The Valley Catholic
in the diocese
Ruth Spencer:
visionary, empowering agent, evangelizer
By Ginny Silvers
and Blessie LaScola
Ruth Spencer is a familiar name in
Holy Family Parish. She was the first
laywoman to become Director of Religious Education in the early 1970’s. She
came with passion, energy, and experience from faith formation at St. Frances
Cabrini Parish.
Ruth was a widow who raised four
children alone. At that time the Holy
Family area was rapidly being developed. Orchards were being replaced by
homes and apartments. Families with
small children began to fill the pews
of the new church built to replace the
“Garage Hall.”
Ruth had passion for the faith. With
her determination, persistence and
organization, she was able to develop
a popular religious education program. Classes for children were held
in the homes of trained catechists. This
program at its peak served more than
700 children from pre-school through
eighth grade.
Ruth developed catechist training
for over 70 volunteers that included attention to the catechists’ personal faith
with retreats and days of reflection. She
had a coordinator at each level who met
with catechists to work on lesson plans
and organize ritual ́