National Organization for the Continuing Education of Roman Catholic Clergy

1337 West Ohio Street, Chicago, Illinois 60622-6490 312/226-1890 Fax 312-829-8915

September marks the start of the NOCERCC regional meetings. Region VI was held on September 3-4 in Sylvania, Ohio. This year, besides the usual sharing, members spent time planning the Annual Convention of Pastors to be held January 6-10, 1997 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The 1997 convention theme is Envisioning the Eucharist: From the Past to the Future. Speakers will include Bishop Kenneth Untener, Bishop Patrick Cooney, Bishop James Malone, and Fr. Richard Fragomeni.

Region VII’s members from Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana met September 12-13 at the Center for Development in Ministry in Mundelein, Illinois. The regional meetings scheduled for the weeks to come are:

Region III October 2-3 Mt. Pocono, PA

Region XI October 13-15 Menlo Park, CA

Region IV October 28-29 Atlanta, GA

Region IX November 4-5 Omaha, NE

Region I November 7 Boston, MA

Region VIII November 11-12 St. Paul, MN

Region V November 18-19, Memphis, TN

The national convention brochure and registration form were sent out. If you need extra packets, please call the National Office. The 1997 convention on February 3-6, 1997 and is entitled, Preaching and the Art of Storytelling. It will be preceded by a two-day workshop for new directors and committee members. Seasoned directors and committee members will also find this workshop most helpful. Circle your calendar and make your plans early. This convention promises to be a valuable and enriching experience for all.

A warm welcome to our new members: Full Member, Bob O’Donnell, CSP and the Paulist Fathers; Associate Member, Mario Filardo of WTS/RAPTIM; and Affiliate Members, Gerard Chylko, CSSR, Frank Ferrante, CMF, and John McTighe, CSSR.

Paul J. Murray, CFX

Msgr. Andrew Cusack of the National Institute for Clergy Formation announces the 1997 Winter Institute at Our Lady of Florida Center, North Palm Beach, Florida, January 12-17, 1997. The Institute is entitled, The Unique and Unrepeatable Expression that is the Ministerial Priest within the Community of the Baptized. The presenters will include: Rev. Canice Connors, OFM Conv; Rev. Avery Dulles, SJ; Rev. Paul Hinnebusch, OP; Rev. Roland E. Murphy, O Carm; Rev. John F. O’Grady, SSD; Rev. Stephen J. Rossetti.

Contact: Msgr. Andrew Cusack, Ph.D., National Institute for Clergy Formation, Seton Hall University, South Orange, NJ 07079; 201-761-9739; FAX 201-275-2382.

The Cemanahuac Educational Community, located in Cuernavaca, Mexico offers continuing education programs in Spanish language study and Latin American studies at reduced fees for priests who are working or will be working in Hispanic ministry. Study programs can be arranged for any length of time and can be tailored to individual needs and interests. Cemanahuac also assists in arranging volunteer opportunities, as well as discussion and reflection on the social reality of Mexico. Housing can be provided at reasonable rates. Cemanahuac is over twenty years old and is supported by leading language education associations in the United States. Meet the representative at the NOCERCC convention in Orlando.

Contact: Vivian B. Harvey, Educational Programs Coordinator, Cemanahuac, Apartado 5-21, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico 011-52-73-18-6407; FAX 011-52-73-12-5418; Internet: 74052.2570@compuserve.com.

WTS/RAPTIM (Romana Associatio Pro Transferendis Itineraribus Misionaris), NOCERCC’s newest Associate Member, is a Catholic organization founded in Rome forty years ago to help fund the transportation costs of Catholic missionaries. Today the organization serves not only missionaries, but religious and nonprofit organizations and pilgrimage groups offering domestic discounts of 25% and international discounts up to 45% for travel to Africa, Asia, Europe, India, Latin America, Middle East, Mexico, and the South Pacific.

Contact: WTS/RAPTIM Representative, 102 Union Wharf, Boston, MA 02109; 617-367-6757; 800-368-6757; FAX 617-589-3708.

