No Money Changers In Heaven

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It seems that we can’t do much without money, therefore we’ve got to make money to survive and provide for our families.  In Jesus’ day the money changers in the temple were trying to make a living but at other peoples expense.  Jesus became poor by coming to earth and taking on human flesh in order that we may become rich (Cf. 2 Cor. 8:9).  This richness consists not in possessions or earthly treasure but in a treasure that is imperishable (Cf. 1 Peter 1:4).

People Changers

Heaven is full of people changers.  They are the ones who followed the way of the cross and gave their lives in the service of Christ and His Church.  They are the ones who denied themselves took up their crosses and followed Jesus (Cf. Mt. 16:24) and those who lost their lives so as to gain it in the next (Lk. 17:33).  They truly are the ones who brought change through the witness of their lives and their concern for the needs of others.

Let us pray for one another and ask for God’s strength, God’s blessings, God’s grace to be the people changers we are called to be!

A Prayer of Saint Alphonsus Liguori

 0 my God, help me to remember -
That time is short, eternity is long.
What good is all the greatness of this world at the hour of death?
To love You, my God, and save my soul is the one thing necessary.
Without You, there is no peace, no joy.
My God, I need fear nothing but sin.
For to lose You, my God, is to lose all.
0 my God, help me to remember -
That to gain all I must leave all,
That in loving You I have all good things: the infinite riches of Christ and His
Church, the motherly protection of Mary,
peace beyond understanding, joy unspeakable!

Eternal Father, your Son has promised that whatever we ask in His Name will be given to us. In His Name I pray: give me a burning faith, a joyful hope, a holy love for Jesus Christ. Give me the grace of perseverance in doing Your will in all things. Do with me what You will. I repent of having offended You. Grant, O Lord, that I may love You always and never let me be separated from You.  O my God and my All, make me a saint!

 

 

 

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MED-I-TATE, MED-I-TATE . . . Reflective Prayer in the Classroom

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I never thought I’d see a religious education class end with half a dozen 10-year-old boys pounding fists on their table, feet stomping rhythmically, chanting their demand for . . . meditative prayer. You can blame Loyola Press.

The backstory: In 2007 our parish and several others in the area adopted the Finding God textbook series.  Loyola Press sent down presenters for our deanery’s catechist formation day that year, and for several years after.  One of the highlights of the morning keynote presentation was always time spent in meditative prayer.

The prayer leader walked us through the process of settling down and connecting with God, proposed some prayer conversation-starters, then gave us time to silently speak with Jesus and to listen to Him. Loyola Press’s 3-Minute-Retreat Page teaches you how it works.  Go give one a try — we learn to pray by praying!

What is meditative prayer? You might be getting nervous now — this isn’t one of those woozy new-age things, is it?  Absolutely not.  What we’re talking about here is quiet time spent in personal reflection, connecting with God one-on-one.  The Rosary is a classic example of a guided reflection: We can take each mystery, put ourselves into the scene, and just look and see what God has to show us there.  Lectio Divina is meditative prayer focused on the words of scripture.

In our fifth grade class, we’ve done meditations built around the words of the Apostle’s Creed, the Way of the Cross, the words of a prayer on CD (I use Hide Me In Your Wounds by John C. Hathaway), or time spent listening to a prayerful hymn.  Our text book includes a prayer service at the end of each chapter, and sometimes I’ve used that, either verbatim or as a jumping-off point.

How does it work in the classroom?  We start the class with short opening prayers, and then teach a regular lesson.  At the end of class, we clean-up.  Then the kids each pick a spot to sit down, relax, and pray.  We light candles and turn off the overhead lights.  And then we pray.

We had to work through a few glitches.  At the start of the year, we had to be both solemn and reassuring — many students had never prayed this way, and were worried, skeptical, or inclined to make fun of the whole thing. I’ve had background-music CD’s that inspired more giggles than prayers.   I discovered there’s a real knack for reading the body-language of the class, and closing the prayer before anyone gets restless and ends the session of their own initiative.

I’ve used meditative prayer with all ages, but not with all students.  We’ve incorporated reflective prayer into our vacation Bible school programs, where classes are mixed-ages from kindergarten to teens.  Even the littlest children can enjoy and appreciate time to close the eyes, turn on the imagination, and spend time with Jesus.

But I’ve also had groups of students that didn’t seem ready for settled-down, silent prayer.  A physically-active meditation, such as saying a decade of the Rosary or Chaplet of Divine Mercy worked well for those students.

