Karin Hurley is new director of DDD and stewardship

Intermountain Catholic

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Karin Hurley speaks at the 2013 Diocesan Development Drive Celebration just days after she took the position of DDD director. IC file photo

SALT LAKE CITY — A background in marketing, experience with project management and a zeal for Catholic ministry are the best qualities that Saint John the Baptist parishioner Karin Hurley believes she brings to her new position as director of the Diocese of Salt Lake City’s Diocesan Development Drive and the Office of Stewardship.

"I believe whole-heartedly that contributing financially and spiritually to the success of the mission of Christ is our responsibility, it’s our duty, and it is a form of Christian witness," said Hurley, who accepted the position four months ago.

In her parish, Hurley has several ministries, including serving as an Extraordinary Minister of the Holy Eucharist, lector, RCIA team member and religious education catechist. She is active in the Ladies’ Association and each year helps with the parish’s primary fundraiser, the Festival of Roses. She is married and has one son.

Hurley has a "solid spirituality," said the Most Rev. John C. Wester, Bishop of Salt Lake City. "She’s very dedicated to stewardship and the Gospel value of giving back to God what he has given us, and she’s excellent at communicating these themes. She lives them herself."

In addition, "Karin brings new ideas and creativity," Bishop Wester said. "She’s going to build on the very good work of Shannon Lee (the previous DDD and stewardship director) and use her creativity and leadership for our development drive and stewardship."

The past few months have been a time of analysis of the DDD program, Hurley said, as she learned how the program functions.

Although this year’s theme, "Follow Me," was chosen by her predecessor, Shannon Lee, and the vicar general, Monsignor Colin F. Bircumshaw, Hurley is enthusiastic about it. The phrase comes from the Gospel of Matthew and was inspired by Pope Francis’ motto.

This connection with Pope Francis is exciting because the pontiff "is having a tremendous impact on people – Catholic and non-Catholic – globally. … He is instilling in people a reconnection to the sense of discipleship," she said.

As she worked with the DDD team to streamline the process, Hurley identified one way already to save tens of thousands of dollars each year: contracting with Wells Fargo to process the pledges and payments, rather than doing it in house.

"Our administrative costs will come down tremendously," she said.

Looking ahead, Hurley believes that the historical separation between the appeals for stewardship and development needs to disappear.

"I think now the time has come that there has to be that confluence between the two," she said. "For me, discipleship is paramount" but "stewardship is the other side of the discipleship coin."