I was born in Oakland, CA and was raised with one brother in Castro Valley. My family has always been active in church and my dad eventually even became a deacon in the Diocese of Oakland after I left home for college. I lived in Castro Valley for 21 years before moving to Sacramento to attend CSU-Sacramento. I met my husband there (Robert) and we moved to Rocklin after our marriage in 1989. Originally trained as a pre-school and elementary school teacher, I taught 3rd grade in a private (non-religious) elementary school in Sacramento. I then opened an in-home daycare center for infants for a few years. After serving as a volunteer catechist in the parish for six years, Fr. Michael Dillon asked me to join the parish staff. Michelle Pfister and I began working at the parish on the same day and have been employed with the parish since 1996. I coordinated the junior high ministry for nine years and then moved to the position of coordinator of Adult Faith Formation in 2005 after obtaining my master’s degree in Religious Education.
In 1998, I had the blessing of meeting my birthmother and my family grew! I gained five additional brothers and a wonderful group of nieces, nephews, and cousins. In May of 2016, I was able to meet my birthfather and gained two more brothers and two sisters, along with even more nieces, nephews, and cousins. My outside interests center mostly around community service and family time. In my spare time, I enjoy reading, crafting, singing, writing, baking, and family gatherings.
I am the mother of three young adult women: Jessica, Sarah, and Emily. It is a true joy to see them becoming all that God intended them to be!
Since I have a passion for lifelong faith formation, I plan to continue providing adult education opportunities,through Spiritual Direction, retreats, or workshops. I completed a certification in the practice of Contemplative Dialogue in 2015 and also completed a formation program in Spiritual Direction in 2019. I am now able to provide spiritual direction to parishioners during my office hours (and non-parishioners in my off hours.)
My hope is that at some point, every parishioner takes some time to enrich his or her personal faith life in some way. I also believe that if you can’t find what you’re looking for in faith formation, together we can create it!
My personal website can be found at darcywharton.com