How about you?  What kind of prayer do you use in the classroom?  Is there something you’d like to try in the coming year?  What resources have you found helpful?  I’d love to hear from you.

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Liturgical Catechesis: Learning By Heart

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How does the Holy Mass help us learn the Faith?  The General Directory of Catechesis says:

“Effective catechesis also incorporates learning “by heart.” For centuries the living
tradition of the faith was handed on principally through the oral tradition. From the
earliest time, catechesis has relied on the Creed, the sacraments, the Decalogue, and
prayers, especially the Our Father, as primary instruments of transmitting the faith.
In order to learn the principals truths of the faith, these instruments were easily
committed to memory in lieu of textbooks or other printed materials and could be
recalled often as the basis of catechetical instruction. “Use of memory, therefore,
forms a constitutive aspect of pedagogy of the faith since the beginning of
Christianity” (GDC, no. 154).”

There are many ways the liturgy, which by its very nature catechizes, helps us learn the faith “by heart”.  I want to briefly focus on one profound way it does this.

The Church in her wisdom reads the same Scripture readings every 3 years (as well as each year we often hear the same readings during certain liturgical days).  This allows the faithful learn “by heart” the Word of God and then respond by living it in our lives and proclaiming its truths to those around us.

Wow, this reality, in my opinion, is awesome.  I love the wisdom of the Church!

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Res Ipsa Loquitur 13: Odds’n'Ends

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Class on March 28 covered the end times in Revelations, mostly chapters 19-22. These are some bits from that class, not all of them strictly adhering to the lesson plan.

1. A short digression on Adam & Eve while handing out a few rubber vocation bracelets.

2. While discussing the Final Judgment, the subject of Purgatory came up again. That worked out well because I was only a page away from a helpful verse at the time.

3. The lesson plan ended 6 minutes early. I had this bit on palmers in reserve.

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Student Journals and the Sacrament of Confession

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A reader asks anonymously:

Is it appropriate for religion teachers to ask students about their sins?  In my friend’s  religion class, the teacher asked him to write in his journal about one of the sins he would be confessing at his next confession.  What do you think?

The answer is a big fat NO.  No, no, no, and NOOOOOOOO.  Just no.  Not appropriate.  Never appropriate.  Religion class is not the place to perform a public examination conscience.  No no no.

I do want to share three thoughts related to my reader’s question.   The first is my own class policy on journals and sensitive topics.  The second is on the limits of journal writing as a teaching tool; the third is on the proper role of catechists in sacramental preparation.

1.  Journals are personal, but not private.  The first time students open their journals, I explain that:

a) I will never force you to read your journal entry aloud,

but that:

b) I  do read your journal entries (and pray for your prayer intentions), and that your parents have free access to your journal as well.

I don’t require reading aloud, because that’s not the goal of my class.  I teach religion.  Not composition, not public speaking, and not group therapy.  Journals provide an opportunity for students to explore their faith and their life in writing, and that’s a legitimate part of a religious education course.

But I can’t guarantee privacy.   Physically, the journals are not kept under lock and key.  Professionally, it is inappropriate to set myself up as arbiter of students’ secrets.  Journals are a great way to share ideas that can be difficult to express aloud — but they are, fundamentally, a tool for sharing.

2. Journals fit the learning style of some, but not all, students.  I have two types of students who love journals.  The first are introspective and prayerful students   Often they do not want to share their entries aloud, but they relish the process of writing out their thoughts.  I allow them as much time to write as they want, even after the rest of the class moves on to the next assignment.

The second group are students who learn by talking.  They work through the day’s topic by jotting down a few quick notes, then expand on their ideas when it’s time to share.  The big trick is to strike the balance between enough sharing and too much sharing.

But what about everyone else?  I keep on hand a “back up” assignment.  If you finish your journal early because,  let’s be honest, you wrote two flippant words, or “I don’t know” or “I hate this dumb journal”, come to the front table and grab the alternate assignment.  Students learn in different ways.  Offer more than one way for students to connect to the lesson.

3. What role do catechists play in preparing students for the Sacrament of Confession?

We have three important jobs:

  • We teach the mechanics of the sacrament.  Sign of the cross, “Bless me Father for I have sinned,” etc.
  • We answer questions about the nature of the sacrament.   When must I confess?  What if I forget my act of contrition?  Will the priest tell the police if I confess a crime?
  • We explain what is, and is not, a sin.  We also answer questions about what circumstances lessen or remove culpability for a sin.

