Religious Education Office Announces Changes

ERIKA ANDERSON, Staff Writer

Published: September 9, 2004

ATLANTA—This past summer brought a number of changes to the archdiocesan Department of Religious Education and Faith Formation, including a new employee and several new staff positions.

Marissa Sierra has joined the staff in a new position as the director of sacramental formation. Kirial Gamboa, former administrative assistant for Hispanic catechesis, has been named coordinator of the Hispanic catechesis program; Kersti O’Farrell, former director of young adult ministry, has assumed new responsibilities as senior director of lay formation and adult ministry; and Ann Blasick, program coordinator for YAM, has taken on the role of the program’s director.

Sierra, a native of Merida, Mexico, comes to the archdiocese from the Cathedral of Christ the King Hispanic catechetical staff, where she helped develop a unified English and Spanish language confirmation formation program for 10th-grade youth.

During her first year on the job, Sierra will focus on assisting interested parishes in developing similar confirmation formation programs that culminate, like the one at the Cathedral, in a single parish celebration of the sacrament of confirmation for all 10th-graders. She will also assist Deacon Lloyd Sutter, senior administrator of the archdiocesan DREFF, with the Rite of Christian Initiation for youth and adults, as well as working with the director of children’s ministry and initiation to develop unified sacramental programs.

Sierra holds a bachelor’s degree in graphic design from the Universidad de las Americas -Puebla and a master’s degree in marketing from the Universidad del Mayab. She has significant experience in youth and young adult catechesis both in Mexico and the United States, and has completed a substantial number of catechetical courses.

Gamboa, who has served as the administrative assistant for the Hispanic catechesis program since 2001, has assumed the coordinator role formerly held by Berta O’Mara, who recently moved out of state. As the coordinator of the program, at the request of pastors, Gamboa will schedule master catechists, clergy and Religious sisters and brothers, and consecrated men and women to conduct Basic Catechist Certification and other catechetical services in Spanish, wherever and whenever necessary.

She will also continue her roles as a Eucharistic Congress committee member, as principal Spanish translator for Archbishop John F. Donoghue’s office and as the DREFF coordinator of special projects.

O’Farrell, who holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of Dallas and a master’s degree in theological studies from the John Paul II Institute, has served as senior director for young adult and adult ministry since 2002. She has assumed her new position as senior director for lay formation and adult ministry to lead department efforts to present adult educational opportunities, including the forthcoming RENEW International “Why Catholic? A Journey through the Catechism” parish small faith community program.

She will also coordinate forthcoming amendments to several archdiocesan catechetical programs, and her Advanced Catechist Training program and Diaconate Formation Program responsibilities will continue.

Blasick, who has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Wilkes University, and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Georgia Tech, will continue to direct the highly successful YAM programs, while developing a new college-age program for persons not presently served by existing campus ministry centers. Blasick is also the YAM liaison with Atlanta Catholic Sports, Inc., an independent nonprofit corporation that provides sporting and recreational activities for young adults. In addition, Blasick also periodically writes for The Georgia Bulletin.

In addition to the new staff changes in the DREFF, the department will open a new youth and young adult forum, with new sound and video capability, in the Family Center at St. Andrew Church in Roswell. Northside XLT, the popular praise and worship program for high school students, will begin there weekly on Tuesday, Sept. 14. Rise Up, the middle school program, will begin there on Sept. 18, and the Wide Open Worship (WOW) young adult Mass will be celebrated there on Monday, Oct. 18. In addition, the young adult program REVIVE IV will be held there on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 19 and 20. Over 50 DREFF sponsored programs will occur there annually.

Archdiocesan Webmaster Jessica Handley has developed a new Web page linked to the archdiocesan Web site (www.archatl.com), which reveals at a glance the Basic Catechist Certification, lay formation and adult education classes that will be conducted by the DREFF staff.

Deacon Sutter encourages “all master catechists in the parishes to inform his office when and where they are conducting these same type classes in their parishes so they may be included.”

The DREFF is in the process of developing a number of educational content and methodology initiatives, as follow-ups to Archbishop Donoghue’s December 2002 Guadalupe feast day pastoral letter, which recognized the presence of a significant number of Hispanic immigrants in the archdiocese.

“We are committed to serving all of the Hispanic community’s catechetical needs, representing the archbishop and serving all pastors, other clergy and parish religious education and faith formation staffs,” he said.