Drs. Joseph and Eileen Connolly invite you to sign up for a week of personalized coaching and skill development at one of their upcoming Institutes in Effective Group Leadership. Over 30,000 Catholic Church leaders have participated. The next Institutes are: October 20-26, 1996 in St. Louis, Missouri, and February 2-8 in Los Angeles, California.

Contact: Communication Center, 214 South Meramec Ave., St. Louis, MO 63105; 314-863-7267; FAX 314-863-7263.

RPI convocations are scheduled this fall in the Dioceses of Lansing, Michigan (September 30-October 3), Kansas City, Kansas (October 7-9), Saginaw, Michigan (October 28-30), and Monterey, California (November 21-22). At the Lansing RPI, NOCERCC members Don Snyder (Cleveland), Bert Gohm (Saginaw), Bob Pearson (Spokane) and Jerry Gosselin (Portland, ME) will be trained as new facilitators for RPI and will join veteran facilitators Roy Persich,CM (Vincentians of the West), Tom DiFolco (Cincinnati), and Ken Laverone (Monterey).

The new Center for Continuing Formation at St. Mary’s Seminary and University is pleased to announce its 1997 program schedule for the Sabbatical Month for Priests. An invitational three-week version will be offered June 9-27. The first full-length sabbatical will be offered October 7-31, 1997.

Contact: Christa R. Klein, Dean, Center for Continuing Formation, St. Mary’s Seminary and University, 4500 Roland Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21210; 410-323-3200; FAX 410-323-8002.

The Institute for Religious Education and Pastoral Studies of Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, Connecticut announces it’s week of study in Paris January 5-11, 1997. Entitled GOODNEWSweek; Enlightenment for those who spread the Good News of Jesus, the program offers each participant an opportunity to share in a process of refining ministerial goals. Presenters include: Msgr. Gregory Smith, Sr. Angela Ann Zukowski, Dr. Terrence Merrigan, and Dr. John Dick.

Contact: Sacred Heart University-REAPS, 5151 Park Avenue, Fairfield, Connecticut 06432-1000; 203-371-7867; FAX 203-374-9968.

A copy of the Organizational Directions: 1996-2000 was sent to each full member. These nine organizational directions under which flow several goals will help to enhance the promotion of our mission and ministry. Like all plans, these organizational directions will be as important to us as we make them. I strongly encourage your active participation and creative initiatives in addressing these organizational directions.

Also, a copy of the second annual Membership Directory was mailed to all members. We hope this directory for 1996-1997 will be a valuable resource to help in facilitating our goal of networking. We are blessed with the wonderful talents and gifts of our membership.

For personal or ministerial reasons, Norman Bolduc (Region I), Glenn Whitman (Region III), Tony Ziegler (Region V), and Ronald Chochol (Region IX) recently resigned from the Board of Directors. We gratefully acknowledge their generosity and dedication for their service on the Board.

We welcome two new members to the Board of Directors: John MacInnis (Region I) will complete the unexpired term of Norman Bolduc and Robert Ray (Region V) will complete the unexpired term of Tony Ziegler. This fall, Regions II, III, V, VIII, IX, XI and the religious members will hold elections for membership on the Board.

Ordinarily, the Executive Committee meets two or three times a year at the National Office in Chicago. The committee recently affirmed my recommendation that we meet occasionally in the regions in order to participate in part of the regional meetings. We look forward to this new opportunity and I hope it will enhance communication and increase valuable dialogue between the regions and the Executive Committee. Our next meeting, October 12-15, will be in Los Altos, California, enabling us to join Region XI for a session at their fall meeting. During these days, we will also meet with the 1998 Convention Planning Committee: Board member, Tom Powers (Albany), Robert Miller (San Bernardino) and Michael Murphy (San Diego).

