By Laura Lopez
“If you don’t have time to educate yourself in the faith, it is not your time to serve.”
Bishop Barnes’ legacy in the formation of the laity is important not only because it opened doors and provided opportunities for formation, but because in doing so, he challenged us to be responsible for the mission of our Church.
In January 2010 at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish, Indio, more than one hundred volunteer ministers gathered to dialogue with Bishop Barnes and to hear his message during his Episcopal visit to the parish. “Everything was going well,” commented the coordinator of the Landscape Ministry, “until I heard the phrase: ‘If you don’t have time to educate yourself in the faith, it is not your time to serve,’ which came from the Bishop in a soft but firm tone, and which troubled me.”
At that time, I was the Pastoral Coordinator of the parish, which is why this volunteer approached me the next day to share that he understood the importance for catechists and liturgical ministers to be formed in the faith, but he just wanted to make sure that the Bishop was not referring to him with those words, since formation education programs are not necessary to cut the grass.
“That is what the Bishop said,’’ I told him, “but you – what is it that you heard that has troubled you?”
He replied, “That we are all responsible for the mission of the Church, and we must form ourselves.”
After that Episcopal visit, hundreds of ministers began the six-month basic formation Parish Ministers Formation Program (PMFP), a program within the Ministry Formation Institute. Many of them also completed three years of advanced training, Continuing Ministry Formation Program (CMFP), and obtained specializations in different service areas in the Diocese.
The creation of the lay formation ministry in our Diocese dates from the leadership of Bishop Phillip F. Straling, first bishop of the Diocese of San Bernardino, who discovered the need to establish formation programs for ministries. As a result, he created the Straling Leadership Institute, which offered two years of formation for catechetical, liturgical and pastoral ministries.
In 1995, when Bishop Barnes was appointed to be the ordinary of our Diocese, he embraced the mission of his predecessor and extended the vision of formation for the laity with the collaboration of professionals in evangelization and after listening to the voice of the people through a series of consultations.
Thus, what we know today as the Ministry Formation Institute (MFI) was born, which, through bilingual instruction, offers an advanced level of education in theology, spirituality and holy scriptures for all. With the leadership of Bishop Barnes, the Institute has attained great achievements, including its association with Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, which offers the Catholic Bible Institute and the Certificate in Pastoral Care in the Diocese; its collaboration with Santa Clara University, which offers a Master’s degree in Pastoral Ministries in our Diocese; and its collaboration with the University of St. Thomas in Houston.
Bishop Barnes’ vision of excellence in education and formation has led the Institute to maintain constant growth in search of communion in mission: as he often says, “Always Forward!”
His creative drive has led to the Continuing Ministry Formation Program (CMFP) recognized by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) as meeting the certification standards for lay ecclesial ministry leaders serving as catechetical leaders, Ministry with Young Catholics Leader (including Pastoral Juvenil Hispana), Adult Faith Formation Coordinator, Liturgy Coordinator, Charity and Justice Coordinator, Life and Dignity Coordinator and Pastoral Associate. There are only six dioceses in the United States that have received this level of recognition.
In addition, CMFP was recently certified through the Association for Hispanic Theological Education as having baccalaureate equivalence. Therefore, CMFP graduates can enter master’s programs in theology and pastoral ministry, even though they may not have an undergraduate degree, and can possibly transfer some of their credit units toward a master’s degree at higher education institutions approved by the Association for Theological Studies.
One of the questions that Bishop Barnes commonly asks, not only in terms of formation, but in any pastoral planning or areas of ecclesial life, is “Who is not at the table?” That is, let us not just think about who we are welcoming, but who we are excluding. This question has been the starting point for many initiatives that have favored formation access for “everyone” – especially those who for any reason have not had an opportunity for education.
One of these initiatives has led the Institute to another great achievement: starting this semester, the Institute will provide the CMFP faculty, facilitators and students access to the Digital Theological Research Library, which is a valuable resource that provides a great benefit to the formation of the laity, especially in a missionary diocese rich in diversity such as San Bernardino.
Immense gratitude will always prevail in the hearts and minds of the parishioners of the Diocese of San Bernardino for Bishop Barnes’ contribution to the formation of the laity. All of us who have had opportunities at different levels, both to train through the Institute and to obtain university degrees through its leadership, have the conviction to respond co-responsibly and with fidelity to our baptismal call: to profess our faith in accordance with the values and the vision of the Church.
Through the formation of the laity, we have embraced Christian values and obtained a vision of hope that transforms us into missionary disciples and better sons and daughters of God in our families, the Church and the world.
Thousands have been and will continue to be the beneficiaries of Bishop Barnes’ legacy in the formation of the laity, like Our Lady of Perpetual Help’s Landscape Ministry coordinator who received the call to formation in the faith and who, over time, managed to complete advanced training while continuing to work in his ministry. He became an active member of the Pastoral Council, and together with his wife and family, exercised excellent leadership in the parish’s Capital Campaign.
Like him, many other laypeople have heard the call to formation and are now committed leaders in our Diocese. They are men and women who have learned to love our faith and take responsibility for the mission of the Church because we know and have inscribed within us Bishop Barnes’ episcopal motto: “Amar es Entregarse (Love is the total giving of oneself).”
Laura Lopez is Director of the Department of Pastoral Planning for the Diocese of San Bernardino and the former Pastoral Coordinator of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Indio.