To Contact Us
Write:
PO Box 1603
Lafayette, IN 47902
Phone:
(765) 742-2050
Fax:
(765) 742-7513
E-mail
our office
Happening ... in the Local Church
 Ed
Wiseman recently stepped down after 10 years as head of Our Lady of Mt.
Carmels welcoming committee. (Photo by Caroline B. Mooney) |
By Caroline B. Mooney
The
Catholic Moment
CARMEL Over the past 27 years, usher Ed Wiseman has greeted untold thousands of people at the door of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church.
Especially new families need to be welcomed, he said. Ushers are the first people they come in contact with. Maybe someone has had a bad day or a week, and a smile is so very, very important.
Wiseman recently stepped down after 10 years as head of the parish welcoming committee. He was an usher for 17 years before that.
Ed is very committed, said Father Richard Doerr, pastor of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. We always try to see that our ministers of welcome are more than just ushers we challenge them to be greeting people, so they feel welcome. They also assist the priests, and its very helpful when we have someone like Ed.
One thing I have noticed that he does when people come to our parish for the first time, or for people who arent Catholic he goes out of his way to make them comfortable, said Msgr. John Duncan, senior associate at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. He will sit them with someone who can walk them through the Mass and help them pray.
Ed has really done a good job of welcoming, said Meredith Marrs, parishioner and new head of the Welcoming Ministry. It is such a key thing you can really make or break someones relationship with the parish with that initial contact.
What strikes me about Ed is that he seems to know everyone in the parish, Marrs said. He is so outgoing. He is a great guy, someone Ive always looked up to.
Wiseman joined Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church about 1955, and remembers when there were only 33 families at the parish. Today, the church has 3,200 registered families.
Foot surgery last spring played a large factor in his decision to stop as head of the ministry though he is still helping out as a captain in charge of the ushers at Saturday evening Mass. He felt that a younger person should be in charge.
Ushers make things go smoothly, Wiseman said. I dont want the priest to have to waste any time or worry about Mass.
His duties entailed training new ushers, scheduling and coordinating the collection baskets, reserving seats when needed, and finding people to take up the gifts.
I make sure they are dressed appropriately to go up with the gifts in a manner that is acceptable in church, Wiseman said. The group we have now is fantastic young people have done everything I could ask for with dress code.
He also makes sure there are enough extraordinary ministers of holy Communion for each Mass, and serves as one himself.
The most important thing I try to relate to everyone is that the first people newcomers or parishioners see in the church are us, he said. It can make all the difference in the world.
Another duty used to be stuffing inserts into the weekly bulletin, though there is now a group to do that work.
I would get to church 40 to 45 minutes before Mass, and my wife and other ushers would help, Wiseman said.
If I had phone calls from people who couldnt usher, I would find substitutes or just do it myself, he said. I often stopped by all the Masses to make sure things were going all right.
The thing I have enjoyed the most is the people I love the parishioners. There were times when I was sick that I know the prayers of this parish are what got me through. I have seen the miracle of prayer.