February 2024
There’s a saying, “If you want to master something, try teaching it to someone else.” Parishioner Laurie Ready would agree. Despite growing up as a “Type A student,” she admits that she didn’t really absorb everything she learned in Catholic school. It wasn’t until years later, when she took the youth minister position at Sacred Heart, that she had to deepen her knowledge of the faith so she could share it with others. “When I had to teach it, that’s when I learned so much.”
Laurie and husband Bob moved their family to West Des Moines in 1984 and quickly became active members of Sacred Heart parish. “This was my whole world,” says Laurie, who founded the Women’s Guild, served on the School Board, and always looked for new ways to get involved. When the parish youth minister resigned in the summer of 1999, Laurie felt a tug in her heart. She liked her job in fundraising, but maybe there was something more. She had four boys and loved working with teens. “You could do this,” she thought to herself, “but do you really know what you’re doing?” In the end, her doubts won out. She didn’t apply and the parish hired someone else.
That December, Laurie was working at home one day when the phone rang. It was Father Kruse calling to let her know that the new youth minister was already leaving.
“But why are you telling me this?” Laurie asked.
“I just thought you should know.”
The next day, Laurie took a leap of faith and called Father back. “I think I’m interested in the job,” she said. He told her the hiring process would take a few weeks and would involve a number of interviews. But two days later as they were chatting after Sunday Mass, he invited her to come in and talk with him on Monday. “So I did,” Laurie says, “ and I left with the job.”
That quick turnaround was the beginning of a life-changing adventure for Laurie. She led the youth program at Sacred Heart for six years, organizing meetings, running retreats, planning mission trips, guiding hearts, and always taking the time to answer difficult questions about the faith. Time and again she turned to resources like The Catholic Faith Handbook and the Catechism in an effort to seek the truth and teach it well. She now looks back on her years working with teenagers as the journey that lit her faith on fire.
“That’s when I fell in love with the Church,” she says. “I learned so much of the depth of our Catholic faith and the importance of the Eucharist, and why Mass is important. In teaching, I learned.”
Laurie and Bob relocated to Dubuque in 2006, and when they returned in 2022, Sacred Heart welcomed them back with open arms. Laurie says her journey of learning about the Catholic faith continues today in the small groups she has joined.