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| Bonnie Miller (far right) is pictured with the guitar group at St. Jerome Parish in Columbus. Miller has served as the parish’s volunteer liturgist for the past 30 years. (Contributed photo) |
COLUMBUS — “I’m kind of like a go-to person for the liturgy. I’m not listed on the bulletin or anything, but if Father’s got any questions it’s, ‘talk to Bonnie, call Bonnie.'”
If you’ve attended a Mass at St. Jerome Parish in Columbus any time in the past 30 years, you’ve seen the results of Bonnie Miller’s work.
In addition to her day job in which she puts in 30 hours a week, Miller serves as the parish’s unofficial “liturgist.”
Parish duties
If you ask her what that all entails, she’ll say, with humility, preparing a liturgical outline for the cantor, lector, organist, and celebrating priest for each Sunday’s Mass; selecting the music; preparing the church for Holy Week and other liturgical seasons; training new cantors and lectors — and that’s just a small summary. She also participates as a lector and Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion herself.
She recently finished helping the parish with its Holy Week services — what she calls her “favorite time” of the year out of all of the work that she does.
She jokingly said, “I probably could have set up a cot out there and just stayed there from Saturday before Palm Sunday right through Easter,” with everything she had to do to get the church ready — from changing the décor of the church each day to making sure everything is set up for the processions.
How it all began
Her time helping the parish began about 30 years ago when Miller was appointed to the parish council, which led her to being appointed to the liturgy committee.
A few meetings later, she was asked to be the chairman and has held that position ever since.
“It’s a ‘job description’ that expanded,” Miller said.
She fondly looks back on the time when Fr. William Hower was the pastor at St. Jerome as the most important time in her growth as a volunteer liturgist.
Upon his arrival to St. Jerome in the early 1990s, Miller told Father Hower even though she had helped the previous pastor with the liturgy for the past few years, she said didn’t know a lot about the liturgy, but she was interested in it.
Father Hower assured her she “qualified” herself for the job.
“I take great joy in doing the work because I love the liturgy,” Miller said. “I keep his words in the back of my mind.”
Miller has also been part of a guitar group for almost 30 years that shares its music ministry with the parish.
“We’ve been a vehicle for teaching new music,” she said. “We’ve learned a lot of music in that time.”
Encouragement to everyone
Miller encourages everyone to grow in his or her faith and get involved with the liturgy at his or her parish.
“If they have a love of their faith and would like to learn more about their faith, working within the liturgy is a wonderful way to learn more about it. I’ve developed a deeper love for it over the years just because I’m working so closely within it,” she said.
Miller added even if someone feels they don’t know enough about the liturgy to help out, they can always learn as they go, just as she’s been doing for almost 30 years.
“I have to keep reminding myself even when things get a little tough, I get kind of discouraged, and I’m busy, with things that are going on, I have to [ask] am I still doing this for the greater honor and glory of God? It always comes down to that,” Miller said.