My approach should be positive, encouraging, and sincere.  But we catechists aren’t the parents.  We aren’t spiritual directors.   The classroom setting is not the appropriate place for pastoral counseling.  It certainly is not the confessional.

It is important to respect these distinctions.  In setting firm boundaries, we strengthen our role as catechists. Students are often willing to ask outlandish or difficult questions of a catechist, specifically because they know it’s not personal.  It’s just a question.  If they ask out of mere curiosity, be thankful they are curious about the faith.  If they ask out of personal need, be thankful they have a place they can get clear and honest answers to difficult questions.

But in all cases, my role as a catechist should always respect the privacy and the dignity of my students.

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Calling In Sick

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When I started as a catechist, in my pre-married, pre-motherhood days, I had no thoughts about sick days.

I stopped serving as a catechist not long after my first daughter was born, so I have found myself learning some new things this year, my first year back in the saddle in my new role as wife/mom/catechist.

One of the most important lessons I have learned this year is that sick days are part of the deal, especially if you’re a parent with young children. Just last week, I found myself so sick that I could barely leave my bed, much less make it to my class.

Here are my tips for staying ahead of the inevitable sick days:

Communicate. When you think you’ll be missing, be sure to let the person in charge know. In our parish, finding subs is always a special challenge: more time to find them is always better.

Have a team. I’m blessed to have a great pair of aides for my class: they have no fear with stepping in to teach and will fill me in with the details afterward. The students see familiar faces and the experience, all around, tends to be pretty good as a result.

Plan ahead. I’m trying to get better about this, but I keep reminding myself that the first year is the hardest (I don’t have a file of “tried and true” lessons behind me). I always try to have my lesson done at least a few days early, and I send it to our religious education director and my teaching team. That way, if and when I’m not there, they have what they need.

Smile. It’s not the end of the world. And when the kids hug you when you return, you’ll know how important you really are!

What tips do you have for calling in sick as a catechist?

image source: MorgueFile

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MAC Round-Up

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I’m still processing the many wonderful presentations from last week’s MidAtlantic Congress in Baltimore, whose theme was Witness Hope. But I’d like to share a few highlights while they’re still fresh in my mind. Suffice it to say that overall it was an extremely positive experience.

It was a very diverse congress, which I appreciated, because I went there with the full, active intent of sampling the variations of viewpoints within the Church, and getting a clearer sense of my Catholic family’s current state of being. I did hear a lot of ideas, and found much of value to take home with me.

As you know from last week’s column, I’m trying not to be so judgmental toward my fellow Catholics but yes, I had some criticisms, especially the assertion by the last plenary presenter that the hierarchy of the Catholic Church is a “boy’s club.” I feel very strongly that we Catholics should be setting an example of respectful disagreement, as we do in our homes. I know it’s hard. I absolutely struggle with this, myself. But it’s important to keep trying.

That said, the conference was an overwhelmingly positive experience. On the first day, Dr. Michael Carotta, an expert in adolescent spirituality, gave a truly superb workshop that was sponsored by Our Sunday Visitor and called, “Reclaiming Religious Education.”

He identified several critical skills to be mastered by the religious educator:

1) naming the adaptive challenge (the goal);

2) regulating the “heat” of the discussion (some topics need gentle handling, some need more intensity);

3) protecting all the voices in the room (giving everyone a chance to be heard respectfully);

and my favorite,

4) using powerful questions.

I’ve always wondered how really great teachers get everybody in the room buzzing and really moving the discussion deeper. Dr. Carotta does that so naturally that you almost feel like you’re helping him teach the class, you’re so engaged. For Dr. Carotta, one way is to ask powerful questions, like: “What have you learned by heart?”

Once the question is asked, Dr. Carotta advises, don’t leap in to fill the silence. Ask a powerful question and then shut up. If you are quiet after asking a question, it pulls a response from the listener. “Let silence do the heavy lifting,” he says.

And if someone gives a powerful, emotional response to your question, follow it up with some respectful silence. He explains, “Some insights and emotions can only find you in silence. The stronger the emotion, the more silence is deserved.” Protect the person and the response by not allowing anyone to jump in too quickly with another comment.

He shared a Native American quote that I really liked, because it is so apt for our culture:

“Where in your life did you become uncomfortable with the sweet territory of silence?”

(I’d like to pause to recommend a resource for all of us who are inundated with noise, especially electronic distractions like social media, cell phones, and email. Matt Swaim, producer of the Son Rise Morning Show with Brian Patrick, wrote a terrific book, Prayer in the Digital Age, which goes into depth on the question of our spiritual need for silence.)

