New Pastoral Associate Chris Lyford and Father Ron Wekerle at Our Lady of the Snows in Sun Valley. (ICR Photo/Deacon Scott Pearhill)
By Philip A. Janquart
ICR Assistant Editor
You might say they took a bit of a detour.
Chris Lyford and his wife Vickie drove south after visiting their daughter Selah, her husband, Josh, and their five grandchildren in Coeur d’Alene. The couple, who traveled to Idaho from California, combined their June trip with a visit to Sun Valley to meet the staff at Our Lady of the Snows Catholic Church. Weeks earlier, Chris had run across a job posting for a Pastoral Associate on the Diocese of Boise website.
While Chris and Vickie motored toward Sun Valley, they zigged when they should have zagged.
“We ended up driving through open range and gravel roads until we crested the top of Trail Creek Road just east of Sun Valley,” Chris told the ICR in a Nov. 20 phone interview. The route can be rough and is closed during winter, but what they saw when they finally reached their destination made up for the detour.
“Our collective breath was taken away all at once as we took in the spectacular view,” he said, describing the picturesque landscape as they descended into the valley. “Though a bit precarious, it was a drive we will most definitely never forget. And we surely got some laughs or two from the locals when we arrived.”
Chris was hired in July and started his new job in August. He is the Pastoral Associate for Our Lady of the Snows in Sun Valley and St. Charles Borromeo in Hailey. Father Ron Wekerle has served as pastor for both parishes since 2021. There are 400 families between the two churches, 12 miles apart, comprising a Catholic community founded in 1883.
Richard Kulleck stepped down from the position in early summer. Between his recent cancer surgery and his wife Catherine’s spinal surgery, in addition to long commutes between their home in Meridian and Sun Valley, he decided it was time to make a change. “The past year’s events have made it clear to us that [Catherine and I] need to be together,” Kulleck said in a June interview for the ICR. “Leaving a ministry is bittersweet. In any ministry, there will always be more to do. Wanting to be a part of the growth makes it difficult to leave.”
CHRIS’ BACKGROUND
Chris attended St. Mary’s Elementary and Marist Catholic High Schools in Eugene, Oregon.
He described a “specific calling” when he was 18 to “work in the Lord’s vineyard” and was even open to the priesthood.
“I studied English and communications at the University of Oregon and got involved with the Newman Center there,” said Chris, explaining how he ultimately answered the Lord’s call. “I began working on retreats and campus ministry” with the St. Thomas More Catholic Campus Ministry, serving both the University of Oregon and nearby Lane Community College.
He then worked for two years as a staff counselor at a retreat house for high school students at the Christian Brothers Retreat & Conference Center located about eight miles north-west of Napa, Calif.
“Still discerning a vocation, I moved on to work in youth and young adult ministry in Santa Rosa, Calif., where I met my wife, Vickie,” he said.
“After finishing my degree in Theology from Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio, we moved back to the West Coast where I worked in pastoral ministry in parishes, taught religious studies in high school and even had a brief stint as the program director of KBVM Catholic radio in Portland, Oregon.”
Children eventually arrived. In addition to Selah, the Lyfords have three other children: Luke, James and Shaina. During that time, Chris worked for the Archdiocese of San Francisco in the Department of Catholic Schools. He was also the Office of Family Life director.
For the last nine years, he served as the communications director for the Diocese of Santa Rosa, which also entailed being the editor of North Coast Catholic magazine.
The position in Sun Valley was yet another opportunity to follow a path of service for the Lord.
“I thought it was a signal grace to have the opportunity to move back into parish pastoral ministry, as well as to cut the distance in half between our grandchildren and us,” said Chris.
“We’ve fallen in love with the communities of Our Lady of the Snows and St. Charles Borromeo, as well as the staff and broader community of the Wood River Valley.”
Chris and Vickie Lyford (Courtesy photo/Chris Lyford)
PASTORAL ASSOCIATE
So, what exactly does a pastoral associate do?
“Ultimately, it’s helping with the coordination of all pastoral ministry, especially Religious Education, the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults or OCIA (formerly known as RCIA), Youth and Young Adult Ministry, Marriage and Family Life,” Chris explained.
“I’m slowly integrating into all the ministry cycles of both parishes this year,” Chris said. “We are strategic and have as a goal supporting the great catechists we have now. I look forward to creating and coordinating retreat opportunities with guest speakers and offering ministry opportunities to families, young adults, youth and children.”
“I will also help develop a pastoral plan for evangelization for the Wood River Valley Catholics as well as fostering a comprehensive religious formation program while strengthening the spiritual life for our parish community,” he added.
One of Chris’ first experiences engaging with the broader community involved Ketchum’s Wagon Days parade. The multiday event, held annually over the Labor Day weekend, commemorates the area’s mining history. Father Wekerle blesses the people during the parade while riding a donkey. “It’s one of the parade traditions,” said Lyford. “I was the one pulling the rope, leading the donkey,” Chris chuckled. “I got to be his ‘ASSistant.’”
Father Ron Wekerle blesses the people during Wagon Days in Ketchum. Chris Lyford assists while carrying a processional Cross. (Courtesy photo/Chris Lyford)
In a farewell letter to his former beloved community, Chris offered some thoughts about his new community. “I have never seen so many people calling out for a blessing and reverently receiving it,” he wrote, describing the Wagon Days parade. “The
cries of ‘Father, come over here!’ and ‘Father, please bless us!’ lined the streets! I wish all evangelization efforts had the same result.”
Chris said the move to Idaho has been a welcome change of venues.
“God has been faithful to us, and we are humbled and inspired about this new chapter.” He concluded, “Without a doubt, it is the most beautiful place we have ever lived, yet somehow it really feels like home. We are just getting started.”
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