JANUARY 2022 N
PM is blessed to welcome Laura Kelly Fanucci as a plenum speaker at the 2022 Convention. Laura lives in Minnesota with her husband
and children and works full-time as a writer and speaker, drawing on her personal experiences to minister to others. Laura is passionate about her vocation, fired by the Spirit, and full of hope in the Resurrection. Read on for a taste of what you can expect in Louisville!
ND: Can you tell me a little about your ministry and your journey so far?
Laura Kelly Fanucci: My family and I live in St. Michael, Minnesota. I grew up in Michigan and met my husband in college at Notre Dame. We have five boys ranging in age from 12 to one, so we are thick in the busy years of parenting. During the pandemic, I left my job working at the Collegeville Institute at Saint John’s University in Minnesota, where I got my Master of Divinity degree. I had spent 11 years at a theological research program on calling and vocation, working with churches across Christian denominations to support the callings of all their members—their callings to professional work, personal relationships, and service to the Church—to broaden their understanding of what it means to be called by God. We are all called by God. It was wonderful work, and I loved it, but I felt a calling, a nudge to see what it would be like to write and to speak full-time. I had been writing and speaking on the side while I was doing that theological work, and I decided to make that the focus of my work and my energy. So I’m a writer and a speaker, and that’s what I’ve been doing full-time for the last 18 months. I’ve written a number of books. I write a column for Catholic News Service. I speak on vocation and calling, on discipleship, on parenting and spirituality, and on grief as well. My husband and I had twin daughters who were born prematurely and lived only a few days. Out of our experience, we ended up writing a book on miscarriage, stillbirth, and infant loss for Catholic couples. During the pandemic, I started offering virtual retreats that I created on my own. I would never really have believed that a virtual retreat could be a sacred space, but I was delighted to be proved wrong. It’s been a beautiful connection space for people, and that’s been a fun part of my speaking that I did not anticipate.
ND: What can we look forward to hearing from you in Louisville?
Laura Kelly Fanucci: I’m going to be looking at what it means to be called by the Spirit—what that looks like in our lives, the role of the gifts of the Spirit and the fruits of the Spirit, the whole process of being called into discipleship. While I was at St. John’s I wrote a book with theologian Kathleen Cahalan about what it means to be called as disciples. When you think about being called by God, by the Holy Spirit, what does it actually look like to be disciples? We outlined seven “ways” of discipleship—what Jesus calls his disciples to be and to do in the Scriptures, and what that calls forth from us today. I’ll be weaving those seven aspects of discipleship into my presentation— to be a follower, a worshiper, a witness, a neighbor, a forgiver, a prophet, and a steward. I find it to be a fruitful framework for people to look at their lives and discern the gifts the Spirit has given them and what is called forth from them. In some ways, we are called to all seven aspects—never all at once—but in different ways and in different seasons of our life. Based on the gifts and abilities we have, we may be called more in one direction than another, but these are all ways that God invites us to follow as disciples in this world. It
“Based on the gifts and abilities we have, we may be called more in one direction than another, but there are many different ways that God invites us to follow as disciples in this world.”
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