Beth Parsons, who serves as manager of the Diocese of Knoxville’s Office of Vocations, has also been named leader of the diocese’s Echo graduate service program.
Mrs. Parsons formerly served as Echo formation assistant for the diocese in addition to her Office of Vocations responsibilities.
As diocesan leader of the Echo program, Mrs. Parsons will be the program’s primary liaison to mentors, parishes, and schools. She succeeds Father David Boettner, who has served as the Echo diocesan leader since the Diocese of Knoxville first partnered with the University of Notre Dame and its McGrath Institute for Church Life. Father Boettner is now the pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in South Pittsburg and Shepherd of the Valley Parish in Dunlap.
Echo was established by Notre Dame and McGrath in 2004 as a response to the urgent need for a new generation of inspiring lay leaders to help stem the tide of disaffiliation with the Catholic Church and to develop more creative and effective means of passing on the beauty and truth of the Catholic faith.
Katie Harkness, Viviana Morales, and Mallory Louque currently serve in the Diocese of Knoxville as Echo apprentices.
Kelly Deehan, who serves as the associate director of religious education at All Saints Parish in Knoxville, has been named Echo formation assistant for the Diocese of Knoxville. Ms. Deehan was an Echo apprentice who served at All Saints from 2019-2021.