For 50 years, Rosanne Smith has been a welcoming presence and invaluable member of the St. Martha Church community in Kennebunk. Rosanne began teaching second grade religious education at the church when her daughter, now age 57, was in kindergarten and has continued to serve there through seven pastors.

“It’s a ministry to me,” she says. “I feel like I’m serving God by serving the parish, and I just enjoy it. I enjoy meeting the people and scheduling them for sacraments and helping them if they need something. I like to help people.”

“Rosanne’s strength is that she works as a silent but positive force in the parish, but she seldom looks for any accolades,” says Rose Daily, a parishioner from Kennebunkport. “She has all kinds of talents that are quiet.”

“Her leadership is quiet but steady,” agrees Virginia Calvo of Wells. “She is a greatly loved person.”

Rosanne’s service has been expansive, her contributions countless. Her first paid position 30 years ago was as religious education director, and not long after, she also became the parish secretary. After St. Martha merged with St. Mary Church in Wells to become Holy Spirit Parish, she led adult faith formation and baptismal preparation and became the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) coordinator, while continuing to serve as secretary at St. Martha. More recently, she handed faith formation responsibilities to Carolyn Houston but took on the role of safe environment coordinator.

Rosanne says her desire to serve the Church goes back to her childhood, when she attended St. John’s Catholic School and St. John the Baptist Church in Brunswick.

“As a young girl, I remember helping the nuns with CCD classes and helping them set up for Mass,” she says. “I went to Catholic school for 12 years. Although I was in my 60’s, I graduated from Saint Joseph’s College. It was just something that was ingrained in me.”

Smith retired at the end of July, although she plans to continue volunteering as coordinator of what is now the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults and in baptismal ministry. Her scaled back role left fellow parishioners wondering not only how they would fill her shoes but also how to show their appreciation for the gifts she brought to the parish. The answer was to set up an endowment in her name that would continue the work to which she has long been dedicated. Established through the Catholic Foundation of Maine, the endowment seeks to promote catechetical or theological knowledge for the benefit of Holy Spirit Parish.

“An endowment in Rosanne’s name to benefit those seeking formation for parish catechetical ministry is absolutely fitting for one who has dedicated so many years of her life to echoing the word of God! Rosanne’s commitment to leading others toward a life of faith is eclipsed only by her commitment to her own spiritual life. Rosanne lives what she teaches. It has been my great privilege to serve with her and my remarkable blessing to count her as my dear friend,” says Carolyn.

“We realize that she’s irreplaceable, but we need adults in the parish who are seeking to deepen their relationship with God and increase their knowledge so that they contribute to parish ministry the way she did,” says Virginia. “We need people to begin to get some education, to reach out and ask their questions, and we’re hoping, financially, to enable people to do this.”

Rosanne says her eyes teared up when she learned of the endowment.

“I was very moved and touched that they would think of such a thing. That was the best gift that they could have given me,” she says. “I got my degree when I was older, and the Church did help pay for some of the tuition, which was a help to me, and being able to help somebody else do that is special.”

Parishioners hope those whose lives were touched by Rosanne, as well as those who recognize the importance of continued faith formation, will contribute to the endowment. 

Donations can be made online at www.catholicfoundationmaine.org. Contributions can also be made through a retirement plan, a bequest in a will, and in many other ways. To learn more about this or other endowments, contact Kristen Wells, executive director of the Catholic Foundation of Maine, at 207.321.7820 or kristen.wells@catholicfoundationmaine.org.