GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP – If there were to be a hall of fame for teaching by example, then the Walls family would be the first inductee.
Connie and Kevin Walls and the two oldest of their four children are deeply involved as stewards of God at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Absecon. Daughter Kayleigh, 16, the oldest, is a CCD teacher’s aide and a youth group leader, and Kevin, 13, is an altar server.
Both Connie and Kevin were high school sweethearts. They met one another at Holy Spirit High School. He was a senior, she was a freshman. And the rest, they say, is history.
Father Perry Cherubini, pastor at St. Elizabeth for the past nine months, has gotten to know the Walls family well enough to realize “they fulfill all three precepts of stewardship: time, talent, and treasures. They inspire others to become stewards as a way to serve God. I would not be surprised to see the two youngest children, Kristofer, 10, and Kathleen, 3, following in their parents’ footsteps when they become stewards.”
Kevin has been a State Trooper for the past 20 years and is attached to division headquarters in West Trenton.
“My involvement with stewardship and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton started with the youth group six years ago,” he said. He was also co-chair of the House of Charity and served on the Parish Council as vice president. He was responding to being asked by the then-pastor Father Robert Smith to become a council member.
“In my first year I did both, serve on the Parish Council and with the House of Charity,” Kevin explained. “But I found my talents fit best in Parish Council and gave up the HOC position. After serving for two and a half years as vice president of the Parish Council, I became president last June.”
Connie began her stewardship with RENEW – a parish level faith renewal program – when she and her husband became actively involved at the request of the pastor, she said, who wanted young, vibrant couples involved who could commit themselves as stewards of God.
Later Connie became active in CCD as a teacher, which she’s been doing for the past 10 years. She started a youth newsletter for youngsters to write articles about what the various groups were doing.
“Kevin designed it and I edited it,” Connie said. “Kayleigh named it: The SeasWave.” It came out annually and the Wallses did it for the first two years. “Now the kids do everything themselves,” added Connie.
“We try to work with the community at large,” Kevin said. “We attempt to parcel out our time. We all do what we can.”
In addition to being a teacher’s aide, Kayleigh is an active member of the diocesan youth group and attended the Youth Leadership Conference annually for three years and for the past two was a leader. Additionally she prepares two hours a week to lead a retreat before the Youth Leadership Conference. “I also do the children’s liturgy at the 10 a.m. Mass,” she noted. Her brother, Kevin will be attending St. Augustine Prep, Richland, in the fall.
Kevin, the father, uses his professional talents wherever he can. When Father Smith asked him to help with the House of Charity he said there were documents to record and financial reports that had to be sent to the diocese.
“I volunteer in various ways in my parish as well as in surrounding parishes,” Kevin pointed out. “I’ll fingerprint new teachers or new youth group leaders, for example. Now in my capacity as Parish Council president and a member of the parish planning team, I share my experience from the project management work for the State Police.”
Connie and Kevin work with the Social Action Committee in its food and clothing drive and, additionally, they get involved in the Rescue Mission in Atlantic City and the Food Pantry of Atlantic County.
In commenting on the stewardship of the Walls family, Father Cherubini noted, “They truly live stewardship as a way of life. They are a holy Catholic family.”
For more information on stewardship contact Russell Davis, Office of Stewardship, at 856-583-6102.