Just quickly, a few other highlights:

One of my favorite catechists, Dr. Joseph White (who I interviewed last month here at Patheos), shared a study that shows the percentage of content typically retained when taught in various ways. Mull over how you can enhance your lesson planning using this as a guide:

Lecture: 5%
Reading: 10%
Audiovisual: 20%
Demonstration: 30%
Discussion group: 50%
Practice by doing: 75%
Teach other, immediate use: 90%

Interesting, isn’t it? Dr. White also reviewed the use of Multiple Intelligences for teaching in effective, fun, creative ways, and recommended his “Teach It” series, for lots more great ideas.

Tom McGrath, author and Vice President of Product Development for Loyola Press, was also excellent, as he spoke on a topic near and dear to my heart: “Parents Aren’t the Problem, They’re the Solution: Practical Ways to Engage Parents in the Faith Formation of their Children.”

He told wonderful stories demonstrating how parents really are the best and most important teachers of their children, capable of inspiring faith through the example of their lives. He likes to get parents talking about their goals for their children in the context of religious training. It’s kind of a sneaky trick, but the good kind.

For instance, according to the consensus of our group, typically parents want their children to:

1) celebrate the sacraments
2) understand their faith
3) have a belief system to turn to in times of trouble.

Once you’ve got parents expressing these goals, you’ve implicitly made a contract with them that makes them more active participants in the process! Clever fellow.

And after he’d gotten us all talking to each other and thinking about some interesting issues, he said something that I really liked: “Once you’re talking to each other, it’s a sacred place.” I think that makes a lot of sense. It’s one thing to passively listen and be inspired in the solitude of your own mind, but another to open to another person’s reactions and share your own. It creates a sort of community that amplifies the value of the discussion, because it becomes more personal.

I also want to recommend the CDs of a Catholic singer/composer who performed at the MAC’s beautiful Way of the Cross on Friday evening, Danielle Rose. Her “Agony in the Garden” was truly haunting and intimate. I just had to run over to the Exhibit Hall and buy a couple of her albums: Mysteries, which features all the mysteries of the Rosary in poetic expressions from various points of view, and Defining Beauty, her first album, with more Catholic faith songs. Take a look at her site. Her bio is very interesting.

There’s so much more, I can’t possibly fit everything I learned into one column. I loved Cecilia Regan’s presentation on whole-community catechesis. A DRE for more than twenty years before taking on the position of Director of Catechesis for the Diocese of Metuchen, Regan made the spiritual formation of her catechists her first priority. She created a spiritual “community” among them, out of which flowed well-informed and inspiring teaching. So wonderful!

All in all, the Mac was a very instructive and enjoyable event. I’d like to thank the organizers once again, for inviting me to cover the congress as a media representative. Thank you so much, Therese Brown, Fr. John Hurley, CSP, and Paul Hendersen. Thank you to Father James Martin, S.J., Dr. Joseph White, and to Michael Ruzicki, for their wonderful pre-event interviews.

And many thanks to Elizabeth Scalia and Dan Welch, here at Patheos, for all their support. It was exciting being able to quickly blog about the MAC at Summa This, Summa That. If readers would like more details on some of the other MAC presentations, check out the blog for concise summaries.

Thanks! God bless you!

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Joining the Team

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Hello everyone, I’m Jennifer and I’ve just joined the blogging team here at Amazing Catechists!  Today I want to tell you a little about myself and my story as a catechist, which I think is typical of how many of us start out teaching religious education.

When my son started kindergarten, I enrolled him in our parish religious ed program.  Since I was going to be driving to and from class anyhow, I figured I ought to go ahead and volunteer.   I loved teaching, though I’d never taught large groups of younger students before, and I was confident that my knowledge of the faith would be enough to get me started.

Let me tell you, I learned two things my first weeks of teaching 5th grade religious ed:

  • My DRE was a saint.
  • I stunk.

Turns out I knew absolutely nothing about how to get two dozen restless 10-year-olds to settle down and pay attention.  I needed to either figure out what it was the successful teachers were doing, or else give it up and find a new hobby.  I’m stubborn sometimes, so I voted for figure-it-out.

The cool news?  By the end of the year, instead of parents calling to complain, they were calling to tell me how much their children enjoyed my class.

That experience has convinced me that anyone can learn to teach, and to teach well.   My mission here at Amazing Catechists is to explain some of the problem-solving how-to’s that allowed me to turn my class around.

