By Lou Allocco
St. Elizabeth Seton is a wonderful parish with many great ministries serving a multitude of people. As with any other effective organization, there needs to be clear communication, planning, and coordination among its members to ensure that all ministries are correctly staffed and scheduled for all the week’s Masses. This is especially critical during special seasons of the Church Year, such as Advent and Lent, and Christmas and Easter. The person behind the scenes making sure that everything runs smoothly is Michael Treitler.
Michael and his wife Anna moved to Arizona 18 years ago from East Greenbush, New York. She had relatives here whom they would previously visit, and eventually they moved here because of a job opportunity. He has been a Catholic all his life. After they had moved here, while a realtor was showing them around, he inquired about Catholic churches in the area. The realtor took them past St. Elizabeth Seton, and after stepping inside for the first time, they knew it was the parish they wanted to belong to.
Michael started getting involved with our parish in 2012 with the scheduling of the Eucharistic Ministers, getting to know everybody and finding out who is doing what. He eventually did the scheduling for all ministries: EM’s, lectors, and hospitality; everyone except the choir. Michael periodically consults with each and every minister to determine their availability before creating the new ministry schedules. This is done several times a year.
Because St. Elizabeth Seton is an older community, one of the biggest challenges Michael faces is dealing with the varying availability of the parish ministers due to the seasonal migration of a portion of them (snowbirds), as well as recruiting new members to replace those who are no longer able to serve.
When he’s not serving the community at St. Elizabeth Seton, Michael enjoys playing golf, tinkering on his classic car, and working part-time at Riverview golf course. He and his wife Anna also enjoy spending time with their family, which now includes their first great-grandchild.
If you spot Michael around the parish, take a moment to thank him for his efforts. It is because of volunteers like him that we are able to experience the warmth and cohesiveness of our wonderful faith community.
Mike’s Classic Car: 1972 AMC Javelin. 304 V8, 3sp. Manual Trans. 78,000 original miles. Not original color, but otherwise mostly original.
Mike does a wonderful job. He was so welcoming and accessible to me when I was first new and had many questions about how things were done at SES. I assumed he was a staff member so when I realized he was a volunteer, this impressed me as it is a busy job with lots of responsibility. Servants like Mike makes one realize that with dedication like his, the church is going to be just fine. Thank you Mike. Veronica French, aka Ronni
Mike has a very hard job and he does an amazing job. Bless you .