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; NOCERCC@cmnonline.com

This spring’s resources, besides the March NewsNotes and Summer Listings, will include the Convention Booklet 1998 containing the presentations made in February in San Diego: Transformational Spirituality of the Diocesan Presbyter: A Developmental Enterprise by Reverend Raymond P. Carey, Tensions Between Policy and Human Reality: Three Possible Directions by Reverend John E. Linnan, C.S.V., and Internationalization of the Clergy by Reverend Allan F. Deck, S.J. Please use this as a continuing educational resource for yourself and for those whom you serve. During the summer the Annual Report 1998 and the 1998 Membership Directory will be published. A newly revised edition of Sabbatical Programs is scheduled for 1999.

The following regions have scheduled meetings for the fall:

Region VI Sept. 8-9 Fremont, OH

Region XI Oct. 18-20 Los Altos, CA

Region IX Nov. 2-3 Liberty, MO

Region V Nov. 9-11 Memphis, TN

Region VIII Nov.16-17 St. Paul, MI

As I put together NewsNotes for the last time, I am filled with a deep sense of gratitude for the privilege of having been able to devote five years of ministry to NOCERCC. It has been a great pleasure to work with the membership who bring to the organization much wisdom and a wealth of experience. You are a great gift to one another, the priests that you serve and the Church.

I am especially grateful to Francis Tebbe for his friendship and constant professional support and encouragement. His heart-felt dedication to NOCERCC is unparalleled.

Working with Executive Committees which included Don Snyder, Jim Hastings, S.S.C., Jerry Kopel, Jim Kuhns and Mark Hession have been for me an experience of collaboration at its best as well as a source of fraternal support. I offer my special thanks also to NOCERCC’s Administrative Assistant, Kathleen M. Glynn, for her hard work and dedication in helping me to maintain the National Office as a vital and productive center sensitive to the needs of the membership.

On July 1, I will leave the National Office in the capable hands of the new Executive Director. Soon after, I will return to the Boston area to begin a new ministry in the Xaverian Brothers Sponsored Schools.

Let us pray for one another and for NOCERCC’s important ministry to priests.

Paul J. Murray, C.F.X.

R.P.I. convocations were held in the Dioceses of Lafayette, LA (April 28-29) and Baton Rouge, LA (May 4-6). Convocations are scheduled for the Dioceses of Worcester, MA (June 8-10), San Francisco, CA (June 7-9), Toledo, OH (July 6-8), Gaylord, MI (September 15-17), and Stockton, CA (September 21-23). The 1999 R.P.I. schedule includes Charleston, SC (January 11-14), Davenport, IA (June 7-10) and Grand Rapids, MI (September 27-30). For information about scheduling a R.P.I. convocation in your diocese or province, contact the National Office.

The Maryknoll Mission Institute announces its schedule of programs. For 1998: New Theological Horizons: Insights from Contemporary Science, June 7-12, Diarmuid O’Murchu, M.S.C.; Who Will Comfort You? Wounding and Healing in Lamentations and Second Isaiah, June 14-19, Kathleen M. O’Connor, Ph.D.; Christians and the Experience of Islam, July 12-17, Jane I. Smith; Approaches to Contextualization, October 12-16, Dean S. Gilliland, Ph.D. For 1999: Spirituality of the Misfit, March 7-12, Larry Lewis, M.M.; More to Peace than Justice: Practice and Faith of Christian Peacemaking, March 15-19, William Headley, C.S.Sp.

Contact: Admissions Administrator, Maryknoll Mission Institute, Rogers Building, Box 529, Maryknoll, NY 10545-0311; 914-941-7575; Fax: 914-923-0733; e-mail: ntapia@mk sisters.com.

NOCERCC’s Region VIII announces its annual summer symposium co-sponsored by the School Sisters of Notre Dame, St. Paul School of Divinity, the University of St. Thomas and the National Federation of Catholic Youth Ministers. Entitled The Sermon on the Mount: Leading for the Sake of the Gospel, the symposium is scheduled for August 3-5, 1998 at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota. Speakers include Richard Rohr, O.F.M., Catherine Pinkerton C.S.J., Tom Everson, and Miriam Jansen, S.S.N.D. Seminar topics include: Pastoring; Systemic Change; Caring Skills for the Journey; Faith Formation for the Whole Family; Ministers of Meaning.

Contact: Lucille Dehen, S.S.N.D., 170 Good Counsel Drive, Mankato, MN 56001; 507-389-4229; Fax: 507-345-6679.

Dr. Vincent M. Bilotta, President of Formation Consultation Services (FCS) announces Sabbath Center’s 1998 Summer Schedule. He invites participants “to work with us on your own personal, professional and spiritual growth, in a safe place, on your own schedule, for your own reflective peace.”

Rediscovering the Sabbath, August 2-October 9; Formative Process of Awareness, four days: scheduled individually; Three-week Mini-Sabbaticals: June 7-26; July 5-24; August 9-28; September 13-October 2; Four Consecutive Seminars: June 7-July 3; Family of Origin Seminars: June 14-19; July 12-17; August 16-21; September 20-25; Men’s Sexuality Seminars: June 14-19; July 12-17; August 16-21; September 20-25; Women’s Sexuality Seminars: June 14-19; August 16-21; September 20-25; Spirituality Seminars: June 21-26; July 19-24; August 23-28; September 27-October 2; Ordinary Intimacy Seminars: May 31-June 5; June 28-July 3.

