Home

Diocese of Madison

Parishes

Schools

Vocations

Ministry

Outreach

Contacts

News/Media

Stewardship

July 25, 2008

Regional Gatherings of Catechetical Leaders

One important role of the Office of Evangelization and Catechesis is to serve as a liaison between the Bishop of Madison and the parish catechetical leaders by surfacing needs and concerns to the Bishop and disseminating guidance and directives from the Bishop to the parishes. One valuable forum for this interaction is through periodic gatherings of catechetical leaders on a regional basis.

Goals envisioned for these gatherings include:

Establish solid relationships between parish and diocesan catechetical leaders
Create strong regional networks of parish catechetical leaders
Provide the forum for catechetical leaders to work on common problems
Pursue a common vision for evangelization and catechesis

Summary of May 2008 Gatherings

May 2008 Gatherings
Humanae Vitae after 40 years

Thank you to everyone who participated in our recent regional gatherings exploring the content, context and significance of the encyclical Humanae Vitae on this its 40^th Anniversary Year. The contributions made by all enriched the total experience of those present. We hope the insights gained from this experience will assist all of us in being better apostles of God’s plan for happy and fruitful marriages. We also pray that this experience will facilitate our duty to bring this joyful truth to the People of God whom we serve.

A summary of these gatherings will be posted here soon. In the meantime...

Some participants expressed interest in having ready access to sources for portions of the presentation. We include them here:

Dr. Patrick Fagan, (bio) is a former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Family and Community Policy at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and has worked for years examining social science research data on the relationships among family, marriage, religion, community, and America’s current social challenges. He is the co-author of “The Positive Effects of Marriage: A Book of Charts,” and his work has been cited by the USCCB here in answering the question “Why Do Children Need Married Parents?: Making a Case for Marriage.” This excellent resource is also available for PDF download here. Other research essays of his on related topics can be found here. The specific resource of Dr. Fagan’s cited in our Humanae Vitae presentation was “A Culture of Inverted Sexuality” published in 2000 by The Catholic World Report and can be found at this link. Reading it in its entirety is highly recommended.

Dr. Janet Smith holds the Father Michael J. McGivney Chair of Life Ethics at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit. She is the author of Humanae Vitae: A Generation Later, editor of Why Humanae Vitae Was Right: A Reader. She has published many articles on ethical and bioethics issues. She has taught at the University of Notre Dame and the University of Dallas. Prof. Smith has received the Haggar Teaching Award from the University of Dallas, the Prolife Person of the Year from the Diocese of Dallas, and the Cardinal Wright Award from the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars. She is serving a second term as a consulter to the Pontifical Council on the Family. Over a million copies of her talk, "Contraception: Why Not" have been distributed and some of the statistics in our presentation were taken from this recording, the transcript of which can be found here. The updated (gold) revision of this talk on CD was distributed at the Regional Gatherings as well and some statistics from the presentation were taken from this updated version.

Also see Contraceptive References in the Bible and, Church Teaching on Contraception Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6, a series of articles written by Fr. William Saunders, dean of the Notre Dame Graduate School of Christendom College and pastor of Our Lady of Hope Parish in Sterling, Virginia served as a resource as well.

Finally, see Pollution Changes Sex of Fish, BBC.

Any and all questions and comments are always welcome. Feel free to write Patrick Delaney at Patrick.Delaney@straphael.org or call 608-821-3161.

Additional Resource on Humanae Vitae: EWTN Live!
Just as no one in our office prompted Pope Benedict XVI to speak on the 40th Anniversary of Humanae Vitae during the time of our regional gatherings (click here for his full address), EWTN also highlighted this topic on their EWTN Live program hosted by Fr. Mitch Pacwa, S.J. on Wednesday, May 15. Fr. Mitch’s guest was Fr. Tom Euteneuer, president of Human Life International. To stream audio of this excellent discussion, click here and scroll down to the appropriate program. Or, to purchase the DVD recording, click here and order Item # MP 00293.

Valerie Eilers Available to Give Testimony and Witness to Christ

Many of you will recall our mentioning and passing out copies of Valerie Eilers’ testimony during our last Regional Gatherings on the encyclical Humanae Vitae (on pink paper). From her own experience, Valerie gave an impassioned witness at the conclusion of our local 40 Days for Life effort last year regarding the devastating pain and damage caused in her life due to the common acceptance of the contraceptive ideology heavily promoted in the government schools she attended growing up. As a young lady, she naturally trusted the authority of her environment and became sexually active as a means to “‘purchase’ affection, attention, and companionship during some of the loneliest, darkest, saddest years of … [her] life.” She goes on to speak of her eventual pregnancy and the further trap compelling her to abort her child and her “plummet downward mentally and emotionally until … [she] finally reached rock bottom.” At this point she turned to Christ who brought her to peace, true divine intimacy and inner harmony through lectio divina and the sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist.

Valerie has agreed to be available to speak to adults or young people about the dangers of these behaviors and the true joy of being a disciple of Christ and following His moral law. Though her experience is quite common in our culture today, it is rare to have someone willing to share such a traumatic experience with others. Therefore, Valerie’s courage presents a unique opportunity for us as catechetical leaders to break the silence on these realities and provide a concrete illustration of the sadness caused by these behaviors and the joy intended for us by God in following Jesus Christ. If you might be interested in having Valerie visit your parish or youth group, please contact Patrick Delaney at Patrick.Delaney@straphael.org, or (608) 821-3161. To locate an electronic copy of her testimony, click here.

