RCIA and Catechists' Day: ABCs of Bible Literacy

Join the Archdiocesan Faith-Formation staff for a fun and enlightening workshop on Saturday, June 9!  Register team members and yourself now!


RCIA and Catechists' Day:  ABCs of Bible Literacy


Saturday, June 9 (2012)
Time: 9:30 am – 3:00 pm
Location: St. Agnes Parish, Louisville KY  --  Pastoral Center
Presenter: Brian Singer-Towns, M.ThS., and Dennis Kurtz, M.A.
Cost: $25.00 (includes lunch) (checks payable to ALMI)
Registration: Register prior to class to insure class availability.
   Contact Linda McLemore at lmclemore@archlou.org or (502) 448-8581 ext. 1324
Catechist Credit: 4.5 hours applies toward Theology in the area of Scripture


The Bible is vitally important to our Catholic faith. What are its essential elements? What do we need to know about it? This day will examine the structure and components of the Bible, explore its meaning from a Catholic perspective, and help us to use it appropriately in the catechumenate and other catechetical sessions. Two presenters, Brian Singer-Towns and Dennis Kurtz, will draw on insights from Singer-Towns’ book, Biblical Literacy Made Easy: A Practical Guide for Catechists, Teachers, and Youth Ministers, published by Saint Mary’s Press.

St. Mary’s Press will have books and materials available for purchase.

Brian Singer-Towns, M.ThS., is an author and senior editorial staff member for Saint Mary’s Press in Winona, Minnesota. Before joining SMP, he spent fifteen years in youth ministry leadership for the Diocese of Lansing. He has written or co-written a dozen books, including the best-selling Catholic Faith Handbook and Biblical Literacy Made Easy. He served as the general editor for The Catholic Youth Bible®. He resides with his family in Winona.


Dennis Kurtz, M.A., is an author, national sales consultant, and popular workshop presenter for Saint Mary’s Press in Winona, Minnesota. For many years prior, he was the Director of Youth Ministry for the Diocese of LaCrosse, Wisconsin. He resides in Winona.

ALMI Courses -- June 1-8, 2012

A Christian Vision of Marriage and Family


Date: Tuesday, June 5 (2012)
Time: 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Location: Flaget Center
Presenter: Sue Brodfehrer, Executive Director, Archdiocesan Office of Family Ministries
Cost: $10.00 (check payable to ALMI)
Registration: Register prior to class to insure class availability.
   Contact Linda McLemore at email lmclemore@archlou.org or (502) 448-8581 ext. 1324
Catechist Credit: 3 hours applies toward Theology in the content area of Family Life
What do marriage and family have to do with your teaching and your learners? Do you see the parents of your children as an imposition to the learning process or do you see them as partners? In this class we will examine the Church’s vision of marriage and family. We will look at the family - its key elements and unique mission. We will also discuss how to build a partnership with parents.


Capturing the Imagination of Adolescents:
Strategies for Engaging Young People

Date: Wednesday, June 6 (2012)
Time: 1:00 pm – 3:30 pm
Location: Flaget Center
Presenter: Jerid Miller, Director of Lifelong Formation, St. Margaret Mary Parish
Cost: $10.00 (check payable to ALMI)
Registration: Register prior to class to insure class availability.
   Contact Linda McLemore at email lmclemore@archlou.org or (502) 448-8581 ext. 1324
Catechist Credit: 2.5 hours applies towards Catechetics
During this session we will experience different techniques for engaging young people in the Catholic faith. Specifically we will try different methods that can be employed to convey Church teaching through art, film, and music.
Catholic Beliefs and Practices Series


Dates: Monday-Thursday, June 4 – 7 (2012)
Time: 9:00 am – 12:00 pm
Location: Flaget Center
Presenter: Maureen Larison, Archdiocesan Consultant for Adult Formation & Initiation
Cost: $10.00 per session or all 4 sessions for $35.00 (check payable to ALMI)
Registration: Register prior to class to insure class availability.
   Contact Linda McLemore at email lmclemore@archlou.org or (502) 448-8581 ext. 1324
Catechist Credit: 12 total hours: 8 hours applies toward Theology in the content area of Catholic Beliefs and Practices and 4 hours applies toward Catechetics (for each session 2 hours applies toward Catholic Beliefs and Practices and 1 hour applies towards Catechetics)
This series will address several major categories of Catholic beliefs and practices. The theology and history of each will be explored, along with catechetical methods and resources. Adult learners are welcome to participate in order to learn more about our Catholic faith and discover practical ways to share it with others.

Creed and Doctrine (June 4)
Role of Mary in the Church (June 5)
The Communion of Saints (June 6)
Devotional Practices and Sacramentals (June 7)


Emerging Issues in Catechetical Ministry

Dates: Thursday, June 7 & Friday, June 8 (2012)
Times: June 7, 2:00 pm – 7:00 pm; June 8, 8:30 am – 3:00 pm
Location: Flaget Center, Room A
Presenter: Team of Presenters
Cost: $90.00 (includes Lunch on Friday) (check payable to ALMI)
Registration: Register prior to class to insure class availability.
   Contact Linda McLemore at lmclemore@archlou.org or (502) 448-8581 ext. 1324
Catechist Credit: 10 total hours: 3 hours applies toward Theology in the content area of Culture/Diversity, 3 hours apply toward Theology/Justice and 4 hours apply toward Catechetics
Group members will investigate a range of issues in catechetical leadership today: such as diversity in Church and culture; multiculturalism in light of the enculturation process; catechesis for Christian justice; ethics in ministry; and emergent issues in the Archdiocese.

May 23: Silence, May 24: Words

Silence on May 23, Words on May 24:
Catholic Media Promotion Day 2012



Catholic Media Promotion Day 2012 will be observed on Wednesday, May 23 and Thursday, May 24. The theme of the Pope’s message for World Communications Day:

Silence and Word: Path of Evangelization

Last year, at this time, Catholics were asked to promote their favorite 3 blogs, 3 podcasts, 3 other media, 3 random Catholic things online, as well as your own projects. Also, they were asked you to go to iTunes on to record at least 3 positive reviews for various Catholic podcasts and 3 positive written reviews for Catholic mobile applications.
This year, Cathoilcs are asked to do something different.

Wednesday, May 23  --  Take a one-day break from posting on blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Google +, Pinterest, etc.  Use this day to reflect on he role of silence in communication and evangelization.

Thursday, May 24  --  Share the fruit of May 23rd's prayer and silence with the world. Post your answer to the question:

    “What in Catholic Media has had an impact on me during the past year?” Share it on the New 
    Evangelizers website at:

    http://newevangelizers.com/forums/topic/catholic-media-promotion-day-2012/


Why silence on Wednesday?

Wednesday is the day that most people post on Facebook. Remaining silent on social media is a way to become more aware of the temptation to value doing over being and speaking over listening. God will notice. Hopefully we will notice God more deeply, and thus have a greater readiness to share a word that gives life.

Pope Benedict XVI reminds us:  “Silent contemplation immerses us in the source of that Love who directs us towards our neighbors so that we may feel their suffering and offer them the light of Christ, his message of life and his saving gift of the fullness of love.”


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MAY 23  --  FALL SILENT

Refrain from using social media. Grab a chance to read and prayerfully reflect on the Pope’s message for World Communications Day 2012:


http://tinyurl.com/silenceandword


MAY 24  --  EVANGELIZE ANEW

Share the fruit of your day of prayer and silence.  Post your answer to the question:

“What in Catholic Media has had an impact on me during the past year?”

Share it on the New Evangelizers website at:

http://newevangelizers.com/forums/topic/catholic-media-promotion-day-2012/



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June 7-8: Contemporary Issues in Catechetical Ministry

Brought to you by ALMI  in the Archdiocese of Louisville!

      Course:  Contemporary Issues in Catechetical Ministry
     
      June 7-8, 2012
   
      Presenters: Dr. Brian Reynolds, Dr. M. Annette Turner, and Mr. Sal Della Bella, M.A.

                        Thursday, 2:00 pm – 7:00 pm
                         Friday, 8:30 am – 3:00 pm
      
       Site: Flaget Center, Room A
       Registration Information:  Below 


The presentations during this course will focus on important, emerging issues for leaders in catechesis and other ministries. Class sessions will center on the challenges of forming and sustaining multicultural ministries in the local church; professional ethics in the work of church leadership; data on key issues/trends among Archdiocesan parish communities and personnel; and the gospel call to justice, including its relationship to our contemporary catechetical efforts.

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Dr. Brian Reynolds is the Chancellor/Chief Administrator of the Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville, Kentucky.


Dr. M. Annette Turner is the Executive Director of the Office of Multicultural Ministry (OMM) in the Archdiocese.


Mr. Sal Della Bella, M.A. Applied Spirituality, is the Director of Faith-Formation in the Archdiocesan Office of Lifelong Formation and Education (OLFE).
 
 
 
Registration for the Course: 
 
Office of Lifelong Formation and Education (OLFE)

Attn: Linda McLemore
Phone: 502-448.8581 x. 1324
Fax: 502-448-5518
E: LMclemore@archlou.org


Workshop Fee: $90 per person (includes lunch on Friday)


Catechist Credits (Advanced):
4 Class/Contact Hours in Catechetics, 3 Hrs. in Justice,
and 3 Hrs. in Culture and Diversity



Learn about OLFE’s Catechetical Leadership concentration --
Butch Ekstrom, Associate Director of Faith-Formation  
bekstrom@archlou.org

What the Pope Said re: Youth Catechesis on May 12

Papal Address to U.S. Bishops

May 12, 2012

 "Providing young people with a sound education in the faith represents the most urgent internal challenge facing the Catholic community in your country." Here are excerpts of the address Benedict XVI gave Saturday to a group of U.S. bishops in Rome for their "ad limina" (periodic) visit.

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I greet all of you with affection in the Lord and I offer you my prayerful good wishes for a grace-filled pilgrimage ad limina Apostolorum. In the course of our meetings I have been reflecting with you and your Brother Bishops on the intellectual and cultural challenges of the new evangelization in the context of contemporary American society. In the present talk, I wish to address the question of religious education and the faith formation of the next generation of Catholics in your country.


Before all else, I would acknowledge the great progress that has been made in recent years in improving catechesis, reviewing texts and bringing them into conformity with the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Important efforts are also being made to preserve the great patrimony of America’s Catholic elementary and high schools, which have been deeply affected by changing demographics and increased costs, while at the same time ensuring that the education they provide remains within the reach of all families, whatever their financial status.


. . . . It is no exaggeration to say that providing young people with a sound education in the faith represents the most urgent internal challenge facing the Catholic community in your country. The deposit of faith is a priceless treasure which each generation must pass on to the next by winning hearts to Jesus Christ and shaping minds in the knowledge, understanding and love of his Church. It is gratifying to realize that, in our day too, the Christian vision, presented in its breadth and integrity, proves immensely appealing to the imagination, idealism and aspirations of the young, who have a right to encounter the faith in all its beauty, its intellectual richness and its radical demands.

Here I would simply propose several points which I trust will prove helpful for your discernment in meeting this challenge.


First, as we know, the essential task of authentic education at every level is not simply that of passing on knowledge, essential as this is, but also of shaping hearts. There is a constant need to balance intellectual rigor in communicating effectively, attractively and integrally, the richness of the Church’s faith with forming the young in the love of God, the praxis of the Christian moral and sacramental life and, not least, the cultivation of personal and liturgical prayer.


