Jess Salazar believes completing the Lay Pastoral Ministry program offered by the Diocese of Ballarat has helped him to clearly discern how he can best contribute to his parish community.

A parishioner of St Patrick’s Cathedral in Ballarat, Jess recently finished the diocesan program, studying subjects such as faith and human development, leadership in ministry and evangelisation and discipleship.

“I enrolled in the Lay Pastoral Ministry program to help me with my discernment about what type of ministry I should be doing within or outside of our parish,” he said.

“I found it very helpful, especially in discerning to understand the type of ministry that I can do to assist our community. It also gave me an opportunity to really understand my core values and the main reason why I wanted to do and to be part of a ministry program.”

The Diocese of Ballarat first offered its Lay Pastoral Ministry program in 2016, as one of the recommendations of its ‘Looking Forward’ pastoral planning process. Since then, there have been more than 100 participants in the program.

The program is offered in partnership with Dayton University in the USA, through its Virtual Learning Community for Faith Formation (VLCFF). About 75 dioceses around the world are making use of the VLCFF, including the Australian dioceses of Ballarat and Lismore.

By partnering with the University, subject costs for Catholics in the diocese are discounted to $US50 per subject.

Each year, there are six or seven teaching cycles, with up to 30 different courses available during those times. Subjects covered include ‘Ministry Leadership in the Church Today’, ‘Spirituality of the Missionary Disciple’, and ‘Vocation, Spirituality and Discipleship of Catechists’.

Program coordinator for the Diocese of Ballarat Djurdja Klaric said the program is open to anybody in the diocese, with online courses running for 3-5 weeks.

“It's offered to anybody that's interested in increasing their knowledge, developing their skills for formation or if they're interested in a lay pastoral ministry role in their parishes,” she said.

“It’s a really good program, particularly for people who would like to do some study without having to pay an awful lot of money… and you don't have to have any higher education qualifications to be able to do it.”

Many Catholic education staff in Ballarat have participated in the program, Ms Klaric said, as well as Catholics seeking to be more involved in their parish.

“We get a significant number of parishioners who are just interested in the subjects that are offered,” she said. “A lot of them will do it just for their own personal growth, for their own personal understanding.

“There are quite a few who then go on to be far more involved and far more active in their parish. They seem to really enjoy it.”

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In Lismore, Lisa Williams from St Dymphna’s in Dunoon said her experience of completing courses through the VLCFF in Church History and the Sacraments has been highly beneficial.

“I can’t begin to say how much I learned,” she said.

“My knowledge of Church history was found to be embarrassingly lacking so I was introduced to new information constantly.

“I would most definitely recommend others enrol in a course even if, like me, it has been a while between drinks. I found the facilitators very understanding of my situation and my fears about failing dismally were completely unfounded. I plan to do another course in the future.”

Sixty-four-year-old Lucy Miller from St Agnes’ Parish in Port Macquarie completed the Music in Liturgy course over five weeks in 2024 and described it as “brilliant”.

“The students were from Canada, Malaysia, Singapore, USA and Argentina,” Lucy said. “I was the only Australian participant.

“Initially, I found the online learning a bit daunting. I had never 'posted' on a discussion board, so I had to get used to the technology.”

An experienced Church chorister, Lucy said she greatly appreciated the thorough explanations of how music can complement each part of the liturgy.   

“This new information has provided me with a deeper understanding of my faith and a greater knowledge of how my contribution as a choir member encourages parishioners to participate at Mass,” she said. 

“The course would be great for choir leaders, musical directors and choir members and other Church musicians. The course has given me a new perspective of the gift I have to share, encouraging the union of voices.” 

Images: Jess Salazar (supplied); Lucy Miller (supplied).
Words: Matthew Biddle