by John Stegeman

While some young adults lose their faith in college, others, like Rachel Hess, find it anew and share it with others.

A graphic designer turned Director of Religious Education (DRE) for the St. Henry Family of Parishes in the archdiocese’s northwest corner, Hess first felt called to service during her senior year of high school. Rather than jump into a career after college, she spent two years with missions, including at a Catholic maternity home in Arizona. She returned to Ohio and worked in design, but the call to ministry persisted.

“At that time, I was looking for a change in what I was doing,” Hess said. “My faith didn’t have to be a separate compartment of my life. My work could align with all of my values.”

The right opportunity came from her parish, which needed a DRE. Hess grew up as a parishioner of St. Bernard, now in the St. Henry Cluster, had religious formation there and knew she could be an asset to its community.

“I was familiar enough to know that my skill set would benefit the program, and I had a passion for sharing the faith and teaching the faith,” she said.

Father Andrew Hess (no relation) became pastor of the St. Henry Cluster in 2021.

“From the start, she and I have been able to work well together,” Father Hess said. “Having someone like Rachel working to form our young people in the beauty and truth of the Catholic faith makes a world of difference for a pastor.”

Father Hess commended Hess for her desire to always improve the process of educating parish youth.

“One of the things she is always saying is: ‘What’s the one next step?’” Father Hess said. “It’s her way of saying, ‘What’s one thing, even a small thing, we can do to get just a little closer to the goal?’
… when thinking of ways to draw our children and their families deeper. In parish life, it can be easy to become discouraged by a seeming lack of results, or by indifference or resistance to our efforts, but for Rachel, it’s always about the one next thing that gets us closer to where we want to be, which is ultimately with the Lord in the totality of our lives.”

Changing the First Reconciliation process was one of the “next things” Hess and the St. Henry Family of Parishes did. After a period of catechesis, many parishes provide a large service with multiple priests available to hear confessions. In St. Henry Family’s new process, after the catechesis, children and their parents avail themselves of Confession at a regularly scheduled time. Between the five parishes, confession is offered daily.

“Students go during confession times that are normally part of our schedule so that the next month, when it’s time for their families to go back to confession, they already know that time and that place in that specific church,” she said. “They know that it works for them to go back the next time.”

Another change was distributing Bibles to students at a younger age than their Confirmation day so that they use it throughout their education.

“I think that [God is] nurturing little seeds here and doing good things,” Hess said.

For her efforts, Hess earned the Radiate Christ–Parish Evangelization Award from the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. It is given annually to evangelists who exemplify the spirit of the New Evangelization, are committed to accompanying others in their relationship with Jesus Christ and cooperate with the Holy Spirit to renew parishes and communities.

This article appeared in the February 2024 edition of The Catholic Telegraph Magazine. For your complimentary subscription, click here.