MONROE – Christ the King Parish has been faithfully laboring since Into the Deep began, and its parishioners are beginning to see the fruits of their labors. Their Encounter Nights are flourishing, thanks to the diligence and faith of staff, parishioners, and priests. Christ the King Parish is comprised of St. Francis of Assisi Church in Belleville, St. Joseph Church in Argyle, St. Patrick Church in Albany, St. Rose of Lima Church in Brodhead, and St. Victor Church in Monroe. There is also a school, St. Victor in Monroe.

Encountering Christ 

“Our Christ the King Encounter Nights began in May of 2024 at the suggestion of then parochial administrator Fr. [David] Carrano. Encounter Nights invite people to meet Jesus in Adoration, be healed in sacramental Confession, and grow in discipleship via the witness of a brother or sister in Christ,” said Ann O’Leary, director of evangelization at Christ the King Parish. 

“Encounter Nights put people in the way of grace. The elements of music and fellowship create an accessible invitation to try Eucharistic Adoration. Encounter Nights offer people from around the parish opportunities to hear about real life stories of discipleship.” 

Community, fostered by refreshments, and heartwarming music, helps draw people to the event. “My personal favorite part of involvement with our Encounter Nights has been supporting my husband, Mark, in leading our music team for the events,” said O’Leary. “It has been . . . a joy to provide new depth for others’ prayer experiences.” 

One of the elements that’s particularly been a blessing to unity is the testimony of a fellow parishioner. 

“It has been wonderful to have personal testimonies from parishioners throughout the pastorate,” said Tara Stietz, administrative assistant at the parish. “It’s been a good way to learn about people from the other parishes in a deep, meaningful way.” Those individuals who volunteer their stories not only help the community grow closer, they inspire everyone present to allow Christ to enter their lives more fully. 

Faith formation together

The parish’s faith formation programs have also been united under the direction of Celine Peterson, coordinator of faith formation. She oversees the parish’s monthly family-centered formation program, as well as the middle school and high school programs. Peterson was hired after Into the Deep began specifically to handle the newly merged programs, but is grateful she had the expertise of her predecessor to count on. 

“Last year, I was new to the faith formation world,” Peterson said. Her background is as a Catholic school teacher. “I found it so helpful to have Pam Burke’s tips, tricks, and guidance throughout my first year. Pam worked as a DRE [director of relgious education] at St. Francis in Belleville for many years, so being able to meet regularly and collaborate with her was such a blessing. 

“I have also enjoyed getting to hear about all of the traditions that Pam had started in the faith formation programs at St. Francis,” Peterson said. “One of these was miniature golf at the Swissland Mini-Golf Course. Now this has become a pastorate wide activity for the middle school programs, and it is such a great way to kick off the year.” 

Peterson also appreciates the enthusiasm that the priests bring to their programs. “Both priests on our priest team take on roles in the middle school and high school programs. We are so grateful for the support and energy that they bring.”

It isn’t always easy. “I think the hardest challenge to overcome is the distance between the churches. While I would love to get to know everyone in all of the different places, it is hard to get to know everyone when things feel so spread out,” Peterson said.

“However, there are also new advantages. “In having the same program run on different days and times of the week, it allows [families options] in choosing what works best for them.”

Peterson has also enjoyed seeing the young adult group at the parish grow more vibrant. “One of my favorite things that I saw happen this past year was the young adult community grow into having Bible studies that meet weekly. This happened through a young lady asking everyone she knew to join her small group and then a men’s group followed as well. It has been such a fun group of people to grow in communion with.” Although, “our  volleyball skills need some work,” Peterson laughingly admitted. After joining a local bar volleyball league as the “Seven Deadly Wins,” the team only won six games. 

Staff on a mission

Of course, none of these events or programs would be possible without the effort of those employed behind the scenes in the parish. The office staff have been hard at work, making sure diverse parish calendars, databases, websites and more were able to be brought together smoothly. Marci Boss, business manager for the church sites of St. Victor in Monroe and St. Rose of Lima in Brodhead, described the process. “Our pastorate is composed of both paid and volunteer office staff at three different locations. Our locations vary greatly in size, but we are blessed that each location is very involved in making sure all the tasks get done well.” 

It has absolutely been a team effort. “A huge blessing for us has been our volunteers,” Boss said. “We’ve had key people with gifts for design, database administration, and more step up over and over . . . As a pastorate, we tackled combining our councils for meetings together as frequently as possible so that we could discuss the future of our pastorate openly and together as one.”

Stietz agrees that the process has been consistently aimed at unity. “We hit the ground running on July 1, 2023, with a ‘Pastorate 11’ bulletin that included combined calendars and events/information from all parishes.

Since the beginning, we’ve worked hard to be a unified pastorate and presented that through the bulletin and other communications as much as possible . . . All of our events are open to anyone in the pastorate (and often beyond), and we always wanted people to feel welcome at all events and locations.” 

There have certainly been challenges, from the distance between the churches to events conflicting and other struggles. “Perhaps our biggest challenge has been priest changes. For both St. Francis and St. Clare parishes, we received new pastors in 2021, 2023 and 2025. Building new relationships and understanding how to support new leaders requires a huge amount of energy,” O’Leary said. However, “The people of Christ the King have rallied to meet these challenges.” 

Stietz has seen that these challenging transitions are leading to real blessings. “It’s wonderful to have a priest team. Each priest has their own gifts/charisms/interests — whether it be a special eye for the liturgical environment of the church, a great passion for working with school children, a special healing presence around those nearing death, or administrative skills. When put together, it creates a fuller package. Rather than one priest trying to do all the things at one parish, they can use their gifts/talents throughout the pastorate . . . they can divide and conquer the responsibilities.” 

“Adapting to more than one priest — and not knowing which one would be celebrating at ‘your’ Mass — was a struggle for many at first,” Stietz said. “But it has become second nature to see any of our priests at any Mass. It has made us realize that we don’t base our Mass attendance and church involvement on the priest; we go to Mass because of the Eucharist, the community, and the overall mission of the Church.”

Stietz also appreciates how her fellow parishioners have welcomed the process. “Our parishioners have really stepped up and embraced the pastorate concept. Not everyone is on board, nor will they ever all be on board, but the best conversations that I’ve had — both with fellow parish staff members and with parishioners — have included ‘How can we work together on this?’, ‘How do we make this a pastorate-wide event?’, and ‘I know we’ve done it this way for a long time, but I like this aspect of how your church does it. Can we make it consistent and more inclusive of the whole pastorate?’. It’s been a great reminder that we can and should work together in God’s Kingdom.”

Boss agreed. “In a time when the challenge of a changing secular culture could empty our churches, our commitment to come together as a pastorate has strengthened our members. Our weekend Masses are regularly full and vibrant, and that’s a beautiful thing.” 

Christ the King was recently officially declared a parish. They will celebrate the installation Mass for their pastor, Fr. Chahm Gahng, on Sunday, Dec. 14.