Some teachers seem to “just know” how to teach, and sometimes I wish I had that natural talent.   But those of us who have to really work on our skills, and make a concerted effort to figure out how good teaching works?  We’re the ones who can explain what it was we did that made the difference.

So yes, I’m a veritable treasure-trove of first-hand knowledge about Things That Don’t Work.  If that’s you, too, let me encourage you not to give up!  Let’s use this column to compare notes, share ideas, and figure out how to keep improving your class week after week.

***

A little bit about me.  In my regular life, I’m a homeschooling mom of four children, currently in kindergarten, 2nd, 4th and 6th grades.  We use Faith and Life for religion at home.  In the classroom, prior to becoming a catechist I had done a lot of odds-n-ends teaching, including one-on-one professional training (I’m an accountant by trade), teaching a parenting class at our local crisis pregnancy center, and a bit of tutoring (French! I love that language!).

At the parish, I’ve been settled into 5th grade since the very start. We’re using Loyola Press’s Finding God.  In the summer and for holiday events, I teach multi-age classes, usually kindergarten and up.   Last summer I helped to write and implement a home-grown VBS program — everybody needs an excuse to buy buckets of balls and a good foam bowling set, right?  For the coming year, I may be making the switch to teaching adults — though it’s too soon to know for sure.

How about you?  I’d love to “meet” you!  Tell me about yourself — are you teaching now?  How’s your class coming?  What have been your challenges this year, and what’s something that’s gone right for a change?  Are you thinking of teaching?  What questions do you have?  What excites you most about being a catechist, and what are your concerns?

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Carpe Articulum

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I read this article today: Hades-type cave looks like heaven for archaeologists.

Key bit:

“Hades, the fabled underworld of the dead in ancient Greece, wasn’t the happiest place…There, departed heroes such as Achilles gathered mostly to grouse about their boredom and await the verdict of the judges of the dead. There’s a reason that it later became associated with the hell of Christianity.”

Tomorrow night’s Wednesday Sunday School lesson plan runs from Gethsemane up to the Ascension. The kids already know about Sheol/ Hades/ Hell, including references to Enoch, Elijah, and the parable of Lazarus resting in the bosom of Abraham. Reading a few lines of this article will be a diverting lead-in for discussing this bit of the Apostles’ Creed: “He descended into hell,” which itself is an intro into discussing what Jesus was actually doing in “Hell” anyway. This picture is our visual aid:

That’s right, it’s an Anastasis. And that makes the news article all the more fun. I usually mention that Anastasia is a girl’s name, but this year I’ll also read this next key bit from the paper:

“But for archaeologists, a Greek cave…contains the remains of a Stone Age village…”What you see there almost cannot be described,” says archaeologist Anastasia Papathanasiou of the Greek Ministry of Culture…” An actual woman named Anastasia is way more interesting than me just saying Anastasia is a girl’s name; and it makes a living connection to that old Greek fresco.

This little exercise meets three ongoing class goals:

1. Connect God Stuff to Regular Stuff.

2. Connect the Past to the Present.

3. Connect the Textbook to Other Printed Stuff.

Now did God make sure this article was in my paper the day before the only class of the year in which I could use it; or was it just coincidence?

Inquiring minds wanna know.

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Here Comes MAC! Baltimore’s Brave New Conference

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If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader. (John Quincy Adams)

I am psyched. I’m heading to Baltimore in March for a major new Catholic conference that seeks to bring hope to the Church by developing leaders in all areas of Catholic life and ministry.

The MidAtlantic Congress for Pastoral Leadership launches its first annual event March 8-10 at the new Baltimore Hilton (only a few blocks from the Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary), with the bracing theme, “Witness Hope!”

A joint effort of the Association of Catholic Publishers and the Archdiocese of Baltimore, the “MAC,” as its visionaries call it, seeks to:

  • Bring the best of Catholic pastoral ministry, religious education/catechesis, and theology to parish leadership
  • Provide an opportunity for parish and school leaders to network with each other and meet in peer groups for support and enrichment with possibility of these meetings continuing through informal groups and emerging social media following the conference
  • Provide an opportunity for parish and school leaders to dialogue with the publishing community to discuss ministry resources and develop best practices
  • Provide an opportunity for skills development
  • Celebrate our faith through prayer and worship
  • Finally, for ACP members, it is hoped that this congress will provide a tangible benefit to its catechetical, liturgical, trade and music publishing members and support for the ACP. (Courtesy of Paul Henderson, MAC co-chair, and Director of Operations and Project Management, USCCB Communications)

Recalling the now-defunct East Coast Conference for Religious Education, ACP’s Executive Director, Therese Brown, who is also MAC’s General Coordinator, explains that in recent years the types of leaders in dioceses, parishes, and Catholic schools has noticeably shifted. “For decades, most ministry leaders were full-time staff, often religious, with master’s degrees.” But in recent years lay ministers are more likely to be part-time staff. Many are volunteers. “They have different needs,” she says.

