ROCKFORD—The Department of Educational Services will undergo a three-part structural change this fall that also involves the Life and Family Evangelization (LiFE) Office.
Effective Sept. 1, the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry will be moved from the education department to the LiFE Office.
Michael Kagan, superintendent of Catholic Schools and assistant director of the Department of Educational Services, takes the reins also as director of Religious Education, effective Sept. 1.
The three regional directors of religious education — Michael Dowling, Cindy Vincent and Jose Coronel — will continue to support diocesan youth ministers under LiFE Office Director Jennifer Collins. Their ongoing work of providing support and resources to parish catechetical leaders will continue under Kagan.
John McGrath, who serves as the director of Educational Services as well as the director of Ministry Formation and of the Diocesan Theological Institute, will continue in those positions but will be moving to part-time work, effective Nov. 1.
‘I fell like a tree’
These changes all began with John McGrath’s heart-stopping emergency.
United Airlines had inexplicably moved his 11 a.m. flight to Jacksonville, Fla., up to 7 a.m. He and regional director Cindy Vincent left Rockford on May 22 at 3 a.m. and drove to O’Hare Airport to catch that earlier flight. They arrived around 10:30 a.m. at the Florida hotel where the conference was being held.
“I was waiting in line (to check in at the hotel), and I fell like a tree, head first,” McGrath says. “My head hit the marble floor and split open.
“I immediately turned blue and purple and was bleeding from my head and mouth,” he adds, drawing on others’ descriptions of what happened while he was unconscious.
Two firemen who were standing at that exact moment in another line to check out of the hotel “were all over me,” John says. The men began CPR immediately and yelled at the hotel staff for an AED machine. One fished McGrath’s cell phone out of his pocket and called his wife, Cindy, back in Rockford to have her catch a flight to Florida as soon as possible. A call went out to 911.
“They paddled me (with the AED) at the hotel, two more times in the ambulance and again in the emergency room,” John says. “My heart kept stopping. It was an electrical problem — sudden cardiac death.”
He explains that sudden cardiac death happens to 450,000 people each year, and two thirds of them die immediately. Of course, not everyone has two firefighters right next to them when it happens.
“If I’d been checking in 15 minutes later,” John says, “everything would have been different.”
The first thing that hospital doctors told his wife and son upon their arrival was “if he comes to, we don’t know how severe the damage will be.” When John regained consciousness the very next day, the medical professionals said it was an unusual and very good sign.
As the days passed, they began to say it is “really abnormal to have such an uncomplicated recovery,” John says.
He received an internal defibrillator and a pacemaker, was released that Friday and flew home on Saturday to begin the recovery process.
“The nurses and doctors were amazed I did so well. I was their success story,” he says, describing also the grinning firefighter he saw standing at the end of his bed one time when he woke up.
“By the end of the (first) week, everybody (at the hospital, conference and hotel) knew me and my family, and all were so happy I did well,” he says. “Everyone was so kind and genuinely concerned. It was so touching.”
McGrath has returned to work with a heart full of gratitude, especially for “the power of a Christian community of prayer.”
A local parish priest visited him at that Baptist hospital every day, he says, adding, “I hope the subtext of this is the prayer (and) the power of being surrounded by co-disciples.”
He remarks on the great number of cards and promises of prayers that he and his family received, and his gratitude “to not be alone. There is such benefit to being a member of a parish and extended Catholic community.”
At the end of July, John received two stents to deal with blockages. He is receiving cardiac rehabilitation and has slowly been spending longer and more days at work.
“I tell people, ‘there’s nothing to be afraid of in dying. I’ve done it and it’s not that bad,’” he says with a grin, adding that he did not have any out-of-body type of experience. “It was God’s way of saying I’m not ready for prime time yet (and should) get back to work.”
Prior to traveling to the annual National Conference for Catechetical Leaders on May 22, McGrath says he had “begun a conversation” with Msgr. Glenn Nelson, vicar general, and Bishop David Malloy about “scaling back” on the extent of his duties.
“I love my work,” the 69-year-old says. “I’m very committed to this ministry. It gives me great joy, but at the same time, I can’t do as much.”
He is optimistic about the department changes, saying that, “the way it’s worked out will be advantageous to the diocese.”
RE blends well
For his part, Michael Kagan is anticipating additional meetings during the year, perhaps some more-hectic-than-usual times and an extra national conference or two. But he also sees his new religious education work as “something that blends pretty well with what I do.”
For some years now, Kagan has joined McGrath at catechetical meetings, getting to know area directors of religious education of the past and the current regional directors. “I have an idea of what they do,” he says, “and they do a lot!”
Kagan was on the interview team that hired two of the three regional directors. He says he will oversee them and will be an advocate for their work, including during his interactions with priests and the teachers and principals at Catholic schools.
He says that the three RDREs “have got some exciting ideas,” and are all “very organized and very competent.”
And, he is happy that John McGrath will be close at hand.
“If I need history or background, I can call on him for his knowledge,” he says of his next door neighbor at the Diocesan Administration Center.
Youth focus logical
Jennifer Collins sees the logic behind the shift of Youth and Young Adult Ministry to the LiFE Office.
“In the LiFE Office, we look at the whole (human) life span,” she says, “and the many transitions throughout life.”
Whether it is a matter of transitioning from the womb to the world, high school to college, single life to married life, family life to an empty nest, this life to the next life, “we are called as Christians to accompany people,” she says. “The young are part of families and … I think it is a very good fit.”
Collins says she loves applying her educational background in catechesis and marriage and family studies to the realm of youth ministry, and has been involved with youth ministry at her parishes for the last 10 years. “I greatly am looking forward to working with youth ministers in our diocese,” she says. “Our hope is that the LiFE Office will add to the support offered to those involved in youth ministry.”
Collins notes that a significant focus of the LiFE Office is marriage preparation. That is both sacrament preparation and ministry to a mostly young adult population.
“Having a focus on young adult ministry is going to enhance the preparation for marriage we are able to offer throughout the diocese,” she says. “The population in the diocese is so diverse. Whether young adults are discerning marriage, religious life or a single life, we all need healthy communities that will support us in our faith journey.”
She notes that there are some great young adult ministries in places around the diocese. Her plan is to support them and be helpful in expanding such ministries in new locations.
The LiFE Office, she concludes, will provide additional support to what the regional directors of religious education can offer.