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3: Ground Up - with Melanie Vobr
5 Plays1 year ago
We are delighted to be joined by Melanie Vobr on this third episode. Melanie has given over ten consecutive years of tireless service to Notre Dame Parish and has worked very closely with parishioners and community members of all ages. She shares her experience, knowledge and wisdom as she does her part to build a Eucharistic Culture in our local parish. "Dream big, think small, go slow!"
The websites and resources referenced can be found here:
https://dbqarch.org/archdiocesan-eucharistic-revival
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Transcript
Introductions and Personal Backgrounds
00:00:18
Speaker
Welcome everyone to the Dubuque heuristic revival podcast. My name is Father Jacob Rouse and I'm the pastor of Notre Dame Parish in Cresco, Iowa. And I am joined by my brother in Christ and my brother in the priesthood, Father Kevin Earlywine. Father, where are you at? Hello. I'm in St. Patrick's in Hampton, Iowa and St. Mary's in Ackley and happy to be here.
00:00:44
Speaker
We are joined by Melanie Volber, who is an employee at Notre Dame Parish in Cresco, so we know each other. That is where you are. That is where I am, yes. And Melanie joins us today to talk about some of the Eucharistic revival and Eucharistic culture going on at our parish. But before we get into that, I'd invite her to introduce herself and tell us a little bit about herself.
00:01:11
Speaker
Hi guys, so I grew up in a very Catholic family and so did both of my parents. I went to a Catholic school until I was in about 3rd grade when my parents switched us to public school. My mom actually started a faith formation program in my home parish of St. John-Nepomacene in Fort Atkinson, around this time because there wasn't one there yet for the public school students.
00:01:32
Speaker
After graduating high school, I went to St. Mary's University in Winona, Minnesota to become an elementary school teacher. Even though I was steeped in Catholicism from a very young age, I never understood the reason behind our beliefs.
00:01:47
Speaker
So when I was faced with hard times and some pretty serious health scares, I fell away from the faith. My mom was amazing through it all and kept pointing me back to the power of the rosary and the sacraments. My college roommate also pushed me to attend a retreat that she had gone on
00:02:03
Speaker
through St. Mary's a couple of years before. On this retreat, I was able to hear witness stories from young adults in my age group about their personal relationship with Jesus and how they found their way through the storms of life because of this relationship. I decided to open the door just a little bit to Christ on that retreat, and he took it from there.
Initiating Eucharistic Cultural Identity
00:02:25
Speaker
And I'm thankful every day that he did.
00:02:28
Speaker
And though I graduated in 2012 with a bachelor's in elementary education with a middle school social science endorsement and had a teaching license in both Minnesota and in Iowa, in 2013, I found myself called to become a coordinator of faith formation and youth ministry in Cresco. And here I am 10 years later working in the same parish. And we were very, very grateful for that. I remember when I first came here five years ago. Is it five? Yeah.
00:02:58
Speaker
I know four years ago, um, and Melanie and I met each other. She said, there's something you need to know about me. I'm very, very in tune with the Holy Spirit and it's very important in my ministry. And I said, okay, I think I can work with that. Um, so it's been really great to have not only your, your, um, education of young children and adults mindset working, um, but also just, uh, your creativity and your enthusiasm for spreading the gospel. And I'm, I'm happy to see that your, um, your background
00:03:28
Speaker
Journey towards the faith has has really affected in a good way how you lead and teach others Yeah Speaking of that and you talked about the importance of the sacraments and everything Part of why we wanted to invite you specifically on Melanie as we've heard I've heard at least rumors and rumblings about in Cresco, Iowa the parishes and
00:03:53
Speaker
really striving to, in a very intentional way, build this as this initiative of building a Eucharistic identity and Eucharistic culture at the parish. And obviously this podcast is fitting into the Eucharistic revival. So could you tell us a little bit more about that? What is going on? How it got started and what inspired you?
00:04:14
Speaker
Yeah, so when I started at the parish, I kept things kind of the same, but then quickly realized that the students that were graduating were in a similar boat that I was in when I was in high school. They had that brain knowledge of the faith, but not as much heart knowledge.
00:04:30
Speaker
I saw a lot of parents dropping their children off for faith formation or youth ministry events, but not a lot of them attending Mass on the weekends. So I started doing some research on best practices, studies that have been done on what keeps a child practicing their faith when they reach adulthood, and most importantly, spending time in prayer with the Holy Spirit.
