Celebrate Religious Education Month

November is Celebrate Religious Education Month for all of New England. Look for a special section of the Catholic Transcript's November publication for articles and stories.

For clip art, suggestions on how to celebrate, go to www.orehartford.org and www.catholicnh.org/education/religious-education/rem/

Family Day - A Day to Eat Dinner With Your Children

The Archdiocese of Hartford is participating in the Family Day Dinner, initiated by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.

Statistics show that children and adolescents are much less likely to abuse alcohol, drugs and tobacco when their families regularly share meals together.

This is an opportunity for families throughout the Archdiocese to come together for a meal on Monday, September 26, 2011. We are encouraging every family in the Archdiocese to take the time to be together, share a meal, and enjoy each other's company.

Check out our website - http://www.orehartford.org/ - which includes suggestions for parish religious education programs (in English and Spanish) and copies of a poster (8 1/2 by 11) (also in English and Spanish). The Archdiocesan website - http://www.archdioceseofhartford.org/ - contains copies of Archbishop Mansell's letter to parishes, prayers, bulletin notices, homily hints, and other helpful articles.

Let us know how it is implemented in your parish. We would like to feature some families in the various publications of the Archdiocese. Contact Pat Keck - pkeck@adh-ore.org or 860-243-9465 - with the names of families who would be interested in sharing their experiences of Family Day.

Early Childhood Religion Readiness Webinar

A webinar for kindergarten teachers, pre-school catechists, teachers, principals and catechetical leaders on early childhood religious education will be presented Wednesday, September 21, 3:30-5 pm (EST) and repeating Saturday, September 24, 11 am-12:30 pm (EST).

The event is the first in a series hosted by RCL Benzier.

The webinar will be offered by faculty from the University of Dayton's early childhood program and from the university's early childhood demonstration school, the Bombeck Family Learning Center.

Each webinar session is limited to 100 computers. Catechists, DREs, parents, teachers and pastors are encouraged to gather in locales to view the webinar as a group.

Registration will be accepted on a first come, first served basis.

The deadline for registration is September 16. If interested, send an email to Dan Mulhall, dmulhall@rclbenziger.com, to receive a webinar invitation and access code. Participants will need access to a computer with speakers and be able to receive downloads in a timely manner.

Catechetical Sunday

Catechetical Sunday is being celebrated across the country on September 18, 2011.



The theme this year is "Do This in Memory of Me".



Free downloadable resources (clipart, poster, commissioning ceremony, homily hints, bulletin notices, articles, in-services for catechists/teachers, prayers, intergenerational retreat, etc.) are available at http://www.usccb.org/ and look for "Catechetical Sunday" in the right column.



This is a wonderful opportunity to honor your catechists and better catechize the whole parish on The Eucharist.

Getting Started as a Catechist - Free Webinars

As the new catechetical year approaches, catechists are focusing their attention on how to best engage their students in faith formation. In the United States alone, roughly 150,000 catechists are new to the job each year! With that in mind, Joe Paprocki (remember him? - he was our keynoter at last year's Congress) will once again be hosting a series of free Webinars through Loyola Press called "Getting Started as a Catechist."



He will be hosting four webinars in the series, each focused on teaching a different age group. All will air from 8 pm to 9 pm, EST.

• August 17 (teaching primary age children, grades 1-3)




• August 24 (teaching intermediate age children, grades 4-7)




• August 30 (teaching junior high and high school)




• September 6 (teaching adult faith formation)

In these webinars, you will look at the basic skills of being a catechist, how to plan effective lessons, ways to lead compelling prayer, tips on how to organize a variety of activities, and how to maintain order and discipline in the learning environment, in addition to other topics, all tailored to the specific age group you are preparing to teach.

These webinars are free and give catechists, and those interested in becoming catechists, the opportunity to learn more about this wonderful vocation from the comfort of your own computer.

For more information or to register, or to see what else Joe has to offer, go to his blog - http://www.catechistsjourney.com/.

Getting Started as a Catechist - Free Webinars!

New England Convocation for Catechetical Leadership

Last chance to register!!!




The biennial New England Convocation for Catechetical Leadership is being held at the Springfield, MA Marriott on August 5-7, 2011 (Note: there is a Pre-Convocation on RCIA on August 4-5.


Eight good reasons to be at the Convocation:

• One day registrations - come either Friday, Saturday or Sunday only - meals and events and parking included in the one day




• Great speakers of international renown (e.g. John Allen, Vatican Correspondent and author). You don't need to travel any farther than Springfield for this opportunity




• Multicultural perspective - speakers in Spanish and simultaneous translation available




• Bishop Richard Malone will facilitate the panel discussion on Saturday about the future of Religious Education




• Wonderful opportunities for conversation about pastoral work




• Great food!




• Camaraderie with those of us who "labor in the vineyards" of New England




• And most importantly, we will miss you if you don't come - your perspective will be missing.

