jparker@scsjcluster.org

Youth Minister

 I am honored and humbled by the opportunity to serve our parishes as Youth Minister. I would like to share some of my faith journey, a bit of my story, as it is through our stories that we discover the many ways our Lord connects us to one another. I converted to Christianity at age 17 and in midst of participating in Evangelical Christianity, I was pulled into the depths of Catholic Spirituality. I transferred out of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and into Marquette University. (My choice was a nightmare for my parents.) I journeyed through RCIA led by Jesuit priests and was received into the Church, Easter Vigil, 1984. I graduated from Marquette University, December of 1985 with a double major in Education and Human Development. On my journey to full communion with the Catholic Church, I discerned through retreats and prayer a call to consider the religious life. I was especially attracted to the Sisters of the Holy Spirit, missionary teaching sisters. In discernment, I confirmed that my desire to be a mother was something that I could not let go of. Roland and I married August 1984. We lost five children in the first 9 years of marriage, and blessed with Seth Thomas (26 years old, lives in San Francisco, CA newly engaged to Mary Katherine), John Joseph (24 years old, lives in Burbank, CA with his wife Madeline Rose), Elizabeth Therese (20 years old, a junior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison) and Roland Augustine (14 years old, a freshman at Marquette University High School). I began teaching the fall after I was received into the Catholic Church and have taught every year since. has been my privilege to teach all ages of children, youth and young adults. I have offered Advent and Lenten retreats for children and adults. I have taught Adult Confirmation and RCIA classes. I have led adult Bible studies and Catechism classes. I have written articles for the Catholic Herald and the magazine, Catholic Faith and Family. It has been a long-standing discipline to not use any materials, lessons, or plans twice. It is an act of joy for me to discern the pulse, the issues, perspectives of any group of people, as I plan an experience for them. I have integrated this direction from Our Lord who never healed two people in the same way, and who never repeated his teachings and parable. He never backtracked in his steps but kept moving forward while staying uniquely in the present moment. And, it is in this Spirit that I have been planning for your child. Please know my door and heart is open to each of you. I trust the year ahead will be filled with hope, grace, and wisdom.