Sue Hodgkiss of Nativity Parish is no stranger to service in the Fair Haven faith community she has called home for 29 years. The parish’s current pastoral associate, and leader of its Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, has also assumed the role of parish catechetical leader and eagerly anticipates the beginning of the school season.
This year, the PCL and 80 to 90 catechists will share their gifts with about 1,000 to 1,100 children in grades one through eight.
Hodgkiss holds a bachelor of science degree from Rutgers University, New Brunswick. A winner of the Bishop John C. Reiss Religious Education Scholarship Fund, she used the proceeds to earn a two-year advance certification from Catholic Distance University.
Hodgkiss served as a part-time teacher in public school when her children were younger, “and I volunteered to teach their religious education classes,” she recalled, serving in that capacity for eight to nine years. Her foundation in faith was established as a child, and she looks forward to the opportunity to do the same as PCL for the children of Nativity Parish.
“When I was young, I went to Catholic school. My father had spent time in the seminary, and faith was important to my family,” Hodgkiss said. “We have a new pastor, Father James Grogan, and it is an exciting new year with new ideas. We are looking to also start the GIFT (Growing in Faith Together) family catechesis.”
~ By Christina Leslie, correspondent