Dinah Simmons is retiring.

And what a legacy she is leaving behind. You would be hard-pressed to find a more intelligent, kind, gentle, and humble servant of God than Dinah. Knowing she is going to retire shortly, I had the privilege of sitting down with Dinah to talk about her amazing career in parish leadership.

Before Dinah’s career with the church, and following her graduation from Mount Saint Vincent University, she married, started a family, and found employment in the business world. But her heart was with serving the Lord, so several years later when an employment opportunity opened up to work in the church, Dinah jumped at it.

Needless to say, that led into a lifetime of various positions of helping
priests, staff, and parishioners grow in faith and in service for the poor and one another.

For those of us who were blessed by attending any of Dinah’s many Bible studies courses, we experienced first-hand the wisdom, knowledge, and understanding of our Catholic faith. We were all beneficiaries of her Graduate studies in Theology at Atlantic School of Theology, where she graduated with a Master’s Degree.

Dinah was working as the Director of Religious Education at St. Lawrence Parish when Archdiocesan plans for amalgamation brought three churches together under the umbrella of Saint Benedict Parish. Although Dinah started out in that role, it became obvious that her expertise and quiet wisdom made her the right person to become a Pastoral Associate. Her added duties included RCIA (now known as OCIA), Baptism and Confirmation preparation, planning liturgies, coordinating Alpha, planning themes for Lent and Advent, planning homilies, and organizing missions. She worked in the three parishes of St. Lawrence, St. Pius X, and Our Lady of Perpetual Help before they came under one roof as Saint Benedict Parish.

As staff members were added to the Saint Benedict staff team, some of Dinah’s tasks were assigned to other people. However, the core of her work continued in the areas of religious education, faith formation, and sacramental preparation.

One of the memories Dinah shared of parish amalgamation was how she led a pilgrimage of parishioners from Saint Lawrence to the building site of the future Saint Benedict Parish. Upon arrival, they buried a time capsule on the property, and even wrote their names on the concrete elevator shaft before the elevator car had been installed.

She found it very exciting to help plan and put on Divine Renovation Conferences, where church leaders from around the world came to our parish to share their enthusiasm for the work of the Holy Spirit among us.

She humbly recalled how honoured she was to receive the Elizabeth
Seton Award from the Sisters of Charity for her leadership in
religious education. Her nomination was the result of an enthusiastic
groundswell of support from parishioners. Later the same year, she was further honoured by parishioners who arranged for her to go on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. That trip is something she will always treasure.

Beyond these two amazing examples of caring support, Dinah also recalls the many compassionate and considerate responses when she underwent the loss of her mother, father, and her Aunt Mary. She underlined that it is the many personal connections to people that she will carry with her into retirement.

There is so much more to be said about Dinah, but it would take a book to capture it all. However, the way she answered the following question, sums up beautifully the heart and humility of who Dinah is: I asked, “How will anyone be able to replace you Dinah?” Dinah responded, “Oh, no one has to try to be like me. Whoever it is will bring their own set of skills and charisms, and they will make the position their own – and they will be great.”

In her retirement, Dinah is looking forward to being able to ignore the calendar, the clock, and to have the freedom to choose who, what, and where she spends her time. We know it will certainly include keeping an eye and ear to supporting the poor.

To top it all off, Dinah is looking forward to being there for her grandson as he undergoes surgery, and she asks that we pray for
a successful outcome. She hopes to be more available to enjoy family. At some point, she would like to write Bible studies for publication. She is also thinking about venturing into the world of podcasts and blogs. You’ll want to keep an eye out for that.

If you want to take the opportunity to honour Dinah yourself, you are all invited to a celebration of her beautiful work with us at a special gathering in her honour on Friday, April 14th, at 6:30 in the auditorium downstairs at the church.

You will be sorely missed, Dinah!