It follows that the question of Catholic identity, not least at the university level, entails much more than the teaching of religion or the mere presence of a chaplaincy on campus. All too often, it seems, Catholic schools and colleges have failed to challenge students to reappropriate their faith as part of the exciting intellectual discoveries which mark the experience of higher education. The fact that so many new students find themselves dissociated from the family, school and community support systems that previously facilitated the transmission of the faith should continually spur Catholic institutions of learning to create new and effective networks of support. In every aspect of their education, students need to be encouraged to articulate a vision of the harmony of faith and reason capable of guiding a life-long pursuit of knowledge and virtue.


. . . . The Christian commitment to learning, which gave birth to the medieval universities, was based upon this conviction that the one God, as the source of all truth and goodness, is likewise the source of the intellect’s passionate desire to know and the will’s yearning for fulfilment in love. . . . . During my Pastoral Visit to the United States, I spoke of the need for the Church in America to cultivate "a mindset, an intellectual culture which is genuinely Catholic" (Washington, 17 April 2008).

Taking up this task certainly involves a renewal of apologetics and an emphasis on Catholic distinctiveness; ultimately however it must be aimed at proclaiming the liberating truth of Christ and stimulating greater dialogue and cooperation in building a society ever more solidly grounded in an authentic humanism inspired by the Gospel and faithful to the highest values of America’s civic and cultural heritage.

NEW "Spotlight on Media" Newsletter

The Archdiocesan media center at OLFE (in the Flaget Center), under the guidance of staff media specialist Ms. Bernadette Hagan, has produced its Spotlight on Media newsletter for May 2012.


You can get a copy free by:

E-Mail:  bhagan@archlou.org.

Phone:  502.448.8581

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E-Catechist Blog -- Use It Now

A blog for catechists and leaders, and a constantly evolving webpage for trustworthy catechetical resource recommendations is

eCatechist.com


Founded and maintained by a lifelong religious education specialist, Mr. Daniel Pierson,
e-Catechist offers ideas, inspiration and learning resources for volunteer catechists, catechetical leaders, and parents. It is also a portal to other blogs, reference works, and news and magazine websites.

Daniel Pierson

The latest, April 2012 entry of the e-Catechist can be found by accessing:  http://eCatechist.com  --  Submit your e-mail address on this webpage, and you'll get a free monthly newsletter and update on catechetical resources you will want to know about.

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Here's a small sample of the fine things you will find 24/7 on the April page.


Go Out to the Well   --  by Maria McGuire

(Advice to Catechists)


What serves as my model for catechesis is the encounter of Jesus with the woman at the well of Samaria (John 4:1-42). I see their developing conversation as a guide for how to invite others into a deeper awareness and relationship with God.

Take time to be alone
In the Gospel, Jesus has come to the well in Samaria alone. When he arrives, he finds the woman of Samaria unaccompanied. It is precisely during this solitary time together that a dialogue begins. This is good advice for us catechists as well. Take sabbath moments to find yourself available to God.


Meet people on their own terms
Jesus understood and relayed back to the woman her sordid story but did not judge her. He accepted her situation and used it as the basis to build her up and challenge her growth. As catechists, we too ought to encourage others to find the sacred in the midst of the imperfections in their lives.


Be who you are called to be
Jesus was not afraid to be clear about who he was - he states he is the Messiah. It is good for us to remember who we are - children of God. We are endowed with unique abilities to help build up the Kingdom. Have courage to use them!


Make the Word your own

Jesus’ dialogue with the woman so energized her that she ran to tell others about it. She found her own voice and began to live what she heard. As catechists, our own life experiences are often the most compelling for others to hear. Share your stories!


Let it go
After the encounter with Jesus, the woman left her water jar behind. So often in ministry, plans do not go as we anticipate. We need to be attentive to changes that happen in unexpected ways. With this in mind, be flexible and remember you are not in control!


For Reflection
On your journey as a catechist, go out to the well. In your alone time, think about what you will discuss with Jesus. What advice does he give you about leading others closer to Him?