Rooted in Faith: Accompanying Families Through Life’s Sacred Moments
It truly takes someone special to stand alongside you in the happiest moments of your life and in the moments when your heart is breaking. It’s important to understand that both require the same thing: care, reverence and love. For Jylian, serving as St. Thomas More Parish’s wedding and funeral coordinator means being present for both. One day, she may be helping a couple prepare to enter into the sacrament of marriage, surrounded by family, full of anticipation of this step and joyous about what the future holds. Another day, she may be walking alongside a grieving family as they prepare to say goodbye to someone they love.
The circumstances could not be more different, yet Jylian sees a common thread: these are sacred moments, and people deserve to be met with the same compassion and care in each one. That understanding is rooted in her own faith. “I have to give all the credit in the world to my parents, especially my mom, for raising her children in the faith, instilling that faith and teaching us the truths of the Church,” Jylian says. That foundation has shaped the way she approaches these ministries. It has helped her understand and appreciate not only the beauty of Catholic traditions, but also the importance of the Church’s liturgical guidelines and the reverence they bring to these sacred moments. “I hope my faith allows me to be as charitable and helpful as possible while always respecting and upholding the sacred traditions of the Church.”
For Jylian, that means more than making sure the details are in place. It means helping people feel welcomed by their parish when they arrive with their greatest joys and their deepest sorrows. It means knowing that sometimes the smallest act of kindness can mean the most, whether a family is celebrating a new beginning or grieving a profound loss. People are entrusting the Church with a moment they will remember for the rest of their lives. For Jylian and her husband, Dirk, their hope is that the same faith that was instilled in them will take root in their own children. As their children attend St. Thomas More School, they prayerfully hope to give them the same strong foundation, a love for Christ, an appreciation for the beauty and traditions of the Catholic faith, and a heart willing to serve others. In many ways, that is what it means to be rooted in faith: to receive the gift of faith from those who came before you, to live it through service to others, and to prayerfully pass it on to the next generation.
