Parish Leadership Meeting: Pens & Pals, A service opportunity for all abilities

Tue, 01/19/2027 - 2:00pm EST to 3:30pm

Pens & Pals: A service opportunity for all abilities

Pens and Pals is a ministry to engage adults with all abilities (inclusive of disabilities) in a service opportunity in a faith-filled setting. You will learn how a program like this can be organized by a small team and be very cost effective. See how it is a time for social and spiritual enjoyment with the entire parish benefitting from a service-oriented activity. This program started in 2021 with members of the parish joining to be the “pals” with participants and grew into an inclusive ministry that is an important part of the parish. Learn what has worked, what hasn’t worked, and how open-mindedness to change along the way will bear the most fruit.

This event is specifically for parish leadership.

Disability Ministry

Diocese/ Parishes

General

Event

Barbara Friederichs RN, MSN

Faith Community Nurse

Barb is a retired RN, MSN with over 40 years of experience in rural hospital settings. Barb did a variety of services from staff nursing in ICU, to Employee Health, to Leadership for 30 years in Alexandria Minnesota, then moved on to a large health system, working as a Performance Improvement Consultant, supporting the integration of four rural sites onboarding within the larger system. Being a nurse was so rewarding. But when it was time to retire, she needed to find a new purpose to serve others in a faith-filled way.

Barb grew up with and supported a younger sister with significant functional and intellectual impairment. She and her husband later made their family by adoption. All three of their children were eventually diagnosed with differing disabilities. Their church parish nurse asked Barb to create a program to better serve persons with disabilities within the church and to include the community. Thus, in 2021 The Church of St. Mary began a new program called Pens and Pals.

Parish Leadership Meeting: Pens & Pals, A service opportunity for all abilities

Pens & Pals: A service opportunity for all abilities

Barbara Friederichs RN, MSN

National Catholic
Partnership on Disability

Advancing the Meaningful Participation
of Persons with Disabilities in Church and Society