February 18, 2025 // Diocese

Religious Education Director Retires, Leaves Legacy at St. Mary

Clare Hildebrandt

Reporter

“I hope my story – my career – inspires young people to go into church ministry,” Mary Kay Matasky said as she sat in her religious education office at St. Mary, Mother of God Parish in Fort Wayne for the last time. “This was my retirement job, and I thought it would be three or four years, but here we are at 20 in this parish.”

Matasky, who recently retired from the parish, began her teaching ministry in 1964, working in Catholic schools in the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend (including at St. Therese and Queen of Peace) and in the dioceses of Gary and Lafayette.

Not long after she began her career, Matasky heard a call from God to serve Him by working in parish religious education.

Clare Hildebrandt
Mary Kay Matasky, religious education coordinator at St. Mary, Mother of God Catholic Church in Fort Wayne, sits at her desk as she tells Today’s Catholic about her career and retirement on Tuesday, February 4.

“After 10 years of teaching, I wanted to concentrate my life in the ministry of religious education,” Matasky told Today’s Catholic. “I went back to school at St. Meinrad School of Theology and received a master’s in religious education. I never looked back,” she said.

She began to serve at St. Mary, Mother of God Catholic Church in Fort Wayne in 2004 as religious education coordinator, focusing on the children’s program and RCIA (what is now OCIA).

“St. Mary’s is such a unique parish because of the soup kitchen and the ministry they have to the poor. It was wonderful to serve,” she said.

Matasky told Today’s Catholic about one of her favorite stories of conversion. After observing a man attend Mass but not receive Communion for years, Matasky asked, ‘Have you ever thought about becoming Catholic?’ And he looked at me and said, ‘Nobody’s ever asked.’ … And lo and behold, he became Catholic that year,” she said.

To show their gratitude, the parish community celebrated Matasky’s career with a potluck brunch. Though retired now, Matasky said her legacy can be found in the parishioners she taught who will continue to spread the Gospel and evangelize God’s word – like their teacher did for more than 60 years.

“Religious education has never been a job for me,” Matasky said. “It is who I am, and it has given joy and meaning to my life.”

Clare Hildebrandt is a staff reporter for Today’s Catholic.