00:04:51
Speaker
I then spoke with parents, catechists, and our faith formation commission about what they were seeing and how we can make our parish program better at forming intentional disciples and sharing with people that they can have a personal relationship with God and how to develop it. So from these conversations, I started changing things little by little to point our parish towards having this Eucharistic cultural identity.
00:05:17
Speaker
Now, if you look back to where our parish was just five years ago, you would see some major changes.
Faith Formation Programs
00:05:23
Speaker
We now have a newly designed faith formation program that is parish-wide. There is something literally for every age group at our parish. Of course, we start with baptism class, but then we have We Families, which is a wiggle-friendly session for one to five-year-olds and their parents.
00:05:41
Speaker
At We Families, we do fun things like finding hearts that I have strategically laid around the church and talk about how we can find God's love and each item it's laid on. This allows the littles to get more familiar with the church and know that they belong and are welcomed there. It also starts the faith conversations happening at home. For our first to 10th graders, we have a Wednesday night program that starts the month with a family night.
00:06:09
Speaker
And during this family night, parents and their children attend and share a meal together and hear about our parish-wide theme for the month. And during this night, they're also given a bulletin, which gives them the calendar for the month activities they can do based on that theme that take from as little as five minutes to 30 minutes, depending on how much time they have in their family life. And in this bulletin, I also give them things to do as a family based on the liturgical calendar for the month as well.
00:06:39
Speaker
During the second and the third Wednesdays of the month, the children meet without parents for lessons taught by catechists. These lessons are based on the structure of the Mass, and the only textbooks that we use are the Bible, the Catechism, and the Eukat. For our 11th graders, up to our oldest parishioners, we have what is called Into the Deep.
00:07:00
Speaker
where we dive deeper into the theme for the month. For example, this month, we are going to be discussing why we should care about the Old Testament since it's already been fulfilled. We also have many different adult and family ministry opportunities as well, which all point toward the Mass and most especially the Eucharist.
Eucharistic Practices and Culture
00:07:21
Speaker
That's excellent. There's so much going on at our parish, my parish, the parish we both have given our lives to. What I think is really cool is that the details are all flowing from the altar, especially during COVID.
00:07:41
Speaker
wanted more adoration and wanted more confession times and so 45 minutes before every mass daily and weekend we've got the Eucharist exposed and the lights are dimmed and people can come in for quiet time or they can go back to the confessional.
00:07:57
Speaker
And so if that's the starting point is the liturgy and the monstrance on the altar, everything else flows down from it, from what the little kids in We Families are learning to what the adults are talking about. And Cornerstone is the program that
00:08:14
Speaker
Melanie came up with as a replacement for our old religious ed program and like she said it really follows the mass structure. They start each session with gathering, they have a reading, they break it open, they
00:08:29
Speaker
pray for and about things that are going on in their lives and then they are sent forward. So everything in our parish has a Eucharistic flavor to it. And I think that goes with the mountain analogy that has been going throughout this podcast of the Source and Summit, but then all of it is just us playing and adventuring on up and around that mountain.
00:08:54
Speaker
Yeah, we're getting a lot of mileage out of that image. Yeah, we are. A lot of mileage out of it. That's great. So if I might step into the slight host and ask both of you just a little bit spontaneously. So what would you say have been some fruits, perhaps, that you've seen of it? Maybe it's too soon to tell, but trying to implement this over the last five years, have you seen how it's borne some fruit in your parish and or your community? What might you say about that?
00:09:27
Speaker
I'd say some fruit, there's some good fruit going on. Just, I was worried at first that having Eucharist so often might like, it becomes complacent, but then it's the most received sacrament, most repeated sacrament. And I think just, I mean, everyone from children to more experienced parishioners come in and they see the monstrance and they know that it is,
00:09:56
Speaker
There's something important going on up at the front of the church, and I should probably pay attention to that. The other fruit that we've seen is the multiplication of loaves and fishes in our own way. Melanie made a document, a little booklet that goes in all the pews that's basically explaining every part of the mass, why and what we are doing.
