Coming soon to an
ITV outlet near you: ‘Prairie Pastors and Pioneer Parish Communities’
DREs
learn that diocese has a cornucopia of education opportunities
DRE
Day, which drew Directors of Religious Education from across the diocese June 1
to the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe, highlighted several programs that
offer education, faith enrichment, and even a bit of entertainment. (For more
information on any of these programs, go to www.dcdiocese.org.)
Seasons of Faith
Take Seasons of Faith, for instance. Four
times per year, an hour-and-a-half long program free to the public is presented
on a different topic. In Autumn -- on Oct. 10 and again on Nov. 11 -- diocesan
archivist and former SKR editor Tim Wenzl will present, “Prairie Pastors
and Pioneer Parish Communities,” which will focus on “priests who served
southwest Kansas during the historic periods when this territory was known as
the Apostolic Vicariate of the Indian Territory East of the Rocky Mountains,”
and various other monikers.
What happens when your child chooses another
religion? This topic will be addressed in a program next winter. Did you know
that more than 17,000 people, many of them children, are trafficked into the
Like many of the programs discussed at the
DRE Day, Seasons of Faith is presented through the ITV network, which allows
people to gather at locations across the diocese to view and interact with the
speaker. Through a special monitoring system, participants can not only see and
hear the presenter, but the presenter can see and hear them.
Following are a few of the other programs and
topics discussed at the DRE Day:
Pastoral Ministry
Formation Program
PMFP is an extensive adult education program
that offers several three-hour courses, from “Introduction to Old Testament,”
to “Christology,” to “Sacramental Theology.” Depending on the level of
participation, the student could earn a degree in pastoral ministry, a diocesan
diploma, or neither if the individual chooses to take classes for personal
enrichment. The program, which includes 36 hours of college credit hours, is
designed to “nurture and send forth mature disciples, conscious of responding
to their baptismal call, to be heralds of the Gospel in building up the Church
of the Diocese of Dodge City.”
Called and Gifted
Designed to allow people to recognize their charisms, or gifts of the Holy Spirit, nearly 700 people
from across the diocese have participated in the 15 Called and Gifted workshops
that have been held in southwest
“Why is it important to know your charisms?” asked Becky Hessman, director of the Called and
Gifted program. “They are a clue to what God wants you to be.”
Last year, Jenny Winter, a DRE at St. Mary
Parish, Marienthal, hosted more than 100 youth at a
C&G workshop. While impressed by the program, she was particularly moved by
seeing the program’s affect on her own children.
“My son has the gift of ‘mercy,’” she said,
smiling. “One time a girl came up to him and they talked and talked. When I
asked him who she was, he said he didn’t really know, but that she had just
needed to talk. I hadn’t recognized my own child’s gifts. Now I understood why
he sometimes received calls at 1:30 in the morning.
“Not everyone should host a Called and Gifted
workshop, but definitely attend. I guarantee it will exceed your expectations.”
Safe Environment
Eighty percent of child sexual abuse is
perpetrated by a parent. This startling statistic was presented to the DREs during a segment on “Safe Environment.” Another statistic, which states that only one-third of Catholics
know whether or not their diocese has a safe-environment policy, is astounding
given the lengths the Diocese of Dodge City has gone to address the problem.
Along with the diocese’s Code of Pastoral Conduct and its Policy for the Protection
of Children and Young People, the diocesan website includes a vast array of
documents and forms designed ultimately to keep children safe from harm.
One of the primary ways that the diocese is
combating child sexual abuse is through the Protecting God’s Children Awareness
Session. Every person in the diocese who works for the Catholic Church directly
or indirectly, or who volunteers for any Church-related program, is required to
attend an awareness session, which takes place at host parishes throughout the
diocese. Six day-long workshops are currently scheduled, with more to come. The
PGC session allows people to look into the mind of a child abuser through two
video presentations. Participants analyze what to look for, and how to deal
with a situation, should it arise. The afternoon sessions are open to any adult
who wishes to attend.
Whole Parish
Catechesis
Whole Parish Catechesis, also known as
Generations of Faith, is much more fun than the name implies. Imagine entire
families gathering in your parish center and sharing a meal before together
receiving religious education. The innovative program is much less formal than
catechism and requires no enrollment or tuition. The program doesn’t only
result in the growth of the individual, but in “whole communities of faith,
growing together.”
“The single factor that makes [it] work,”
says Bill Huebsch, author of “Whole Community
Catechesis: An Exciting New Framework for Providing Religious Education,” is
that “the people involved ... share their faith together. This gives them a
feeling of movement, from one person to the other, from on community
to another. It’s the Spirit moving people where she wills.”
Youth Initiatives
Steve
Polley, Director of the Offices of Youth Ministry and Adult Education, shared
information about many of the upcoming events for youth, not the least of which
is a Jan. 22, 2008 pro-life road trip to
TEC
(Teens Encounter Christ) is a movement that allows youth to have a dynamic and
life-enriching encounter with Christ through three days of both deeply
spiritual events, and a great deal of fun. The diocese offers three TECs per year, in March, October (Oct. 27-29, St.
Dominic’s, Garden City), and in July (July 21-23, St. Dominic’s).
More
than 80 youth and adults will be attending the National Catholic Youth
Conference on Nov. 8-10 on