CHARLESTON—After 10 years with the Diocese of Charleston, Lisa Rawlins Durst resigned her position as director of planning. She is returning to her home state of Ohio with her new husband Jerry, she wrote in an e-mail to The Miscellany.
Durst first came to the diocese in 2000 and has served on various advisory committees, such as building and renovation.
Working under Bishop Robert J. Baker, she was also on the diocesan pastoral council, curia, priest personnel committee, and the diocesan budget committee.
Over the years she has been involved in prominent Catholic issues, such as the pro-life movement, serving on the board of directors for Birthright of Charleston, and giving workshops.
She also was a major organizer of the annual Fire at the Beach conference.
John Barker, chief financial officer of the diocese, said she will be sorely missed.
He said Durst was one of the first people he met when he came aboard and she immediately made him feel welcome.
“She has been a joy,” Barker said. “She’s a wealth of knowledge about all that is going on in the parish and the diocese.”
Durst first moved to Charleston in 1985 when she was assigned to the Charleston Air Force Base as an active duty military member, she said.
She received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland University College and a graduate degree from Troy University while serving with the U.S. Air Force in England.
Durst said she will start her new job as manager of institutional planning at Lakeland Community College on Aug. 9. She said her experience with the diocese has been rewarding and blessed and that she will miss everyone.
“I feel blessed to have been able to serve the church with my enthusiasm for planning,” Durst said. “I leave here with the hope that I have inspired others to value pastoral planning as a way to help build the Kingdom of God.”
“I look forward to joining a Catholic parish in Mentor and finding a new way to serve God and others,” she said.