July 17, 2009
Seminarians enjoying summer pastoral ministry
By PAUL R. LEINGANG (Message editor)
Brian Emmick is looking forward to his second year of theolgy studies at St. Meinrad in the fall. But in mid-July, he is enjoying his second summer in parish ministry.
“Every parish has great people,” he said in a telephone in-terview July 6 from Holy Fam-ily Church in Jasper, his summer assignment. Last year, he was assigned to St. Mary Church in Ireland.
“I am always amazed at the hospitality and the support people give to seminarians. It is a great joy.”
Emmick, 27, a member of St. John the Baptist Church in New-burgh, is the son of William and Candace Emmick of Evanville.
At Holy Family, he serves at Mass, visits “a lot of homes,”and visits hospitals and nursing homes with people who bring communion. He is sacristan for Teens Encounter Christ. He goes to meetings — parish council meetings and outreach meetings maintaining the connection Holy Family has with a parish in Haiti.
Over the summer, Emmick has served on three vocations panels at St. Meinrad; he has traveled with middle school youth to Holiday World, and in August, he will accompany high school youth to King’s Island near Cincinnatti.
The seminarians get together every Wednesday at various lo-cations in the diocese.
Christopher Droste, who has completed his college studies at Marian University in Indianap-olis, recently returned from a semester in Rome.
Droste, 29, a member of St. James Church in Haubstadt, is the son of Rita Droste and Jack Droste.
He is spending his summer at the Bruté House in Indianapolis.
William L. Dunn Jr., who has completed his first year of philosophy studies at St. Mein-rad, has been assigned to summer ministry at St. Mary Church in Ireland.
Dunn, 31, the son of Frances G. Dunn of Lafayette, Ind., is a member of Holy Rosary Church in Evansville.
Michael Loner, who has completed his first year of philosophy studies at St. Meinrad, is serving in Rockport at St. Bernard Church.
Loner, 24, a member of Holy Family Church in Jasper, is the son of Lawrence and Christy Loner of Jasper.
Jeff Read, who completed his first year of theology studies at St. Meinrad, is assigned to St. John the Baptist Church in Newburgh. At the parish, he said, “All the little things have been good.” But he has done some big things, too.
He recently returned from a mission trip to New York City with the parish youth group, organized by Joe Hardesty. Some 50 youth participated, painting and doing garden work at Nazareth Housing in Midtown, and at Mercy Center in the Bronx.
Read also helped out at the parish Vacation Bible School, helping put on a slide show at the end of each day to showcase the students’ acitivities. He supervised a booth at the parish summer social.
Everyday activities include Communion calls, staff meetings and parish meetings.
Read has also shadowed par-ish staff members, studying what they do.
“It’s been interesting, doing a little bit of everything,” he said. “All of us have weaknesses, so getting involved in everything helps strengthen our leadership.”
Read, 28, a member of St. John the Evangelist Church in Day-light, is the son of William and Bernardine Read of Elberfeld. Last year, he was assigned to Holy Name Church in Bloom-field and St. Peter Church in Linton with Father Mike Madden.
Jeff will leave July 20 to spend 3 weeks at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico.