Convocation 2015
New England Convocation for Catechetical Leadership
Sowing Seeds, Cultivating Disciples
REGISTER
ONLINE:
necddre.org
Thursday, August 13 - Saturday, August 15, 2015
Springfield Marriott Hotel
2 Boland Way, Springfield, MA 01115
Designed for:
Parish Catechetical Leaders, Confirmation
Coordinators, Youth Ministers, Priests and
Deacons.
Conference Agenda
THURSDAY, AUGUST 13, 2015
~ Preparing/Tilling/Cultivating~
1:00 - 1:30 p.m.
WELCOME & OPENING PRAYER
GENERAL SESSION 1
1:30 - 3:30 p.m.
The Gift of Cultural Hurricanes:
How to Build Bridges that Empower Families, Schools and Parishes
Tim Hogan
4:15 - 5:15 p.m.
WORKSHOPS - ROUND A
5:30 - 6:45 p.m.
DINNER
GENERAL SESSION 2
7:00 - 8:30 p.m.
The Baptismal Catechumenate, Model for Catechesis:
What does that mean, really?
Mary Birmingham
FRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 2015
~ Planting Seeds~
7:45 - 8:45 a.m.
BREAKFAST
9:00 - 9:30 a.m.
OPENING PRAYER
GENERAL SESSION 3
9:30 - 10:30 a.m.
Christ the Master-Teacher: 12 Ways to Become a Better Religious Educator
Jared Dees
10:30 - 11:00 a.m.
COFFEE BREAK/VENDORS
GENERAL SESSION 4
11:00 - 12:00 noon
Under the Influence of Jesus:
The Transforming Experience of Encountering Christ
Joe Paprocki
12:00 - 2:00 p.m.
LUNCH
2:00 - 3:00 p.m.
WORKSHOPS - ROUND B
3:00 - 3:30 p.m.
VENDORS
4:00 - 5:00 p.m.
LITURGY
5:00 - 6:00 p.m.
RECEPTION
6:00 - 7:30 p.m.
BANQUET
GENERAL SESSION 5
7:30 - 9:00 p.m.
Art, Music, and the Joy of the Gospel
Bro. Mickey McGrath and John Angotti
SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2015
~ Nourish Seedlings ~
7:45 - 8:45 a.m.
BREAKFAST
9:00 - 9:15 p.m.
OPENING PRAYER
GENERAL SESSION 6
9:15 - 10:30 a.m.
A Garden with Many Flowers:
U.S. Catholicism and Diversity in the 21st Century
Hosffman Ospino, PhD
10:30 - 11:00 a.m.
COFFEE BREAK/VENDORS
11:00 - 12:00 noon
WORKSHOPS - ROUND C
12:00 - 1:00 p.m.
LUNCH
GENERAL SESSION 7
1:15 - 2:45 p.m.
Preparing for Harvest
Bro. Mickey McGrath and John Angotti
2:45 - 3:00 p.m.
THANK YOU AND DEPARTURE
Session & Workshop Details
Thursday, August 13, 2015
GENERAL SESSION 1
The Gift of Cultural Hurricanes: How to Build Bridges that
Empower Families, Schools and Parishes
Tim Hogan, PsyD, CIRT
Parish leaders live in a cultural hurricane that is washing away bridges
of human connection. These forces are fundamentally changing the
landscape of family life, and, importantly, radically changing what families
need from us in ministry. Using sociological research as well as his own
work as a therapist and frequent workshop leader, Dr. Hogan will help us
to understand this new landscape. He will then lay out effective strategies
to reinvigorate parish life by creating new connections between parents,
children and their parish.
WORKSHOPS - ROUND A
(A1) Responding to Pope Francis’ Call to Catechize
Mickey Abatemarco
This workshop will explore the call from Pope Francis to catechetical
leaders in his address at the International Day for Catechists in
Rome. How do we answer the call to “go to the outskirts”, and what
does that mean to those who minister in the twenty first century?
(A2) Households of Faith
Jo Ann Paradise, D.Min.
This workshop will explore the church’s teaching on domestic
church that roots marriage in vocation and vocation in Baptism.
Participants will be given concrete tools and practical skills for
developing ways to evangelize parents so that they are more
equipped and inspired to be intentional about forming their
children in faith.
(A3) Robust Engagement with the Family:
Cultivating the Domestic Church
Tim Hogan, PsyD, CIRT
Formerly powerful structures and rituals aimed at supporting
Catholic families are collapsing at an alarming rate, and parents
and families are often lost because of it. Catechetical leaders are
in a unique position to encourage, mentor and empower today’s
parents to take back their role as leaders of the domestic church.
Multiple practical catechetical interventions will be presented
to help parents re-establish priorities and boundaries at home.
Creative and instructive rituals to increase family cohesiveness will
also be offered.
(A4) A Garden of Grace: Spiritual Practices for Today’s Families
Kathy Hendricks
The multiple demands on families today can make the pursuit of
spiritual practices seem evasive and even futile. Nevertheless, the
home holds great potential for being the rich soil from which a
deeply rooted spirituality can bud and blossom. In this workshop,
we will explore five spiritual practices that are seeded in the family
and practical ways to make them part of everyday routines. The
cultivation of gratitude, art of storytelling, celebration of ritual,
extension of forgiveness, and embracing of Sabbath time create a
domestic spirituality abundant in grace and beauty.
GENERAL SESSION 2
The Baptismal Catechumenate, Model for all Catechesis:
What Does That Mean, Really?
Mary Birmingham
We have been hearing for quite some time that the baptismal
catechumenate is to inspire all forms of catechesis. We will explore
what that practically means when it comes to our sacramental
programs by considering how the RCIA gives us the direction we
need to implement and/or improve those programs.
Friday, August 14, 2015
GENERAL SESSION 3
Christ the Master-Teacher:
12 Ways to Become a Better Religious Educator
Jared Dees
“You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master’ and rightly so, for indeed I am” (Jn
13:13). Christ is the model for all religion teachers and catechists.
He was called both master (leader) and teacher by his disciples and
showed them the way to follow in his footsteps. To become better
leaders, we have to become better servants. To become better
teachers, we have to become better disciples. With twelve exercises
and meditations from the book, 31 Days to Becoming a Better
Religious Educator, participants will take steps to becoming better
disciples, servants, leaders, and teachers. This workshop is more than
a professional development opportunity; it is an invitation to enter
into a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ, our master-teacher, in
order to become better witnesses of his life and teachings.
GENERAL SESSION 4
Under the Influence of Jesus:
The Transforming Experience of Encountering Christ
Joe Paprocki, DMin
At World Youth Day in Brazil in 2013, Pope Francis told a group
of bishops that we need a church that is unafraid to go forth and
preach the Gospel and that we must not forget to bring along
simplicity. This lack of inhibition accompanied by a simple yet
powerful message characterized the first proclamation of the
Gospel – the Kerygma – as described in the Acts of the Apostles.
In this presentation, Joe Paprocki, D Min, identifies the strategy
employed by the Apostles who proclaimed the Gospel with such
zeal and lack of inhibition, that people thought perhaps they were
intoxicated.
WORKSHOPS - ROUND B
(B1) Using the Bully Pulpit:
A Christian Ministerial Response to the Violence of Bullying
Presented by Kevin M. Dowd
In this workshop bullying will be defined in contrast to other
forms of youth violence and conflict, and we will examine the
fruits of recent scholarship addressing bullying in our schools
and communities. We will look at difficult cases that compel us to
think of bullying as a genuine social justice and pro-life issue, that
is, an issue that religious leaders have a rightful and critical place
addressing, while also emphasizing that most of the violence is
“hidden.” The workshop will conclude with concrete steps we can
take to become part of the solution, working towards a wholecommunity approach that gets us past the false notion that
bullying is only “the schools’ problem.”
(B2) What to do with Catholics Who Need to Complete their
Initiation
Mary Birmingham
This session will deal with catechized and uncatechized Catholics
who either slipped through the cracks or were never in the cracks in
the first place—those who need to complete either the Sacrament
of Confirmation only, or both Eucharist and Confirmation. How do
we minister to them? What does the RCIA tell us about them?
(B3) Putting an End to the “Drop-Off” Mentality: Adult Faith
Strategies for Parents of REP Kids
Joe Paprocki, DMin
Over the course of many decades, the Catholic Church in the U.S.
has trained parents to drop off their kids once a week so that
parish religious education programs can turn them into good
Catholics. We know full well that this approach is not working. In this
workshop, Joe Paprocki will explore strategies for putting an end to
the “drop off” mentality and instead engaging parents in adult faith
formation opportunities.
(B4) Mission Possible: Forming a Catholic Identity
Jo Ann Paradise, D.Min.
We hear so much about all the forces that act against helping
children grow in holiness that the task can seem almost impossible.
This workshop will explore the implications of current research that
helps us understand how children come to believe and practical
ideas for helping them to know and love their Catholic faith.
GENERAL SESSION 5
Art, Music, and the Joy of the Gospel
Bro. Mickey McGrath and John Angotti
Bro. Mickey McGrath and John Angotti will join their creative forces
to offer a colorful, music-filled look at the joy of the Good News.
With Pope Francis as their inspiration, they will share their own
paintings and songs to preach the gospel, and challenge us to see
and hear the Holy Spirit in our midst- in new, yet traditional, ways.
Saturday, August 15, 2015
GENERAL SESSION 6
A Garden with Many Flowers:
U.S. Catholicism and Diversity in the 21st Century
Hosffman Ospino, PhD
The U.S. Catholic experience from the beginning has been shaped
by the contributions and gifts of Catholics from around the world
who make our faith communities their home. Like a garden that
welcomes the ever renewing presence of beauty, youth, and life,
time and again new flowers blossom inviting us into new ways
of caring and contemplating. Let us reflect on the challenges and
possibilities of building communities of Catholic disciples today
amidst cultural diversity.
WORKSHOPS - ROUND C
(C1) Teaching Children and Teens to Pray in a Digital World
Jared Dees
Our children have never been more plugged in than they are today.
TV, video games, computers, cell phones, smart phones, iPads,
eReaders . . . the list goes on and on. What effect do these devices
have on a young person’s prayer life? How does this impact the way
we evangelize, teach, and parent our children in the 21st century?
We will explore prayer and technology from the perspective of the
Catechism and Scripture.
(C2) El ministerio hispano en parroquias católicas:
realidades y posibilidades
Hosffman Ospino, PhD
Cerca del 25% de todas las parroquias católicas en los Estados
Unidos ofrecen servicios pastorales directamente a la población
de habla hispana. Esta es una realidad que está transformando
profundamente la experiencia católica en el país. Después de 3
años de investigación de estas comunidades —2011-2014— el
Estudio nacional de parroquias católicas con ministerio hispano,
dirigido por el Dr. Hosffman Ospino, está ofreciendo un nuevo
marco para hablar sobre el ministerio hispano. En esta presentación
exploraremos estadísticas importantes, tendencias, preguntas,
transiciones y estrategias para planear mejor el ministerio y la
catequesis con los católicos hispanos tanto a nivel local, regional y
nacional.
(C3) Fair Trade with Small Farmers
Peter Buck
This session demonstrates a role-playing game for teachers to use
in conjunction with Catholic Social Teaching. The game is about
experiencing unequal distribution of resources and getting a few
insights into resources, hunger and poverty. The activity is followed
by discussion of the lives of farmers in underdeveloped countries
and how Catholics in the United States can act in solidarity with
them.
(C4) A Spirituality of Imperfection Kevin M. Dowd
In “A Spirituality of Imperfection,” a Pauline understanding of grace
is brought to bear on the contemporary situation where the culture
has made an idol of perfection. While we have long bemoaned the
impact of advertising that bombards us with images of the “perfect”
body, this is really just a symptom of a much larger problem. Special
attention will be given to the role of religious educators and
youth ministers in helping our young people to develop a healthy
spirituality that recognizes only God as perfect and the source of
our ultimate perfection of grace.
GENERAL SESSION 7
Preparing for Harvest
Bro. Mickey McGrath and John Angotti
Our closing session and final prayer will be another celebration of
the Joyful Good News through the art and music of Bro Mickey and
John Angotti. This time, we will look at the ways we nourish and
nurture each other as a family of disciples with Jesus and the saints
across time as our friends and inspirations.
For detailed biographical information of this year’s convocation speakers and presenters please visit the
New England Conference of Diocesan Directors website at www.necddre.org.