Rev. Francis S. Tebbe, O.F.M.

Convention 2001. The convention brochure will soon be in the mail. I encourage you and your committee members to join us for another wonderful opportunity to gather for renewal and reflection on our ministry with priests. Special thanks to Fr. Mel Long and his committee for their work on designing the convention. The Tuesday afternoon liturgy is at the San Fernando Cathedral with Archbishop Patrick Flores, followed by a free evening in the city. Plan a day or two before or after the convention as well to enjoy the beauty of San Antonio.

Convention Awards. At the 2001 convention in San Antonio, I will present the annual President’s Distinguished Service Award to Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland, O.S.B., the Archbishop of Milwaukee. This NOCERCC award, established in 1994, is "presented to a person who, in the view of the President of NOCERCC, is one whose service of the Gospel and Church exemplifies NOCERCC’s mission and goals."

Likewise, at the convention, Fr. Melvin C. Blanchette, S.S., will receive NOCERCC’s Pope John XXIII Award. Mel is the Director of Continuing Formation of Priests at the Center for Continuing Formation at St. Mary’s Seminary & University in Baltimore. Established in 1983, this NOCERCC award is "presented to a director of continuing education/formation person whose active participation in NOCERCC exemplifies the mission and goals of the organization and whose leadership supports the life and ministry of priests and religious."

Congratulations to Archbishop Weakland and to Father Blanchette!

CMSM Assembly. I attended the annual assembly of the Conference of Major Superiors of Men as a guest in New Orleans on August 9-12. The assembly theme, New Life for the Mission of Christ, was reflected in the major presentations of Fr. John M. Staudenmaier, S.J., Fr. Frank DeSiano, C.S.P., and Br. Don Bisson, F.M.S. Numerous provincials expressed their appreciation and support for NOCERCC. In the name of NOCERCC and in appreciation for the support of numerous religious congregations and provinces over the years, I sponsored the social before the banquet.

During their assembly, Fr. Canice Connors, O.F.M., Conv., NOCERCC Board member and the provincial of the Franciscan Conventual Province of the Immaculate Conception, was elected president-elect of CMSM and Fr. Ronald Witherup, S.S., NOCERCC member and provincial of the Society of Priests of St. Sulpice, was elected vice president of CMSM. Our congratulations and best wishes to Canice and Ron!

Convention Planning Committee 2002. The convention planning committee Fr. Norbert Maduzia (Board member, Region X), Msgr. Owen Hendry (Region III) and Fr. Mark O’Donnell (Region I) will meet with the Executive Committee on October 6-8 at the hotel in Orlando, Florida, to plan for the NOCERCC convention in 2001.

Region VI Donation. We acknowledge and express our gratitude to the directors in Region VI (Michigan and Ohio). During their fall regional meeting, they decided that this year’s annual contribution of $3,000 could be used to assist NOCERCC in supporting of one of its new projects. Thanks again to Region VI!

Sympathy. We were shocked and saddened with the tragic news that Msgr. Norman P. Bolduc, 48, Chancellor of the Diocese of Manchester, was killed on September 30 when his motorcycle crashed into a car. The driver of the car and the passenger were uninjured. Ordained in 1970, Norm served on the NOCERCC Board for Region I from 1993 to 1995. We extend our sincere condolences to Msgr. Bolduc’s parents, sisters and brothers and family, and the Diocese of Manchester in this time of great loss and pain.

PL&M Committee. I participated in the meeting of the Bishop’s Committee for Priestly Life and Ministry at St. Mary’s Seminary & University in Baltimore on September 10-11. Representatives from NOCERCC, CCOP, NFPC, CMSM, and NACPA gave reports on their respective organizations and the committee reviewed CCOP’s recommended revision to the Appendix to Fulfilled in Your Hearing. A significant portion of the meeting was devoted to acknowledging the accomplishments of the committee and identifying topics, issues, and projects that can be offered to the next committee.

Catholic Coalition on Preaching. The twenty-member CCOP Governing Board will meet in Chicago on October 21. Our agenda includes: updates on activities of the member entities; status of the revision of the Appendix in Fulfilled in Your Hearing: The Homily in the Sunday Assembly; report on the colloquium scheduled for October 1-3, 2001; report on the next national conference in 2002; and the election of Secretary.

Jubilee. The Jubilee year provides many opportunities to celebrate and give thanks. You were remembered in prayer on September 3, the day I celebrated my silver jubilee of ordination to the priesthood at my home parish in Batesville, Indiana. Ad Multos Annos to all celebrating special anniversaries this year!