Pope Benedict XVI’s Address on the 40^th Anniversary of Humanae Vitae now available in English

During the two-week period of our last Regional Gatherings Pope Benedict addressed participants in the International Congress on the 40^th Anniversary of Humanae Vitae organized by the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome. At the time of our second rounds, we could only hand out a news story which provided a selection of quotes from the Pontiff’s address. Now, the entire address is available in English from the website of the Holy See. For a copy of the entire address click here.

Interestingly, in reviewing the Pope’s address, and Valerie Eilers’ testimony, both refer to the possibility and reality of contraceptive sexuality becoming a "drug" which demeans human dignity. If you have any comments or questions, please direct them to Patrick Delaney at Patrick.Delaney@straphael.org, or (608) 821-3161.

Summary of February 2008 Gatherings

February 2008 Gatherings
Catechists meet with Bishop Morlino

Some 400 people, including most DREs, CREs, youth ministers and school principles, as well as many teachers and catechists, were able to attend at least one of the six regional gatherings with Bishop Morlino in February. He stated that his goal for these gatherings was to help all involved in the ministry of catechesis in the Diocese of Madison to “be on the same page,” and then he discussed several themes to clarify what he means by that. After 30-40 minutes of presentation by the Bishop, he fielded questions from those present.
Because of the live and interactive format, each of the six gatherings took on a unique flavor, but for the most part, Bishop Morlino discussed the following themes. In most locations, a lively discussion followed.

In order to fulfill our mission “that everyone in the diocese would hear everyday a loving and gentle invitation to meet Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, in a life changing way,” we have to have met Jesus Christ in a life changing way ourselves.

The energy that accomplishes this task in our own lives is the same energy that Jesus Christ personally exemplified in his relationship to the Father: Self-sacrificial love and humility concretely actualized through obedience. The Church from the Pope to the bishops, priests, deacons, religious and lay people is “an obedience driven communion.” It is this loving obedience to the Church in our individual lives that actualizes the full potency of the saving mission of Christ in ourselves, our families, parishes, diocese, and world.

To what exactly are we to be obedient in order to actualize this energy? Since the Church is the Mystical Body of Christ in the world – the soul of the Church being the very Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ—one can never separate the will of Jesus Christ from the teaching and authority of the Church. Therefore, it is certain that Jesus wants all of his disciples to believe everything in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and to obey the discipline and doctrine also expressed in the Code of Canon Law and liturgically in the Roman Missal.
Could Jesus possibly want something different from this? No he couldn’t, for “all of this is formulated by the power of the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ” throughout the centuries down to the present time. There can be no separation between Christ and His Church (Acts 9:4-5). Obedience to the Church, therefore, is obedience to Christ and brings about that life-changing transformation in our individual lives, growing in deeper relationship and friendship with Jesus, and generating that energy needed to complete the “only mission ever given to the world which cannot fail.”

Although there is no available recorded version of one of the regional gatherings, Bishop Morlino’s February staff catechesis articulated many of the same themes. It is available in video format here.

Summary of November 2007 Gatherings

November 2007 Gatherings
Diocesan Standards and Assessments

Results from the November 2007 regional gatherings are available. Click here for a summary of the proceedings.

Summary of May 2007 Gatherings

May 2007 Gatherings
Establishing a common vision for catechesis

Results from the regional gatherings of catechetical leaders held in May 2007 are available.

Click here for a summary of results.
Click here for region-specific rankings of obstacles and all "solution" ideas.

Some of you asked for the slides used in May. They can be found here.

While this initial series of regional gatherings gave us an opportunity to reflect together on the vision for evangelization and catechesis articulated by Bishop Morlino on February 16, they also gave us a good start to the pursuit of the other goals envisioned for these gatherings, which include:

Establish solid relationships between parish and diocesan catechetical leaders
Create strong regional networks of parish catechetical leaders
Provide the forum for catechetical leaders to work on common problems
Pursue a common vision for evangelization and catechesis

Although not included in this summary document, other valuable feedback was received via comments and suggestions offered on the days' evaluation forms. Overwhelmingly, participants found the gatherings to be very helpful and want them to continue.

Some Questions for Discussion

Although originally generated for the May 2007 regional gatherings, these questions remain worthy of discussion in your parishes and with other diocesan catechetical leaders.

Knowing that we must "start with the end in mind," describe the goal of your catechetical efforts. What are you trying to accomplish?
How will you know if you've succeeded? How might you assess the effectiveness of your catechetical efforts?
What are the concrete attitudes, practices and habits you would expect to see in "effective Catholic disciples" of Jesus Christ?
Do you have a clearly defined plan for reaching your goal? For forming effective Catholic disciples?
What are your most pressing concerns regarding evangelization and catechesis?
What are the most serious obstacles you face in your work of passing on the Catholic faith to those in your care?
What are ways that these concerns might be addressed and these obstacles overcome?
What can the diocesan offices, especially the Office of Evangelization and Catechesis, do to better assist you in your work?
We know that we can't give what we don't have. Does your own personal pursuit of holiness, your own conformation to Christ, receive the priority it deserves, or when things get hectic is it the first thing to go? What concrete steps can you take to ensure your own time for prayer, Scripture and reception of the sacraments?
Do you make sufficient recourse to God's grace offered through the sacraments, especially the Sacrament of Penance? What concrete steps can you take in this regard?