As Marge Halloran settles into retirement, she takes with her a treasure trove of knowledge, experience and memories after many years serving in Church ministry.
And if there’s anything Halloran has learned through her work, it’s that the formation of children should be a top priority.
“It is one of the most important things we do as a Church,” she said. “We want them to have knowledge and understanding so that they both know what we believe and understand why.
“But more than that,” she said, “I believe with all my heart that we need to provide children with a positive lived experience of being Catholic. I believe those positive, happy times will both encourage them to continue on with the faith and to bring them back should they stray.”
Halloran shared sentiments about her more than 30-year involvement serving in various forms of catechesis and the past eight of which she was director of faith formation in St. Joseph Parish, Toms River, upon learning she had been named the recipient of the 2021 “Chick” McGinty Award for Excellence in Catechetical Ministry.
“Serving in catechetical ministry is pure joy!” said Halloran, who was presented with the award by Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., at the annual Convocation of Catechetical Leaders held Sept. 9 in St. Robert Bellarmine Co-Cathedral, Freehold.
Halloran’s role in St. Joseph Parish was multifaceted. She was director of religious education, a program with an enrollment of about 1,000 children in grades first through eight plus sacramental prep for high school students. There are 65 catechists all of whom are certified teachers or retired teachers, about 20 adult volunteers and more than 30 high school volunteers when the program meets in-person.
Halloran also headed the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, something of which she became involved with about 30 years ago when the process was in its beginning stages. She also took charge of adult faith formation, the Children’s Liturgy of the Word and the Junior Lector Program.
“The smiles on the faces of our little ones and our older RCIA candidates after receiving First Reconciliation is awesome! Hearing those sweet voices raised in praise of God, and watching the older kids jump up to sing and do the hand motions with the youngest can’t be beat,” she said. “Standing at the [baptismal] font at the Easter Vigil and witnessing young and old alike step into the waters of new birth and hearing their stories of conversion is a sacred trust. I have been privileged to be part of this and it is both a grace and blessing.”
In Halloran’s bank of memories, one catechetical highlight she happily recalled occurred many years ago when the monthly Mass for “Children and the Young Heart” was started. The Mass eventually became known as the “Little Children of God” or Children’s Liturgy of the Word.
In more recent years, the Summer Intensive offering has become a popular parish offering. She explained it involves students receiving a year’s worth of religious education instruction in a week’s time. Two weeks during the summer are devoted to the Summer Intensive and the students can choose the week they wish to attend. For five days, the students receive their instruction between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. Last year during the COVID-19 lockdown, the Summer Intensive operated remotely, and this year, the majority of the instruction was also remote, but each grade level had an opportunity to attend a half-day on campus, she said.
Thinking back to how she became involved in catechetical ministry, Halloran smiles when she said that it’s hard for her to remember when she wasn’t involved in one way or another. She taught religious education as a college student, then years later when her oldest daughter, Mary Ellen, started religious education, she volunteered as a catechist. “I was a public school teacher at the time and I continued teaching on different grade levels.”
After she retired from a 35-year teaching career, Halloran entered the diocesan Institute for Lay Ecclesial Ministry and earned a master of arts degree in theology.
Now once again newly retired, Halloran looks forward to spending time with her husband and two adult daughters, Mary Ellen and Joanne. She added how happy and proud she is that both daughters have served their parish as readers, extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion, cantors as well as with the RCIA and Summer Intensive.
“They like to say we are a ‘group package,’ each helping out where and when needed” around St. Joseph Parish, she said, then noted her husband also served on the RCIA team.
Of the Chick McGinty Award, Halloran said it “means the world” to her to have been named this year’s recipient. And while she has never met Rosemarie “Chick” McGinty, who was the first lay woman to serve in a diocesan position as director of the Office of Religious Education, Halloran said that from her “very first days teaching CCD, hers was a name I knew. She was dedicated and caring serving both her parish and the people of the Diocese of Trenton.”
“You don’t go into Church ministry looking for recognition but with the desire to serve our God,” Halloran said. “I know how blessed I have been all these years and this award was the icing on the cake!
Of her work in St. Joseph Parish, Halloran said, “this was the job of my dreams putting my teaching background together with my faith. It has been such a privilege for me to be director of faith formation for these past eight or so years as well as all the years I was involved in catechetical ministry.”
As for continuing in catechetical ministry in retirement, Halloran is placing trust that “God will show me where he wants me.
“I trust he will continue to guide my path as I enter this new phase, and I pray I will stay open to hear is voice,” she said.