NOCERCC members Bro. Paul Murray, CFX, Rev. Thomas Powers, Rev. Thomas Singer, OMI, Rev. Francis S. Tebbe, OFM, Sr. Sue Torgersen, CSJ, together with the consultants Dr. Stephen Ross, Psy.D., Rev. John Keenan, SSS, Ph.D., Psy.D., Rev. Thomas R. Bevan (PL&M), and the video personnel from Golden Dome Productions, Mr. Gary Pethe and Mr. Christopher Salvador, gathered at the Techny Conference Center in Techny (Chicago), Illinois on June 30-July 1, 1996 for the third meeting of the NOCERCC Task Force to develop and produce a print and video resource for use by priests in understanding intimacy, sexuality and boundary issues. This resource will be developed so that it can be used privately by the priest, in priests’ support groups, and/or during a one or two day gathering of priests. A local facilitator and a resource person could serve as a team to assist larger gatherings of priests.

I gave a report on this project during the September 8-9 meeting of the Bishops’ Committee on Priestly Life and Ministry and at the September 9 meeting of the Bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee on Sexual Abuse. Both committees were supportive of the direction and content of the project.

I have raised or secured the necessary funds that will subsidize the design and production of this resource. The projected goal is to have the resource available for distribution by June, 1997. The next Task Force meeting is scheduled in Techny (Chicago), Illinois on October 28-29.

Representing NOCERCC, I attended the August 7-11 assembly of the Conference of Major Superiors of Men (CMSM) in Arlington, Virginia. As keynote speakers, Rev. Timothy Radcliffe, OP, Master General of the Dominican Order, and Dr. Vincent Bilotta, a psychotherapist and formation consultant, addressed the theme of the assembly, Celebrating Male Religious Life: The Gifts, The Challenges. Christopher Keenan, OFM, Loughlan Sofield, ST, and Martin Pable, OFM Cap. presented workshops on ministry, community life and spirituality. The fortieth anniversary of the creation of CMSM was celebrated at the closing banquet.

I spoke with many of the provincials and major superiors. They were most affirming of our mission and ministry. Likewise, I enjoyed seeing several of our NOCERCC members who are also serving on their respective provincial councils. We have 67 religious provinces or congregations as active NOCERCC members.

In July, I sent a numbered ticket and wrote to the full members about the special drawing to be held at the convention in Orlando, Florida, February 3-6, 1997. The ticket sales from this drawing are meant to raise $30,000 for the endowment fund. Two $2,500 prizes will be awarded. The sellers of the winning tickets are also winners, each receiving $100. You need not be present for the drawing to win. Each full member is asked to buy or sell at least one ticket. So far, 48 tickets have been sold. To achieve the goal of raising $30,000, all 350 tickets must be sold by January 31, 1997. Thanks to all who have bought or sold tickets or have contributed to the endowment fund.

Everyone wins in this drawing. Let’s make the 1997 convention business meeting a big celebration! We appreciate your support and participation.

The Catholic Coalition on Preaching consists of thirteen national organizations with a deep interest in the continuing development of Catholic preaching. From the establishment of the Coalition in 1989, NOCERCC has been an active member. Persons involved in the Catholic preaching ministry and who have a role in shaping that ministry were the target audiences for the two national conferences held in 1993 and 1995. Like the past two conferences, the third conference will focus on current critical issues involved in the Sunday preaching event.

The eight-member Coalition Steering Committee (Mrs. Patricia Hughes Baumer, Mr. William Graham, Rev. Greg Heille, OP, Rev. Eugene F. Lauer, Rev. Nick Rice, Rev. Francis S. Tebbe, OFM, Sr. Mary Jean Traeger, OP, and Rev. James Walsh) held three meetings during 1996 to design the third national conference on Catholic preaching. The third conference is scheduled for September 21-24, 1997 at the Marriott Hotel in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The theme of this third conference, Enkindle in Us the Fire ..., will be addressed in the keynote presentations of Rev. Walter J. Burghardt, SJ and Sr. Catherine Hilkert, OP, in several preaching moments, in the fourteen interest sessions or workshops, and through the interaction of the participants. I encourage you to attend.