May your fall days be filled with blessings.

Mike Cronin

As the summer season quickly turns to fall I am reminded that our annual convention is quickly approaching. This year the NOCERCC annual convention will take place at the Onmi San Antonio Hotel in San Antonio, Texas, from February 19-22, 2001. Brochures are already in the mail to all NOCERCC members. Look over the great program arranged by Chairman Mel Long (Salina, Kansas) and committee members Tom Mullin (Philadelphia) and Tom Zurcher (Phoenix). We think you will be pleased with the variety of programs scheduled for this convention. Please mail in your registration and fee to the National Office as soon as you get it. Don’t forget to also make your hotel reservation with the Omni. As in past years, each convention participant is responsible for securing his or her own hotel reservations.

Recently I have begun attending the fall meetings of the different NOCERCC regions. These meetings have been well-attended overnight events, which allows for camaraderie and informal socializing along with business. The regions have engaged in sharing of resources, presenters and retreat directors and information about issues of common interest. Each region has also responded to some questions the board has asked them to address: the notion of holding the convention at a different time of the year, the possibility of starting on a Sunday evening rather than Monday, and the idea of alternating the national convention bi-annually with more local regional meetings. There has been good and lively input also about possible convention themes and sites. The board members and I will bring the fruits of these discussions back to the board. I would like to thank the board members for all their work in preparing and inviting participants to these regional meetings.

Of note, Region VI also uses their fall meeting to arrange and plan their annual Pastors Convention which they hold each January, attracting over 200 pastors and pastoral ministers each year. This year, as usual, they made a contribution to NOCERCC. Region VIII too co-sponsors an annual Symposium on the regional level for a large number of pastoral ministers. Also they are planning their first overnight for the newly ordained of the region (possibly up to twenty-five men) to be held in the spring. Along with its regular business, Region IX members shared diocesan retirement ages and plans, approaches to Hispanic ministry, etc. Like the other regions I’ve been to so far, they also enjoyed going out to dinner together.

The regions are also discussing possible candidates for the office of president of NOCERCC, since Francis Tebbe’s term will be completed at the convention in February. An election of officers will be held during the convention. Full members have received a letter from Jerry Kopel (Sioux Falls, SD), appointed as chair of the nominating committee, asking for their nominations to be sent to him by November 14. Please take some time to consider the future leadership of the organization.

Several regions are holding elections for representatives to the Board. Region VII re-elected Steve DeLeers (Milwaukee) as the board member and Jim Dieters (Belleville) as the alternate. Region VI elected Steve Popovich (Youngstown) as alternate to replace Gene Krzeminski (Detroit) who succeeded Ed Estok (Cleveland) when he had to leave the position to become administrative assistant to his bishop. Region VIII elected Ralph Zimmerman (St. Cloud) as alternate to replace Mike Sullivan (Crookston) who left the organization for another assignment.

Last week, we sent out to all the full members a notice of their usernames and passwords which will allow them to access our website’s "members only" section. This new section of our website includes such items as past and current issues of NewsNotes, talks given at many past conventions, online version of the Membership Directory (for more current information), recommended resources, and the annual report. We also encourage members to utilize the "conversation group" feature as an informal way to share information with each other.

The newest edition of the annual Membership Directory has also been mailed out to the full, associate, affiliate and sponsoring members. Over sixty new entries (including 35 new directors, 6 new associate members, and 18 changes in affiliate membership) were made since the directory was published a year ago. We also updated numerous pieces of data (address changes, area code, phone, fax, toll-free numbers and email addresses). Since this directory went to print we have been notified of five new directors, two associate member changes, etc. For full members, current information is available through the online membership directory in the "members only" section of the website. Associate and affiliate members, can call the office and we will be glad to send you current labels or give you specific information you may need.

The following regional meetings remain scheduled for this year:

Region I October 18-19

Region II October 4

Region III October 11-12

Region IV Provincial meetings and regional conference call

Region V November 7-9

Region X regional conference call

Region XI October 15-17

Region XII regional conference call

Region XIII regional conference call

Some members have been asking when the new National Plan for the Ongoing Formation of Priests will be published. The office of the Priestly Life and Ministry committee at the Bishops’ conference tells us that they are still waiting for it to come back from Rome. As soon as this document becomes available to us, we will try to get copies of it to our members.

NewsNotes is published bi-monthly by

the National Organization for Continuing

Education of Roman Catholic Clergy

nocercc@nocercc.org