Curt Allen and Dawn Peters attended the diocesan Lay Preaching College at the Church of the Redeemer, Lorain, on May 11 and 12. The purpose of the college is to prepare and oversee people in each parish for the task of preaching and teaching. With lay preachers available, the parish priest can occasionally take a Sunday off from preaching, and the parish gets to hear other voices as well.
There's more to the process than a two-day seminar. Before being licensed, the lay preacher must preach a sample sermon, be critiqued, and be recommended to the diocese. After becoming licensed, there is a series of continuing education events to keep the preacher's skills fresh.
Ann Shelly and Sister Nadine are already licensed preachers, so we will now have four lay preachers.
