Danelda Allen's Faith Story

I am in awe of folks who talk of epiphanies that jump start their spirituality: a stark and lovely moment that reveals God's grace. Then, it seems, they find themselves on the high road, walking with Jesus. My story is one of a long, plodding path; having spent my adult life walking this road. Not that I don't have and haven't had times of insight and clarity. It's just that those moments usually come after deliberate and thoughtful work. So they do not feel like "Eureka!" but, rather, like "Whew!" or "Oh!"

JustFaith was a lot like that for me. For a number of years I felt a pull to do more, participate more, somehow make a difference. But, the emphasis always seemed to fall on the somehow. I was a Eucharistic Minister. I brought food for the local food pantry. I tithed. I had begun to cook at the local homeless shelter. And, while all these things are worthy, for me, something was still missing. I kept seeing the JustFaith announcements in the bulletin and in 2004 took the course. It was the fuel I needed to find my ministry. And it turned out to be community organizing.

Paul Turner, the lead organizer for a group in Des Moines called AMOS, began to work with Ames the spring I graduated from JustFaith. AMOS (A Metropolitan Organizing Strategy) is an ecumenical, faith-based group of about 25 churches in Des Moines who have come together to work in a bi-partisan way on issues of social justice. As I heard Paul speak and learned more about the organization, I felt compelled to participate and help lead my parish through the discernment process for the AMOS ministry.

"From my first visit to St. Thomas Aquinas to my last I am continually amazed at the level of their enthusiasm for justice ministries like AMOS. I attribute much of that to the influence of the JustFaith class.", says Paul Turner. "They just had such clarity about the need for justice".

We all know of Jesus' call to love our neighbor. JustFaith provided in stark relief how many ways human beings do not do this. St. Thomas, JustFaith, and AMOS have provided me with the opportunity to do things differently -- to love my neighbor right next door in a purposeful, intentional, faith-based way.

-Danelda Allen
has been a parishioner at STA for about 7 years. Danelda is a convert to Catholicism having been brought to the faith by her former husband. Her family consists of two teenage children (Galadriel, 16, and Isaac, 14), one beloved sweetheart (Garth Freimark), and more pets than are rational. Her personal spirituality consists of daily scripture readings and centering prayer and she is a member of the Centering Prayer Group that meets at Collegiate Presbyterian. Danelda has been Hospitality Minister, Eucharistic Minister, JustFaith and AMOS participant.