Contact FCS: 800-410-3663; Fax: 508-234-0956; e-mail: sabbath@tiac.net; web site: www.tiac.net/users/sabbath.

Visit NOCERCC’s new web site:

http://cmnonline.com/nocercc.htm

Executive Committee. The Executive Committee met April 17-18 at the National Office in Chicago. Our agenda included reports from the President and Executive Director, a report on the Catholic Coalition on Preaching, a review of the Organizational Directions, an examination of the FY 98 and FY 99 budgets, reports on the conventions of 1998, 1999, and 2000, drafting an agenda for our upcoming meetings of the NOCERCC Advisory Council and the Board of Directors, and we interviewed two candidates for the position of Executive Director.

The NOCERCC Advisory Council meets on June 25-26 and the Board of Directors meets on June 26-29 at Techny Towers Conference Center in the Chicago area. We intend to have an assessment of the experiences of the Advisory Council these past five years and to identify goals for the future. The Advisory Council will have a joint session with the Board of Directors on June 26. These meetings are always wonderful experiences of dedication and commitment on the part of all who participate. I invite you to remember us in prayer during these days.

New Executive Director. I am pleased to announce that Reverend Michael J. Cronin, a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago, has accepted a three-year appointment (July 1, 1998-June 30, 2001) as the Executive Director for NOCERCC. Mike will attend the upcoming meetings of the Advisory Council and Board of Directors. He will begin his work in the National Office on July 1.

On June 30, Mike concludes a four-year appointment as Academic Dean, Director of Liturgy and Music and Formation Director at St. Joseph Seminary (1994-1998), the College Seminary at Loyola University Chicago. Prior to the move to Loyola University, Mike served as teacher and spiritual director at Niles College Seminary (1992-1994), and as teacher and Dean of Formation at Archbishop Quigley Preparatory Seminary (1990-1992) and at Quigley Preparatory Seminary North (1985-1990). After ordination in 1973, Mike served the Archdiocese as a resident associate in three parishes (1985-1992) and as an associate pastor in three parishes (1973-1985).

Mike earned an M.Div. in 1973 from St. Mary of the Lake Seminary in Mundelein and a Master in Applied Spirituality from the University of San Francisco in 1995. He is currently enrolled in the M.A. in Theology program at Loyola University Chicago.

Mike’s organizational ability, communication skills, desktop publishing and computer knowledge and experience, his high capacity for work and his attention to detail will lend themselves to productive and healthy working relationships with us all.

Mike enters this appointment with the endorsements and recommendation of his Ordinary, Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I., Father J. Cletus Kiley (Executive Director for the Secretariat for Priestly Life and Ministry), and Father Richard Hynes (former president of NFPC), and the approval of the NOCERCC Board of Directors. Please join me in welcoming Mike to the mission of NOCERCC.

Appeal. The 43 bishops and 22 provincials who contributed to the 1997 Appeal are listed on one of the inserts in this issue of NewsNotes. We are once again sincerely grateful for their financial contributions. Their generosity is yet another sign of their confidence and trust in our misssion and ministry.

With Grateful Hearts. We will miss Paul Murray and once again express our deepest gratitude to him for his wonderful service with NOCERCC. His talents, dedication as well as his relaxed style and ease with people were important and valuable resources for NOCERCC during these past five years. It was a personal and professional pleasure for me to work closely with Paul and I always appreciated his confidence and trust, his insights and wonderful spirit of cooperation, and his sense of humor.

In July, Paul returns to St. John’s Preparatory School in Danvers (Boston), Massachusetts, a ministry of the Xaverian Brothers to begin a new ministry of faculty formation and mission effectiveness with the Xaverian Schools.

The Executive Committee, Advisory Council and Board of Directors will have the occasion to honor Paul during our meetings in June.

May God’s blessings continue to be with you, Paul, and may our paths cross often in the years ahead!

Francis S. Tebbe, O.F.M.

Two new commentaries on the Gospel of Matthew by Donald Senior, C.P., The Gospel of Matthew and Matthew are available. The first is designed to help the readers become more skilled in the art of interpretation. The second book follows the format of traditional Scripture commentaries offering a line by line exposition of the text unfolding its meaning in the context of the world in which it arose. Both books are published by Abingdon Press, P.O. Box 801, Nashville, TN 37202;800-251-3320; Fax: 800-336-7802.

Paraclete Father Liam Hoare recommends a newly published book on the spirituality of the priesthood titled A Spiritual Theology of the Priesthood by Fr. Dermot Powers, a spiritual director at the Paraclete’s English Center for many years. It is published by T&T Clarke Ltd., 59 George Street, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH2 2LQ.

A new 3-tape audio tape program by scholar, canonist and attorney Fr. John J. Coughlin, O.F.M., entitled Toward a Theology of Priesthood, has been produced in collaboration with the National Institute for Clergy Formation (Seton Hall University). Specific topics include: “Priesthood and Evangelical Counsels” and “The Role of Penance in Life and Ministry.” Available from Alba House Communications, 9531 Akron-Canfield Road, Canfield, OH 44406-0595; 800-533-2522.