Francis S. Tebbe, O.F.M.

Regina Tours announces the following familiarization trips for priests, deacons, and religious brothers: Holland/Belgium/Germany, October 30-November 6, 1996, $399.00; Holy Land, December 3-9, 1996, January 7-13, 1997, $399.00; Greece-Footsteps of St. Paul, January 31-February 5, 1997, $499.00.

Contact: Regina Tours, 401 South Street, #4B, Chardon, OH 44024; 800-228-4654.

St. Meinrad’s School of Theology and Office of Continuing Education has designed a new outreach program: Professional Boundaries in Ministry. This one-day workshop will help clergy and pastoral ministers in understanding the challenges and concerns of boundaries and appropriate conduct in their ministerial relationships. The workshop is presented by Sr. Jane Becker, OSB, Ph.D. and Rev. Bill Stumpf, M.Div., Ph.D. Consider scheduling this workshop in your diocese or community.

Contact: Sr. Barbara C. Schmitz, OSB, Office of Continuing Education, Saint Meinrad School of Theology, St. Meinrad, IN 47577, 800-730-9910; FAX 812-357-6816.

The 19th annual Johannes Hofinger Catechetical Conference will be held January 10-11, 1997, at the Hyatt Regency in New Orleans. The theme is Meeting Jesus on the Journey. Keynote speakers will be Dr. Carole Eipers, Rev. Bryan Massingale and Dr. Eva Marie Lumas. Over thirty breakout sessions are planned on topics including: Learning to Pray and Celebrate as Family; Youth Ministry in the Next Millennium; Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults; The Vision of Mark’s Gospel; and Effective Leadership in Today’s Church.

Contact: Conference Services by Loretta Reif, P. O. Box 5226, Rockford, IL 66625; 815-399-2150; FAX 815-332-3476.

Men Vowed & Sexual: Conversations About Celibate Chastity was produced by the CMSM in 1993. Six video tapes and discussion guide may be borrowed.

First Things First an audio tape by Stephen R. Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, may be borrowed.

40,000.00

10,000.00

Mrs. Marion E. McShane

MR. Thomas J. Edenbach

Rev. Don Piraro

Rev. William Martin

Rev. Robert Nalley

Msgr. George Thompson

Rev. William Beaudin

Rev. John Durbin

Rev. John G Block

Rev. Stephen S. Feehan

Rev. Joseph Rinaldo

Miissionaries of LaSallette

Rev. Steve Popovich

Rev. James Buckley, CSC

Rev.Colin A. MacDonald

Diocese of Kansas City/St.Joe

Rev. Richard W. Woy

Rev. William Galvin

Discalced Carmelites

Rev. Lawrence Delaney

Rev. James O’Leary

Society of St. Sulpice

Siocese of Owensboro

Mr. Ken W. Morrow

Msgr. Walter E.Nolan

Robert and Elaine Besler

Rev. Christopher Promis, CSSP

Rev. Vincent P. Leiser

Rev. Michael Danner

Rev. Ken Ramon-Landry

Bro. Paul J. Murray, CFX

Rev. Leon Martin, SAC

Bishop Kenneth Untener

Rev. Liam Hoar, sP

Rev. Raymond Sheperd

Diocese of Madison

Mr. John P. Buccieri

Rev. Eamon O’Gorman

Rev. Richard Krekelberg

The first annual conference of the Ministry Renewal Network entitled Enacting the Vision: Implementing Collaborative Ministry for Our Time will be held October 31-November 2, 1996 at Annapolis, Maryland. The conference will focus on discerning the theological and pastoral implications of collaborative ministry; discovering new models of shared decision-making; learning and skill-building tools to implement collaborative ministry. Presenters will include Dr. Bernard Cooke, Ms. Sherry Immediato, and Brother Loughlan Sofield, S.T.

Contact: National Center for Pastoral Leadership, 2661 Riva Road, Suite 1042, Annapolis, MD 21401; 410-266-6462, FAX 410-266-5214.