Trust in Faith
Sister Kathleen Flood, OP
Glimpse the Quintessential
Preacher: Mary of Magdala
Sister Mary Ellen O’Dea, OP
Listening with Our Lives
Sister Ann Willits, OP
Announcing the Good News
Sister Helen Marie Raycraft, OP
Lay Preaching
Barbara Skierecki
The Word Is Near to You
Sister KC Young, OP
Stories of Preaching
Lay Preaching
Barbara Skierecki
Barbara Skierecki served as religious educator at Church of the Risen Savior for more than 15 years. She was one of our founding lay preachers. Barbara retired last year and offered to continue to serve as the volunteer coordinator of lay preachers. This was particularly appreciated because four of our preachers retired or moved the same year.
Barb said this on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross: “What are we to do with those hidden fears, faults, transgressions that we don’t want other people to know about? God told Moses what to do. Take it out and mount it on a pole. Those who looked at the seraph on the pole were given new life. In the Gospel, Jesus tells Nicodemus and all of us the same thing. We must lift up that which bothers us and look at it with God’s eyes and we will be cured. Snakes in the medical field are symbols of healing. Jesus, the Son of God, became a lesser being when he became human. He takes on all of the foibles, the illnesses, the sins, and all that which is hidden and exposes them. He takes our dark side and gives it light. He becomes the serpent in the desert and is raised up. In being raised up he dies so that all might have new life. The cross in our faith life is a sign of healing.” (Readings: Numbers 24:4-9 and John 3:13-17).
Barb was a wonderful co-minister who enriched our staff with her humor and creativity. She shared her talents with the parish by starting a family-based religious education program. She serves as our lay preacher coordinator, mentors preachers, and helps new preachers to-be discern their call. She is a gift to us all and a credit to women preachers.
by Sister Martha Alken, OP