Pope honors Margo Truett of Columbus

Margo Truett of Columbus was recently named a recipient of the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice medal, which is given for distinguished service to the Catholic Church by lay people and clergy. It is the highest medal awarded to the laity by the Pope.

"I was just floored," Truett said.

She was officially presented the medal during a Mass celebrated Dec. 13 at St. Anne Catholic Church.

"Margo's contribution to the church, whether local, diocesan or universal, is tremendous and well qualifies her for the Papal award," St. Anne's Pastor Father Jeremiah McCarthy said at the service.

The gold medal, also known as the Cross of Honour, is attached to a gold and white ribbon. On the medal, the apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul are depicted. On the left arm of the cross are the words Pro Ecclesia (For Church) and on the right arm are the words Et Pontifice (And Pope).

The medal was established in 1888 by Pope Leo XIII and was awarded to Truett by Pope Francis. She also received a scroll to frame.

Truett worked at St. Anne for 17 years as a pastoral assistant, retiring in July to help care for a new grandchild.

While there, she oversaw numerous ministries, many of which she began as manager of the parish stewardship program. One important ministry she led was the marriage preparation and enrichment ministry.

In 2000, St. Anne was recognized by the International Catholic Stewardship Conference with the Archbishop Thomas J. Murphy Award for total parish stewardship.

But fostering the idea of stewardship did not start at St. Anne.

During her career, Truett worked with many parishes and dioceses in the development of stewardship and was a featured speaker at conferences throughout the United States and Australia.

For the Diocese of Savannah, she served as coordinator of the Disciples in Mission program, a process for Catholic evangelization.

"This was such a surprise," Truett said of getting the award. "It was humbling."

She and her husband, Dan, have been married for 24 years and have three grown children. He works in information technology at Aflac.

Prior to going to work at St. Anne, Truett was a registered nurse for 19 years, primarily working in critical care. She had reached an administrative position at St. Francis Hospital when she made the career change. She was asked by Father Gerard Schreck to join the staff of the church where she had been a parishioner for many years.

"It was a leap of faith," she said.

But it was not a surprising move. She said she always had a calling to serve.

When she was younger, she and her siblings would play church.

"They never let me be the priest," she said, laughing.

Truett, who earned a nursing degree from Columbus College, has always been active at St. Anne and has used her skills at the church to help conduct health screenings and inform people about the many health care changes as part of a parish nurse program.

She said she is a very structured person, and structure is what she brought to the ministries at St. Anne.

Explaining stewardship, Truett said it is the understanding that everything we have is from God, and He put us here to share it.

"We are giving people a platform to share their gifts and to help them discover their gifts, their time, talent and treasure," Truett said.

She said there is a place for everyone in the church to participate in stewardship.

"People don't need to just come to Mass and go home," she said. "They should get involved."

At the same time, she does not believe in shaming people into doing more.

There is no end to the kind of outreach ministries a church can have. It can be about repairing homes or repairing vehicles. It can be parishioners with a health problem helping others in a similar situation.

Truett sees stewardship as a way of life and says church staff, ministry leaders and parishioners must buy into the program.

There must be a clearly stated purpose. Goals must be set and there needs to be a plan for development. Forward-looking leaders, people with vision, must be involved.

Truett said building a stewardship program can be a slow process but it is "very rewarding."

This story was originally published January 1, 2016 at 9:28 PM with the headline "Pope honors Margo Truett of Columbus ."