Time to Give Thanks

Please join us, the OLFE Faith-Formation staff, in pausing to give thanks to God for all the gifts, blessings, and challenges that have been given to us. We wish your family, parish community, school community, ministry staff, and -- of course -- you a happy and peaceful Thanksgiving holiday and beginning of the Advent season !

Like other Archdiocesan offices, we will close on Wednesday, November 24, at 2:30 PM. OLFE will re-open on Monday, November 29, at 8:30 AM.

Time For You

Take time. Take care. Mark this Fall season with a spiritual-growth opportunity or two.

Fall Retreat Day -- A Spirituality of Waiting

A retreat oriented toward Advent that will focus on the
paradox of both longing for and discovering God in our lives.

Saturday, November 20 (2010)
9:00 AM to 3:00 PM
Location: Flaget Center -- Fee: $25 (includes Lunch) www.archlou.org/flagetcenter
Presenters: Various Team Members
Sponsored by: Office of Lifelong Formation & Education
To register: 502.448.8581, x. 1324, or lmclemore@archlou.org

Self-Care: Finding Balance in Your Ministry

A workshop that will help you better balance your life, given the
many commitments and stressful expectations of our day.

Saturday, December 4 (2010)
9:30 AM to 12:30 PM
Location: Flaget Center -- Fee: $10.00 www.archlou.org/flagetcenter
Presenters: Sharon Benton, Archdiocesan Coordinator of Planning Services + Team
Sponsored by: Office of Lifelong Formation & Education
To register: 502.448.8581, x. 1324, or lmclemore@archlou.org

Team-Training for Why Catholic? Program -- November 15-20 (2010)

The next phase of team-preparation and training -- for the Why Catholic? program in the Archdiocese -- has been scheduled for November 15-20 (2010).

The title of this team-training phase will be "Catholic Evangelization: Creating a Parish Plan." Workshops have been scheduled over four days:

Monday, November 15, 7:00 - 9:00 PM -- @ St. Margaret Mary Parish (Hospitality Room)

Tuesday, November 16, 9:00 - 11:00 AM -- @Maloney Center (Rooms 1-2)

Tuesday, November 16, 7:00 - 9:00 PM -- @ St. James in Elizabethtown (Gymnasium)

Wednesday, November 17, 9:00 - 11:00 AM -- Epiphany Parish (in Community Center)

Wednesday, November 17, 7:00 - 9:00 PM -- @ Flaget Center (Gymnasium)

Thursday, November 18, 7:00 - 9:00 PM -- @ St. Augustine in Lebanon (Parish Center)

Note: Parish teams need to attend only one of the workshop options.

This training experience is designed to help pastors and parish team members to better understand the process of Catholic evangelization. Also, the relationship between evangelization and catechesis will be examined. Finally, concrete and practical strategies for outreach and invitation -- particularly to to nominal and inactive Catholics -- will be discussed.

Each of the November 15-18 sessions will be presented in English. The facilitator for each meeting will be Sr. Pat Thomas, O.P., a member of the RENEW International staff, from New Jersey.

Two presentations of the workshop "Catholic Evangleization: Creating a Parish Plan" will be offered on Saturday, November 20, in Spanish.

Saturday, November 20, 10:00 - 12 Noon -- @ St. Rita Parish in Okalona (Parish Center)

Saturday, November 20, 2:00 - 4:00 PM -- @ St. James Parish in Elizabethtown

The twin Spanish language sessions will be presented by Mr. Manuel Hernandez, also from the RENEW International staff in New Jersey.

For additional information, contact Sal Della Bella at the Office of Lifelong Formation and Education (OLFE) at 502.448.8581 or SDB@archlou.org -- or see the Archdiocesan webpage www.archlou.org/whycatholic

Visit OLFE @ Hispanic Heritage Fiesta (October 30)

On Saturday, Ocotber 30, persons from many places throughout the Archdiocese will gather for a day-long celebration called Dia de la Raza (Hispanic Heritage Festival), sponsored by the Office of Multicultural Minstry. It will be held from 11 AM to 7 PM at the Flaget Center.

This fiesta for local Catholics will be a first of its kind. It will mark the gifts and presence of the many Hispanics within our Archdiocese, and will also unveil the recent pastoral plan -- published by the Louisville archdiocese -- on initiatives in Hispanic Ministry.

OLFE will exhibit at the Dia de la Raza. Look for us there and visit us! Learn what we have to offer to parishes, schools, and individuals.

A Pause for Spiritual Refreshment

In need of a spiritually refreshing break today? Like you will be again tomorrow? And the day after that . . . ? Many busy and over-scheduled catechists, and others in ministry, use podcasts to help them pray right at their work computers, on a home PC, on an i-Pod player in the car, at the grocery, or during periods of exercise.

Many persons new to this idea ask, What is a podcast?

The word podcast first appeared around 2004. It is a blend of the term iPod (Apple's very popular, portable media player) and the word broadcast. Podcast has fast become a term more widely used than its fore-runner, 'webcast.' A podcast is a digital media file (or several files), featuring audio or video, or both. Podcasts can be one episode long, or stretched over several parts. A computer-user (like you) "catches" -- or "grabs" -- a podcast by accessing its file(s) over the internet. If you have the right computer hardware and software, the podcast is 'grabbed' from the webpage of the person or company, such as Loyola Press below, that innovated the program. After the download, the podcast appears on your PC monitor, on your iPod, or can be saved and stored for use some other time.

Some good news. Certain podcasts can help busy people, in modern ministries, to take a spiritually-refreshing pause at any time -- especially during a complicated work day.

Here are a few podcasts to sample. Note: if you happen upon a spiritually-helpful podcast not mentioned, post information about it in Comments below. Let's pray on. And keep this conversation going.

The Divine Office http://divineoffice.org/

The SaintCast http://web.mac.com/pcamarata/SaintCast/Home.html

Daily Inspirations www.LoyolaPress.com/daily-inspirations.htm

The Other 6 http://www.other6.com/

(The Other 6 is actually a virtual community -- and a standing invitation, to you, extended by Loyola Press -- that is dedicated to finding God during the other 6 days of the week besides Sunday.)

3-Minute Retreats http://www.loyolapress.com/online-community-3-minute-retreats.htm

Online Retreat (Ignatian Spirituality)http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/cmo-retreat.html

On another final note, if you'd like to follow a thoughtful and practical faith formation blog (besides this one, of course) -- take a look at Catechist's Journey, by author and 8th grade catechist, Joe Paprocki. Joe always seems to have something interesting to say.

(You can also get Catechist's Journey by e-mail) -- http://catechistsjourney.loyolapress.com/