Please consider being with us, and bringing or encouraging staff members or parish members who would benefit from this.

Go to http://www.necddre.org/ for copies of the brochure and registration forms

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New England Convocation for Catechetical Leadership

The New England Convocation for Catechetical Leadership is scheduled for August 5-7, 2011 at the Springfield Marriott Hotel.



The theme for the convocation is "Evangelizing Catechesis: Today, Tomorrow & Beyond".



The pre-convocation (on the RCIA) will be held August 4-5.



Register now! This is a wonderful opportunity for catechetical leaders to gather as a region to learn, explore, and share.



Major speakers include John Allen ("The Future Church"), ValLimar Jansen, Tom Kenzia, Sr. Ruth Bolare, Fr. Juan Calderon, Maureen Provencher, Rob Brancatelli, Mary Jane Silvia, LaVerne Bertin, and Carol Eipers.



Workshops are also available in Spanish.



For more information and the registration forms, go to our website - http://www.orehartford.org/.

Catholic Speakers Online

John Roberto will be presenting "Envisioning the Future of Faith Formation" in a webinar presented by Paulist Evangelization Ministries (formerly the Paulist National Evangelization Association).

The webinar is scheduled for Thursday, June 16, 2011 at 3:00 pm ET.

John will offer practical strategies, ideas, innovations, and resources for targeting the spiritual and religious needs of those who participate only occasionally, those who say they are "spiritual" but not religious, and those who are uninterested and unaffiliated.

John Roberto is President of LifelongFaith Associates (http://www.lifelongfaith.com/), editor of the journal "Lifelong Faith", and coordinator for the Faith Formation 2020 Initiative (http://www.faithformation2020.net/).

For more information or to register, go to http://www.pncea.org/ and click on "online events and training".

"Practice Makes Catholic" - Webinar

Join Joe Paprocki, National Consultant for Faith Formation at Loyola Press, who fill facilitate this complimentary webinar on "15 Ways to Make Your Religion Class More Catholic." Catholicism is a unique way of seeing. As catechists and religion teachers, we impart this way of seeing to others. The Catholic vision is characterized by the following:

• a sense of sacramentality




• a commitment to community




• a respect for the dignity of human life and a commitment to justice




• a reverence for Tradition




• a disposition to faith and hope and not despair.

Wednesday, May 11 at 7:00-8:00 pm, CDT (8:00-9:00 EST)

To register: go to Joe's blog - http://www.catechistsjourney.com/

Catechetical Leader Retreat

For parish Directors/Coordinators of Religious Education and Youth Ministers... Come and enjoy a Day of Reflection at Enders Island in Mystic - June 1, 2011, from 9:30 - 3:30. A day of prayer, sharing, and relaxation at the shore. Our retreat director this year is Deacon Bruce Bonneau, Assistant Director of Adult Evangelization and Spirituality in the Diocese of Fall River. To register, go to http://www.orehartford.org/ or contact me at pkeck@adh-ore.org or 860-243-9465.

Annual Awards Ceremony

Reminder!!!

The Annual Office of Religious Education Awards Ceremony is scheduled for Wednesday, May 25, 2011, 7:30 at St. Mark the Evangelist Church in West Hartford.
Awards will be presented for:

• Service Awards
• Completion of the Echoes of Faith Catechist Formation Program
• Recognition Awards (Light of the World) for adults
• Recognition Awards (Discipleship) for high-school seniors

Recommendation forms are due no later than March 25th.

For copies of the forms, go to www.orehartford.

Roman Missal Workshops

The 3rd Edition of the Roman Missal will be used in all parishes beginning with Advent, 2011.





Father David Baranowski, Director of the Office for Divine Worship, will be presented a workshop on what this change will mean for us and how we can best prepare for it.





The workshop is designed for Catholic school and parish Religious Education personnel.





There are 3 dates/locations to choose from:

• Tuesday, May 3rd at St. John of the Cross in Middlebury


• Tuesday, May 10th at St. Rita in Hamden


• Tuesday, May 17th at St. Mark the Evangelist in West Hartford

All workshops are from 10:00 - Noon.

The registration form can be found at our website - http://www.orehartford.org/ or contact me at pkeck@adh-ore.org or 860-243-9465.

Roman Missal Changes - Free Webinar

Joe Paprocki, National Consultant with Loyola Press, will be presenting a free Webinar titled What You Need to Know About the Roman Missal Changes.

There are 2 sessions to choose from: Tuesday, February 8 or Wednesday, February 9. Both sessions begin at 8:00 p.m. EST and end at 9:00.

In addition, recordings of these Webinars will be made available for those unable to participate live.

To register, or for more information, go to http://www.catechistsjourney.com/ and search for "Roman Missal". At this blog site, you will also find some wonderful articles (a ten-part series) about the upcoming changes to the Roman Missal.