“Without the ECC,” explains conference co-chair, and Baltimore’s Executive Director of the Department of Evangelization, Fr. John Hurley, CSP, “there was no catechetical conference on the east coast to provide for those needs.” So when the ACP approached the Archdiocese of Baltimore about creating something unique, Archbishop Edwin O’Brien gave his full support.

The location made good sense for several reasons, says Fr. Hurley. “When the ACP came to us, they needed a location that would be accessible to large numbers of people. At that time, many dioceses had begun to restrict travel,” he says, so it was unlikely that east coast parishes would be sending their staffs to events in Los Angeles or Dallas.

“With the economy faltering, attendance numbers at all such conferences are down,” he says, “and hotel prices north of Philadelphia are too high for an event like this to be feasible.” So giving the MAC a permanent home in the more reasonably-priced and centrally-located city of Baltimore made good sense for attendees.

And it’s good for Catholic publishing, too. Fr. Hurley explains. “Conferences like this help publishers get their resources out to their markets, but it also helps them to find new authors. We wanted to do this conference in a new way. We didn’t want to have the same people keynoting, just recycled from other events. We have a mix of headliners and new authors and theologians.”

As inspiration for the new congress, Brown cites the USCCB’s Lay Ecclesial Ministry Project (2005) and its signature document.

“Coworkers in the Vineyard of the Lord”  is the bishops’ pastoral statement on lay ecclesial ministry. It was the outgrowth of a longer process of observation and reflection on the part of the bishops that started many years ago, on the reality of the leadership of the laity in the parish. The MAC builds on the call of the bishops to form lay leaders for their roles in the life of the Church. All of our presentations will come from a leadership perspective,” she says. “Hopefully, one of the outcomes is that attendees will feel more strongly and passionately about their call to ministry.”

The event has an impressive schedule. Building in a dynamic diversity of people, languages, and topics, the 90+ presenters will give 39 master classes and 4 rounds of break-out sessions (75 breakouts total) that will cover such widely varied topics as catechesis for kids and whole communities, RCIA, youth ministry, liturgy, music, multi-cultural issues, social justice, Catholic schools, media, evangelization, and much more. ASL interpretation is available at all major events, and many Spanish-language presentations are offered.

One of the highlights of the congress will prayerfully embrace the season of Lent. A very special Way of the Cross will take place on Friday evening, March 9th, written and directed by Michael Ruzicki, Coordinator of Adult and Sacramental Formation for the Archdiocese of Baltimore. With beautiful banners created by Liturgical Press, this focal point for the congress is hoped to be a memorable and uplifting experience for attendees.

Fr. Hurley says, “We wanted to acknowledge that it was a Friday in Lent, but go beyond lamenting and recognize that the Pascal mystery gained us something! We need to celebrate that faith and enrich it.”

The congress will close on Saturday with something called “Parishioner Day,” which provides special attention to catechists, other parish volunteers, and those who serve on their parish boards.

“We need to be messengers of hope,” says Fr. Hurley. “All of us in leadership positions have challenges. These are the signs of the times. But our ‘young’ Church is full of energy and hopefulness. We have to meet it head on, meet them where they’re at with social communications. They need engagement. People don’t just want to be members, they want to be welcomed, to become a part of the mission.”

Plans are well on their way for the next MAC congress, says Fr. Hurley. “2013 will incorporate the 50th Anniversary of Vatican II, the 20th Anniversary of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and the Year of Faith. We’ll focus more on young leaders next time, school boards, and more tracks in English and Spanish.”

The organizers are offering a special group registration deal for staff members or teams attending together from dioceses, parishes, and schools. “For every four people who register they get one admission free. So, five for the price of four!” says Fr. Hurley.

I hope to see many of you there. I’ll be tweeting (@lisamladinich #macongress) and blogging all three days, live, from the conference, at Patheos via the “Summa This, Summa That” blog.

In the next few weeks, I’ll be interviewing some of the MAC presenters, so stay tuned, and spread the word!

God bless you!

I led them with cords of human kindness, with leading strings of love, and I became for them as one who eases the yoke upon their neck and stoops down to feed them. (Hosea11:4)

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