Diocese hires Delores Huemiller as faith formation coordinator

By RENEE WEBB
Content and Design Coordinator

A catechetical leader serving at Divine Mercy Parish in Algona has been hired by the diocese as a faith formation coordinator.

Delores Huemiller, who presently serves as the parish director of discipleship at Divine Mercy, will start her new diocesan position as one of three faith formation coordinators on Oct. 1.

“I was thrilled to receive Delores’ application for the coordinator position. We have gotten to know her through DRE events the past year or so, and it is clear that she has many gifts to share. First of all, she is a faithful witness to the life of discipleship and is very knowledgeable about the traditions and theology of the Catholic Church,” said Karmen Bower, diocesan director of the Office of Faith Formation, who noted that Huemiller developed profound catechetical skills in her present role in Algona, creating unique ways to reach out to families in the parish.  

HuemillerHuemiller pointed out she decided to check into the position after her husband was making a job change and a move closer to Sioux City was likely in the future. 
“It seemed like a great fit – the job and location,” she said. 

A convert to the Catholic Church with her husband Peter in 2006, Huemiller earned a degree in marketing and logistics from East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. She pointed out the family moved to Iowa from North Carolina about four years ago, when her husband took a job in the area.

“I love the faith, that’s why I love my job and why I’m excited to work for the diocese,” said the new faith formation coordinator, who noted they had both been nondenominational Protestants and got married in the Episcopal Church before being received into the Catholic Church.

For many of the years leading up to her position with Divine Mercy Parish, Huemiller noted she was a stay at home mother who homeschooled her six children. Four of the children are grown – one married with four children and another is a seminarian for the Diocese of Raleigh, North Carolina. Another child is in college and her youngest is a junior in high school. 

“Delores will be a great addition to our team, and we are so eager to get to know her better and provide her with the opportunity to share all of her talents, gifts, ideas and creativity with the parishes of the diocese,” said Bower.

Huemiller will join Danielle Fennessy and Maddie McLarty who filled the two other faith formation coordinator positions about a year ago. 

“I have loved how Karmen, Dani and Maddie - the Office of Faith Formation - have poured into the DREs and other parish leaders,” said Huemiller. “I am so looking forward to working with them. I can’t wait to be a part of that team.”

Bower pointed out that the faith formation coordinators serve as the “go to” contact for the parishes within their regions for questions and support related to catechesis, children/youth/adult faith formation, sacramental preparation (including marriage prep), and family life resources.  

Huemiller believes her background with logistics and planning will serve her well as one of the main aspects of the job is as a “support role, providing support to DREs, parish life coordinators and other positions in the parish.”

When she was hired for her present parish position, she did not realize beforehand how much she would use the logistics portion of her degree but now know how much planning and coordination of volunteers and schedules there are with parish positions. 

“I have loved my job here (in Algona), so it was hard for me to think about leaving the parish,” said the new faith formation coordinator, who mentioned how nice it was to work with the priests and volunteers and Divine Mercy. “When I thought about and prayed about it (making job change,) I liked the idea of the supportive role.”

Serving in a parish environment, Huemiller noted to a certain extent she is aware of the struggles and needs of those who serve in parishes. Along with providing resources, she looks forward to offering a listening ear and encouragement to parish staff.

“They (faith formation coordinators) strive to get to know the parishes in their region to better understand their strengths and their needs,” said the office director. “Up to this point, we have focused much of our efforts on getting to know our parish faith formation leaders, and with the expansion of our department, we will hopefully be able to begin reaching out to other volunteers who oversee sacramental preparation and other aspects of parish ministry in order to better support our pastors and their vision for all of these ministries in their parishes.” 

When Marriage and Family Life was absorbed into the Office of Faith Formation, Bower explained, it was immediately apparent they would need an additional staff member to help continue to provide support to diocesan parishes.  Previously, each coordinator oversaw half of the diocese but focused most of their efforts on catechesis and faith formation initiatives.  

“We will now divide the parishes into smaller regions so each coordinator will oversee fewer parishes but will assist with a much broader range of topics and ministries,” she said. “With our smaller parishes, there is quite a bit of overlap in these duties, so it has seemed to be efficient to have a sole contact for each parish at the diocesan level.”

Huemiller said she is excited to help support parish staff as they assist Catholics in fully living out their faith or help non-Catholics join the church.

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