00:10:21
Speaker
And then at a recent priest and pastor and staff meeting in the archdiocese called the PLSD, she presented it and I was up there with her. And then at the end of the presentation,
00:10:35
Speaker
It was overwhelming. We put up a QR code to get this little booklet and be able to print it off for everyone's own parish. And it really felt like the apostles being like, what are we going to do? We've got so many baskets. We've got so many people to feed. And they just kept coming and coming and wanting to use this resource. And this thing that we made here in Little Cresco, Iowa, was being shared all over the archdiocese. So it's really cool to see a good thing
00:11:04
Speaker
being desired and then being shared. And really, it's all the grace and inspiration of the Holy Spirit that has guided us to do all this. Yeah, and along those lines, some fun fruits that I have seen. There's been multiple, but during
Advice on Fostering Eucharistic Culture
00:11:21
Speaker
the week one, when we have parents and children together listening to the introduction to the theme, you see the parents listening more than the kids, which is like
00:11:31
Speaker
amazing that they're getting a little bit of faith formation as well. And then our into the deep sessions, we've had teenagers up to like 80 year olds in conversation about the topic, which has been beautiful to see as well. Yeah. That's awesome. Really deepening a sense of community in this, we're all in this together. Right. Beautiful. Yeah.
00:11:58
Speaker
So I'll throw out there for, uh, this is really for both of you, but, uh, what would, what would be some other thoughts you wanted to share? I mean, you already shared, like if other parishes wanted to cultivate a deeper Eucharistic identity, uh, any thoughts you'd want to share with them, like where to begin, how to do it, what advice you might give them. Yeah. So I would say to dream big, think small, go slow, and don't be afraid to make mistakes. Um, there are many things that I've tried throughout the years that have not worked out so well.
00:12:28
Speaker
They were done with good intentions and I learned from them by asking others why they didn't work out well. So don't be afraid to ask for constructive criticism and feedback from all that you do. It's what has helped us grow as a parish and develop this Eucharistic culture throughout the years and we're not done growing yet. Remember that you were placed at this time in this parish for a reason. Whether you are a parish staff member or not, your voice matters and your gifts matter.
00:12:57
Speaker
use both to do great things. Our parishioners and those within our parish's zip code deserve to know that they have a God who loves them so much that he wants to dwell within them and make them a tabernacle that goes outside of the church walls to share this amazing love with others. But the first step, the most important step, and the one you should continue to do unceasingly is to pray.
Importance of Mass Attendance
00:13:21
Speaker
Remember that this is God's ministry and not your own. He knows what the parish needs more than you do. So lean on him in the Holy Spirit to guide your thoughts, words, hands and feet. I think collaboration is so important. Melanie and I are, and all our staff members here are in the same like directive
00:13:49
Speaker
We want people to know God's love through the Eucharist and we're all on board with that. And so the different insights that I have or that Melanie has as a young mother, we collaborate, we compliment and feed off each other.
00:14:05
Speaker
to be able to show it to all our parishioners who are all walks of life as well. So I would say, yes, prayer individually and together, but then also collaboration. One of our guiding principles is, Kevin Fion is director of youth in the archdiocese, and he says that this is a laboratory, not an assembly line.
00:14:28
Speaker
And I think that's so good because if you have an event and only one person shows up or zero people, you could get discouraged and say, oh, well, that didn't work. But we just keep trying again and keep showing up and keep trusting the Lord's providence.
00:14:45
Speaker
Thank you. I like that dream big, think small, go slow also. Because I think I also, I think we dream big and then want to go big and go all in and go fast. At least that's the way I am, you know. I have this idea that I'm like, let's do all of it now, right now. Yeah, so I think being reminded we're playing the long term game.
00:15:08
Speaker
Also, I love that you mentioned the idea of being tabernacles that we're carrying Christ in the whole world. I often like to remind people in the preaching, we're like the little tabernacles with legs, you know, sprout legs and we run out into the world to carry Christ's presence out there. So, beautiful.
00:15:26
Speaker
Um, so thank you both. So lastly, uh, since I guess I've stepped into this hosting role, uh, uh, especially Melanie is both a parish staff member and also a young parishioner. Would you be, what would be any, like, do you have any closing thoughts or words to other young people? Especially say like parents out there who are trying to raise their kids in the faith, uh, about why the Eucharist matters.
Faith Through Lived Experience
00:15:48
Speaker
Um, why this movement of Eucharist revival is important.
00:15:53
Speaker
Yeah, as a wife and a mom of four kids, I would urge young parents and parents to take their children and teenagers to Mass. It's scary and hard, but it's necessary. Children won't know how to worship at Mass and why, unless they are brought week after week and shown. Again, I get that it's scary when they are little, but so is going to a restaurant with kids or grocery shopping or practically anything. But Mass is where we see the family of God at work.
