Farewell from Erica Bass

When entering into any new ministerial position, I certainly have initial thoughts and hopes about offering fruitful service for the community before me. It’s easy to focus on those aspects for any job because you’ve already been asked in interviews about what it is you’ll bring to the table and how you’ll go about accomplishing those goals.

But over the past several years of working in ministry, my focus never ends up being on what I gave, but instead, on what I’ve received. I believe in a ministerial life because it encourages me to wake up every day and be the most selfless version of myself. And while these past two years at Mary Our Queen went by fast, I feel I received so much from this beautiful community.

As a young Catholic professional, fresh out of graduate school, I received patience, trust, and openness for who I was and the goals I shared. I witnessed and received the abundance of true community life – the encouragement to come together and be present to one another on a continual basis. I found a refreshed sense of hope in the vulnerability of others’ stories and the obstacles they were triumphing through. Every youths’ creativity, imagination, and authentic spirit inspired me deeply on a weekly basis. And each young adults’ willingness to continue living out and practicing their faith in new ways pushed me to keep doing the same as well.

I have gratitude for all of my time here at MOQ and for every youth, young adult, coworker, and parishioner I was blessed to journey with. I will take everything I gained here to the next leg of the journey in Illinois where my husband, Henry, was recently matched for his doctoral internship. Leaving Omaha will be very bittersweet for us but we’ll always remain thankful for everything and everyone here that sent us forth.