Calming troubled waters on the Sea of Galilee

By Peter Finney Jr.
Clarion Herald

It was June 12, 2012 – one day before her 52nd birthday – when Karen Baker got the phone call from 7,000 miles away.

The community news editor of the Covington edition of The Times-Picayune had joined 20 people with close ties to the Teresian Sisters and Mary Queen of Peace Parish in Mandeville for a once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

It was the first evening of the pilgrimage – around 7 p.m. – and Baker and her fellow pilgrims were gathered in a hotel on the Sea of Galilee, assigning each other prayer partners for the week ahead.

When her cell phone buzzed and Baker noticed the call was coming in from her editor back in New Orleans, she excused herself. The call was short but could not be described as sweet: After 30 years as a journalist in Orlando, Florida, and in New Orleans, she was told her services were no longer needed.

Baker was one of 200 people let go on that Bloody Tuesday, but she earned the Newhouse Brothers Insensitivity Award for the quickest layoff call traveling the longest distance.

“It was very quick,” Baker recalled. “(My editor) said, ‘We’re going to have to offer you severance,’ And, I remember saying, ‘You don’t have to, you know.’ But that was about it. I was, of course, upset. I knew it was coming. I said, ‘You know, my husband doesn’t have a job – you are aware of that – and I have children at home. I just want to make sure you’re aware.’”

Yes, they were aware.

Next question.

After being laid off on the Sea of Galilee, Baker called home to share the news with her husband Bill. Their oldest daughter had finished college and was working, their second daughter was about to start college and their son had just finished eighth grade at St. Paul’s School.

She called her parents, who counseled her to try her best to enjoy retracing the footsteps of Jesus.

“You just have to trust that the Lord is leading you somewhere,” Baker said. “It wasn’t just the money and the job. You are pulled away from your whole community of people you see every day. I thought, ‘Oh, maybe God has another plan.’”

Amazing things began to happen. She suddenly found out that she was assigned to a room by herself, where she could pray quietly and process her loss.

“I had my own room, so I could cry all night,” she said. “But I really did enjoy the trip. It was beautiful.”

Sister Marina Aranzabal, her close friend and spiritual mentor, talked about surrender. Father John Arnone, whom she had not known before the trip, became her prayer partner for the next seven days. Both have since passed away at relatively young ages.

When they reached Jerusalem, Father Arnone handed Baker a cross.

“He wrote a little note on it that I can’t read any more, but it said, ‘Always trust that God will lead the way,’” she said.

What looked like a gathering storm 10 years ago has become a parable of God’s grace and bounty, Baker says.

She already had earned a master’s degree in pastoral ministry from the Loyola Institute for Ministry in 2012. Then, in 2015, she was commissioned by Archbishop Gregory Aymond after completing a three-year program in the Lay Ecclesial Ministry program at Notre Dame Seminary.

Since Baker was already serving as a dedicated volunteer at Mary Queen of Peace – helping out with the bulletin and other communications roles – Father John Tran hired her as the parish office manager in 2015. For the last seven years, Baker has been the first point of contact for families coming to the church to arrange for funeral liturgies after the death of a loved one.

Of course, the job description evolved because, in her lifetime as a journalist, she had special skills for listening and meeting deadlines.

“The way Father John asked me was, ‘I want someone who can come in and, if I drop dead, things will just keep running,’” Baker said, laughing. “So, that was my job description. Basically, I handle all the communications. I update the parish website, send out emails, do a newsletter and the bulletin and coordinate ministries to make sure they have what they need. I keep up the calendar for the parish and for meetings – and whoever just walks in the door, I take care of that.”

Familiar with serving in the trenches of parish ministry and having the skills of a reporter along with her advanced pastoral skills, Baker recently took another leap of faith. She published, through Our Sunday Visitor, an easy-to-read reflection called “Faith, Hope, and a Sense of Humor: How to Survive and Thrive on the Front Lines of Parish Life.”

The book is filled with behind-the-scenes insights into parish ministry, both spiritual and human, viewed through a storyteller’s lens.

Baker recounts being tapped on the shoulder during Mass one Sunday and being informed that a bathroom toilet was overflowing.

“I don’t have to actually fix it; I just have to know who to call,” Baker said, chuckling.

She has learned how to set up for 13 Christmas Masses – including three Christmas Eve Masses that ran simultaneously.

The key to a good bulletin, Baker says, is to keep it short and simple.

“I remember reading once that in a bulletin, you see the word ‘bullet,’” she said. “I like bullet points. People don’t have a lot of time to read.”

And, the parish tries its best never to be known as “Our Lady of the Answering Machine.”

“We always answer the phone when we’re here,” Baker said. “I know the archbishop has said he hates to call a parish and get a voicemail – ‘Press 2 for funerals.’ What if my mother just died?”

During the pandemic of 2020, when there was no public celebration of Mass, the parish had another dilemma: What would they do with the thousands of cookies prepared for the annual St. Joseph’s altar?

“The lady who baked all these cookies for the altar – which we never could have – still wanted to give out the cookies,” Baker said. “So, we decided to have drive-up confessions outdoors. We had a drive-thru line for confessions and a line for cookies.”

You had to go to confession first.

Baker says parish staff members always must remember that they are the face of Christ. During the pandemic, the parish staff and volunteers made regular calls and sent out daily emails to check on how parishioners were doing.

Now that the pandemic is over, a hospitable and welcoming attitude must radiate to anyone who walks in the doors of the church or office. Baker christened the reception area in the parish office the “zone of positivity,” where no gossip or negativity is allowed.

“Listening is really the key to ministry,” Baker said. “It’s always listening to people, no matter what. I remember when I was at Loyola, and Father Gerry Fagin told us, ‘You know, whoever walks in your door, you treat them with compassion. You don’t know who they are or what their story is. We’re here to be the face of Christ to others.’”

Baker recalls how Sister Marina faced death after being diagnosed with colon cancer and dying just a few months later. On that Holy Land pilgrimage in 2012, when Baker lost her job and her life was at a crossroads, Sister Marina was the one who urged her to “surrender to the will of God.”

As Sister Marina’s death approached swiftly, Baker wanted to make sure her cherished spiritual guide understood how her words of wisdom had brought her comfort in her darkest times.

Sister Marina had a charming way of deflecting compliments with the wave of her hand. She told Baker: “All my good stuff. I got it from the Bible, you know.”

The Bible has a lot of good stuff, Baker says. There’s a story in there somewhere about Jesus calming the seas.

Baker will sign copies of her book at Barnes and Noble, 3414 Hwy. 190 Suite 10, Mandeville, on Nov. 4 from 4 to 6 p.m.

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