00:16:24
Speaker
It is where we receive the sacraments, and it's where they will be able to hear how our Catholic faith impacts our everyday lives and actions. Teenagers also need to be pushed and sometimes dragged to the Mass. And again, this is also scary and hard. But the Mass is where they will find out who they truly are called to be and the freedom and happiness they are searching for. But
00:16:48
Speaker
They need to know the reason why you attend Mass every weekend, even though you are super busy and most likely exhausted. When we receive the Eucharist each weekend or each day, we remember that we have a God that loves us so much that He wants to be within us. If each and every person on this earth truly believed that they were known and loved that much,
00:17:13
Speaker
that they have a place where they feel like they belong and are noticed, named, and known, we would have a much different world than we have today. The Eucharistic Revival is helping us to share this with others in a time and culture where people really need to know how loved they are for who they are, and then push them outside of their comfort zone to achieve their true freedom and happiness the world cannot provide them.
00:17:42
Speaker
The Eucharistic Revival is also showing us as adults why we attend Mass. It's not out of obligation or fear of God's wrath. It is and should be out of love for God and thanking Him for all that He has given us. We don't attend Mass each weekend to be entertained or to receive something. We are there to give all that we have to our God who gives all of Himself to us out of this unconditional love.
00:18:10
Speaker
you keep saying in our talks in our offices Melanie it's the things we are passing on are caught not taught or caught and taught but we can teach and we can read from a textbook all we want but the things that are young people and that really any of our people
00:18:33
Speaker
learn and digest are caught like picked up on like when a child is watching you do something in the kitchen or a child repeats certain words that we say they are catching what we're doing and teaching us where they are catching what we're doing rather than being taught it and so I think if if us as ministers working in a parish are
00:18:58
Speaker
always showing forth a Eucharistic revival in our own hearts, then it will be caught by others and we don't have to do much teaching then.
Upcoming Eucharistic Revival Events
00:19:10
Speaker
Yeah. Also, I just love what you said and I fully agree just about being known and loved and how much that really does have the potential to change the world and how I think I shared back in our first episode how just like for me, it was realizing that God
00:19:26
Speaker
loves me so much that they want to be intimately close with me like in the Eucharist and that is you know where we encounter this profound love of God like he wants to be so close to me that he comes to me and in through the Eucharist to be like literally ingested by him to be literally taken in and everything I am in the deepest was into it way and so
00:19:47
Speaker
Yeah, and unfortunately there's a lot of deceptive messages in the world, but I think the truth and the love of the Eucharist like really has the power to transform lives. So thank you. So thank you for what you're doing and your own yes to God, both as a wife and mother and also in service of the church and building this culture and.
00:20:05
Speaker
Yeah, and helping to revive people in the beautiful mystery that is the Eucharist as we continue to strive in this Eucharistic, in the Archdiocese of Dubuque, Dubuque-aristic revival. Here we are. Well, there's plenty of things to do in Cresco and surrounding areas, but what are some of the greater opportunities we have coming up in the Archdiocese of Dubuque?
00:20:31
Speaker
Excellent question. So a reminder that the Archdiocesan Dubuque does have a website for the Eucharistic Revivals, specifically dbqarch.org slash Archdiocesan Eucharistic Revival, and we're trying to keep that updated with upcoming information. As we're recording this, it may not, it is October 31st, it may be posted at a later time, so currently
00:20:54
Speaker
for some upcoming things. There are regular monthly Eucharistic Adoration, Praise and Worship Nights at St. Patrick's Parish in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. One coming up on November 4th and one on Saturday, December 2nd. So those are Saturdays in the evening. Also, our own local Catholic speaker, Anthony Digman, is traveling around the archdiocese giving different talks on
00:21:18
Speaker
Eucharistic Revival, including in December, December 10th, 11th, and 12th, you will be in the parishes of Makoketa, Preston, and Otter Creek, Iowa. So those each are 630, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. And more things to come. A reminder also to check in your local parish. And we also have on the website
00:21:39
Speaker
information about the National Eucharistic Revival, including that next spring, there will be a, there's a nationwide Eucharistic Revival pilgrimage that'll be passing through. And so we include some different locations and dates those will be passing through as they cross over in, in Minnesota, as well as into La Crosse, Wisconsin. So lots of options, and we'll be keeping you updated as more things
00:22:07
Speaker
come about, but be sure to check the website and your own local parish. And watch for new episodes of this coming out as well. So, boom, how's that? That was great. Thank you, Father Kevin. And thank you, Melanie, for joining us and sharing some of your experience and wisdom with us. It's been a pleasure. I think that concludes today's episode. I will see you on the next episode, and we will see you in the Eucharist. Amen. Amen.