A recent national survey discovered that there are over 30,000 lay ministers in the United States who serve in a wide variety of ministries (DeLambo, 2005). These are the people who proclaim the Gospel and help us to learn our faith Tradition in faith formation and youth ministry, help lead us in prayer and worship as musicians and liturgical ministers, pray with us as pastoral ministers when we are in the hospital or have lost a loved one, help us prepare to celebrate the sacraments, lead us in the corporal and spiritual works of mercy and help keep our parishes running smoothly through their administrative work. Lay ministers work alongside priests and deacons to provide the day-to-day ministry of the Church.

Lay ecclesial ministers are people who love God deeply, have experienced a call from God to serve God’s people in ministry, earn modest salaries for responsible leadership positions and often work irregular schedules with long hours to address multiple needs and demands that continuously shift as the Church tries to be responsive to the demands of the Gospel and the needs of God’s people. Does that sound at least a bit familiar? It should, because it is the legacy that priests and deacons as well as members of religious communities, including the Sisters of St. Paul’s Monastery, have bequeathed to the Church. It is a legacy of dedicated service in the name of Christ and on behalf of the Church. It is the legacy that is now being carried out by thousands of lay people.

Unlike ordained ministers and members of religious communities, however, lay ecclesial ministers often lack formal structures of support or recognition for their call or their service. As a result, lay ministers frequently report a sense of isolation in ministry and of being overwhelmed as they try to be faithful to the Gospel and the Church and responsive to the many and varied needs of the people they serve in ministry while they also care for the needs of their families.

So who ministers to the ministers? Who helps them to stay connected to the One they serve in ministry? Who offers perspective so they don’t become overwhelmed by the daily challenges of ministry or discouraged when ministry is difficult? Who reminds them of what is really important when they face so many demands and needs? Who provides experienced ministers with the ongoing formation that is essential for excellent ministry?

In the spring of 2002, the Lilly Endowment of Indianapolis addressed these questions with a grant program entitled ‘Sustaining Pastoral Excellence.’ The intent of the program was to fund new initiatives that would foster and sustain excellence among church ministers.   St. Paul’s Monastery applied for a grant and was notified that it had been awarded one in the late fall of 2002. In January 2003 iLLUMINARE: Called for Service, Formed in Christ—Ministry to Ministers at The Benedictine Center of St. Paul’s Monastery was born. 

It is not incidental that iLLUMINARE’s home is a Benedictine monastery, because the ministerial way of life we are trying to cultivate among participants is very much rooted in Benedictine values.  The beginning of the Prologue of the Rule of St. Benedict says, "attend with the ear of your heart." In iLLUMINARE we invite ministers to regularly step away from ministry to listen with their hearts to the One who has called them into ministry, to the Kingdom of God they are called to proclaim in ministry and to the dignity of this call which requires a commitment to excellence. Throughout the course of iLLUMINARE we incorporate the core Benedictine values of St. Paul’s Monastery:  community, hospitality, prayer, silence and stewardship.  Through iLLUMINARE the ministry that the Sisters of St. Paul’s Monastery have offered the Church for so many years is being extended and finding new expression in this ministry to ministers.