have always been priests and so the money gets better. My concern is that what happens to the poor parishes that can't afford but still need us, that's my concern. And how is the Diocese is going to figure that out? Right now I can make my mortgage payment just fine, so it works out.

Are you the soul wage earner in your family?

I am still single, so no husband and no children make it a lot easier on me. I live in the neighborhood very close to my parish, so it's very much middle class and so I am able to make it without any problems, but I do wonder what's going to happen with retirement. Our retirement at this point is a percentage of our highest income and that's going to be interesting to see how it all pans out in the next few decades.

How does the baptismal call relate to lay ministry?

One of my responsibilities is to work with the RCIA, those people who are coming into the church for baptism or those who are becoming Catholic. A lot of time is spent, for me anyway, reflecting on what baptism is, what it means to really belong—more than just some social thing. What does it mean to actually belong to Christ's church and to live out ones baptism? My parents baptized me when I was about three weeks old so I guess I didn't make that choice originally, but I really go back and remember when I was in high school. I was confirmed in 7th grade and from then on I remember people telling me that when you're baptized you have rights and responsibilities. Well that isn't just for Father and Sister, that' for everybody and you have to live it out, however God wants, whether that's married or single, whether that's lawyers or engineers, or for me, it ended up being church work. I mean every time I lead a service that requires me to put on my alb or whenever I train servers and watch them put on their baptismal robe, there's a recommitment there to the gospel. I again look at my life—not only my personal, private choices, but the fact that I chose to work in the church. I really believe that God calls everybody to whatever they're supposed to do in life, whether they're the engineer or the lawyer or the pastoral associate and since I believe God's called me to work in the church, that's where I am happiest, that's where my gifts are used best, that's where, at the end of the day, as tired as I am, when I open that front door, I know I did the best I could. It's where you feel the spirit digging into you. You can really feel God's grace when you are in the moment of working on an annulment with someone or when it's time for confirmation and you're watching those candidates stand up in front of the Bishop and you know who they are and you pray for their future life and you also know it was you that God used to bring them to that point. Their parents, their grandparents, their sponsors and you. And you can feel it inside that that's God's grace, that's the spirit alive in you and it's a feeling you don't want to give up, that you wouldn't sacrifice for anything to go make more money somewhere else, to go back to computer science or something like that. It's that feeling I think, that really drives all human beings. The sad part is some people don't find it. They walk away from it because they're afraid of what God's calling them to. I'm just glad that I answered, that made it a whole lot easier.

How do you help others hear the call?

Part of it is witnessing. There's a joke at the parish that I don't stand still very often, whether that's in the middle of mass or running down the hallway. Part of it is witness, part of it is when people look at me and say that there's something about you, you seem to be doing exactly what you're supposed to be doing. "I can tell," they say to me and it's my job to say to them, "What does God want from you?" And I try and look where their talents are and in terms of what are happening in the parish to try and put them in those situations. If they're younger—I looking at those teenagers—and I try and get them to pray, to reflect, to try and be themselves as teenagers and not trying to worry about fitting in--which is the hardest thing for teens and adults to try and do. I have them sit down with themselves and get them to Sunday mass and keep reminding them that they've got to listen in their heart and they'll know what they're supposed to do. If they're to be the best lawyer, then be the best lawyer, if they're going to be the best doctor, that's where God wants them. We need good doctors, then be the best doctor, but we need good priests, we need good religious and we need a whole lot of good lay people working in the church and so I'll tell them that. If I see that gift in them, I'll tell them that. We have a joke at the parish, there are about 4-6 of the girls and they call themselves, "The Mini-Marys" and they're my crew. They range in age basically from 8th and 9th grade down to 4th grade and I use them. There's one that walks around with me constantly at all the big services carrying the candles and putting this up and getting the servers ready and helping the adults. Come and see what it's like. There are a couple of them when you ask, "What are you going to do when you grow up?" they'll say, "I want to be pastoral associate, just like Miss Mary." So you put them in positions where they're going to be able to see if that's where God's going to call and let them try,

Can you be specific about your own gifts?

My gifts...I guess it's a gift to be an extrovert. It allows me to be a lot more comfortable when I am teaching and that's another gift. I love to teach. Somehow I am able to synthesize a student's question and still give them the information they need. I am good at organization. If you're trying to get people to do things, you need to make it clear for them and you need to figure out what the parish needs—you have to be able to assess that. And so these business administration qualities that we see in the secular world, you need in church too, and that's another one of my gifts. I guess it's a gift to smile. I say that because I get that a lot, "You're always smiling". I think if you have the gift that allows people to feel comfortable around you especially in church work, where they're going to lay out in front of you the most wonderful and the most difficult part of their lives, you need to create a sense they're going to be safe and that's also a gift. One I didn't know I had until I started doing all this.

What are the various roles you fulfill in life and career?

Mary Dumm...pastoral associate, Director of Religious education, Christian service coordinator, teacher, mentor, sponsor, godmother, friend, sister, aunt, organizer, supported, advocate, I guess mother at times, one who provides strength, honesty, compassion, courage, and hopefully support, support of myself as well as others, that they can learn to love themselves, know the love of God, and be able then to share that with everybody else in however they're supposed to do it, to have the courage to step up and to join the ranks in the church, so I guess I get to challenge them to do that too.

Do you worry about the future of the church?

The church moves toward the future, it always has and from the very beginning, it has grown and changed and adapted to every single culture at every single time. We absolutely have every gift we need in order to live the Gospel and transform this world and build up the reign of God, the only thing that's stopping us is people—people's own fears and insecurities and there's no need to fear. I have the most wonderful job. It's hard to separate my job from my life; they're just wrapped into each other so deeply. I don't go to work, come home and have a different life, it's all-together. I think more people need to hear the call. I've watched people get afraid that they're not going to have enough money or that people are going to talk about them because they work for the church, and people, there's nothing to be afraid of, this is not just a second, career, though it is for some, this is a life, this is a ministry. Just like priesthood's a ministry, just like people joined religious life, just like the healing ministries like doctors, nurses. It's teachers and engineers, it's a way of living out ones baptism, but it's one the church needs more and more. As the people of God's needs change the church needs to respond and we can only respond if people answer the call. I'd hate to see the day when someone calls the church in need and there's no one there to pick up the phone. That'll our fault not God's.

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