‘catholic’ spiritual direction at wreckovated New York’s Church of Our Savior?
How did New York’s Church of Our Savior go so deeply in debt in just one brief year? One must assume that the ongoing wreckovations, which are ‘sensitive’ to the past yet prepared for future technologies, cost money. There’s also that tremendous collapse in collections from the Park Avenue jewel. Still, there are many other ways for a Manhattan parish to waste Catholic contributions in the new FrancisChurch. For example, you can hire someone to ‘renew’ lay ministries and apply deep-tissue spiritual direction at the same time.
Kathleen T. Ullmann, Class of 2013, has been called by the Church of Our Savior, NYC, as their first pastoral associate for lay ecclesial ministries.
The entire Archdiocese of New York is now involved in a strategic planning process called Making All Things New to ensure that the pastoral care of parishioners is not sacrificed or short-changed as the Archdiocese engages in the merging of parishes. Ullmann will be tasked with accomplishing the renewal of lay ministries in the three parishes of Church of Our Savior, Church of St. Stephen and Our Lady of the Scapular, and Chapel of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
That’s handy. While they’re busy chewing up three parishes and selling them off as priceless real-estate, scattering the flock and reshuffling them far from home, they’re also actually ‘renewing’ the lay ministries – and since it’s too much for the remainder priests and faithful volunteers, they bring in an expert.
Before receiving her MA in Theology as well as a certificate in Spiritual Direction from General, Ullmann received a Master’s Degree as an early childhood special educator and is a licensed massage therapist. She has completed three years of CPE in various hospital settings in NYC and will soon begin another year of CPE at VA Medical Center.
CPE is an ‘interfaith’ spiritual direction license, The General is an Episcopal Church seminary, and a massage therapist is paid to give massages.
There’s more to a wreckovation than just ‘renewing’ churches and the Mass.