Where Faith Meets Fellowship
This is the first in a series of articles about the transformative work of human services organizations working in our community.
The Faith and Fellowship meeting room at the former rectory of St. Catherine-St. Lucy.
Connie Rakitan opened the door at St. Catherine-St. Lucy rectory with a welcoming smile, a harbinger of the atmosphere that awaits Faith and Fellowship’s participants.
For 45 years, the Faith and Fellowship Ministry has provided a mutually supportive community for its “partners,” as the attendees are called. This is essential, says Rakitan, the program’s supervisor, because “people suffering from mental illnesses can feel isolated and at times unloved.”
The focus of the ministry is not on mental illness itself but on faith for the mentally challenged.
Faith and Fellowship began, as many enterprises do, as an attempt to meet a need. A group of parishioners with mental health challenges lived in a halfway house near St. Catherine of Siena Church. They were interested in studying the Catholic faith, but existing programs did not work well for them. In 1979, Rakitan attended a national interfaith conference and consulted with other catechists on how best to support them. It was out of those conversations that the Faith and Fellowship Ministry was born.
The ministry meets once or twice weekly on the lower level of the former rectory. During the meeting, some relax, some meditate, a scripture passage is read, and they pray together. They end each meeting by setting the group table together and sharing a snack.
The focus of the ministry is not on mental illness itself but on faith for the mentally challenged. Gathering in small groups, they explore their lives and how God is, or is not, part of those lives. They use catechetical methods and scriptures that specifically apply to those with mental challenges, choosing positive and insightful verses that serve as an antidote to feeling left behind or ignored by God. The starting point is lived experience — where the partners are, mentally, socially, or spiritually, at that moment. The goal is to create a calm, orderly environment for a group of like-minded people who are examining, or searching for, a relationship with the divine.
It offers a comforting space for those who may not be able to engage in other kinds of faith-based opportunities.
From the beginning, Faith and Fellowship has been associated with the Catholic Theological Union (CTU), a graduate studies program affiliated with the University of Chicago, for those pursuing religious orders and lay people being trained for ministry. One of the requirements for a Master of Divinity degree is a year of field education, and Faith and Fellowship has long served as a field education site. CTU continues to work with Faith and Fellowship because it fits the model of collaborative ministry where ministers work as a team with their partners. The Faith and Fellowship catechists serve as mentors accompanying the attendees on their faith journey. It offers a comforting space where those who may not be able to engage in other kinds of faith-based opportunities due to their mental illness can discover and develop their own spiritual resources with the support and guidance of the catechists.
New members are always welcome. The meetings run from October to May and last 2-3 hours.
Through Connie Rakitan’s dedication and the efforts of the program volunteers, the spiritual and emotional well-being of many has been nourished and has helped participants feel like part of a supportive community.
Volunteers are always needed to assist with the ministry. If you’re interested in learning more about the program, email Connie Rakitan.