HAPPENINGS
Father
Hildebrandt to lead mission to NM
On May 28 through June 1, Father Henry
Hildebrandt will lead a mission to Grants, NM, where participants will help
repair and beautify Casa San Jose, a home for pregnant teens run by the Sisters
Adorers of the Blood of Christ.
The trip is open to
all ages, Catholic and non-Catholic, and to those in and out of the
diocese. “The youngest worker we ever had was five
years old. He sat on the roof and handed me nails all day,” Father Hildebrandt
said.
For more information, call Father Henry at
(785) 798-3530 or (785) 798-3195, or email hhildebrandt@dcdiocese.org.
For nearly 10 years, Father Hildebrandt and
his team have spent a week each year pouring cement, renovating rooms, hooking
up phone lines and electrical wires, planting trees and beautifying the grounds
at the Casa.
The home is located in the Diocese of
Gallup, the poorest diocese in the nation.
“We made one-half of a basketball court,”
Father Hildebrandt said in an interview after an earlier mission. “We created a
one-eighth mile walking and exercise track. We renovated two rooms and ran
heating ducts into a room that had never been heated or cooled before.”
Helping the residents and staff of Casa San
Jose is only one of the benefits of the trip.
“This trip takes people who, under normal
circumstances, might never have occasion to become friends,” Father Hildebrandt
explained. “They work side by side on a good and praiseworthy project for five
days, and come away with a friendship that lasts forever.”
“When they come back to the parish, there’s
a connection between the old and the young, and between whites and Hispanics,
that forms communities. And that is the lifeblood of the Church.”
Directors of Religious Education to take a closer look
at catechetical opportunities June 1
At 10 a.m. Friday, June 1, Directors of
Religious Education (DREs) throughout the diocese
will have an opportunity to hear more about the catechetical opportunities for
the upcoming 2007-2008 year at the DRE Day gathering at the Cathedral of Our
Lady of Guadalupe in the
All DREs will
receive a bright yellow 3-ring binder containing adult and youth religious
education and catechetical endeavors for the upcoming year.
Marlene Miller, Parish
Life Coordinator, St. Stanislaus, Ingalls had this to
say about last year’s DRE Day: “I really
enjoyed the DRE day! I received much
information and loved the great notebook to take home. It will be a great reference. Thank you for
everything.”
The day will include information on Safe
Environment, Pastoral Ministry Formation Program, Seasons of Faith, Catechist
Formation, Youth Initiatives, Diocesan Confirmation Study Group, Called and
Gifted, Vocations, Whole Parish Catechesis and the diocesan website.
For more
information on the day or to R.S.V.P., contact Coleen Stein (620) 227-1538 or cstein@dcdiocese.org
Retreat for separated, widowed,
or divorced
Those who have suffered the loss of a loved
one through separation, divorce or death can find healing and comfort on a
retreat especially designed to help them through the grieving process.
The retreat offers the opportunity to move
forward toward a new beginning in life with renewed hope and energy.
The Beginning
Experience Retreat is a weekend program to help the grieving single again
person move from the darkness of grief into the light of a new beginning. The
next Beginning Experience Retreat is June 15-17 at the
TEC Spiritual Directors Workshop
unites clergy, religious and lay leaders
ST. LOUIS, MO --
The TEC Conference invites all priests, religious, deacons and laity serving as
TEC spiritual directors to attend its June 25-28 workshop at LaSalle Retreat
Center, Wildwood, Mo. The four-day event will outline the theology behind TEC
and give participants the unique opportunity to collaborate with leaders from
among TEC’s 67 faith communities, active in 60
dioceses throughout North America and
The Spiritual Directors workshop features
sessions by Most Rev. Roger L. Schwietz, OMI, Anchorage,
Alaska; TEC Founder Rev. Matthew Fedewa, St. Paul,
Minn.; TEC Manual Editor Rev. James Brown, OAR, Oxnard, Calif.; and TEC
Conference Spiritual Director Sr. Jacque Schroeder, OSF, Peoria, Ill.
Archbishop Schwietz, who has served as Episcopal Moderator
of TEC since 1990, believes that TEC spiritual directors are “custodians of a
treasure that belongs to the entire Church. A most important quality of the TEC
spiritual director is that of presence, pointing beyond the gift of self in a
transparent way, toward Christ who is the true director of the weekend and of
our lives,” he explained.
Workshop attendees will join together for
daily Eucharist, multi-media presentations, prayer and round-table discussions
as they explore what it means to be a spiritual director in the TEC Movement.
They will also examine TEC in light of the liturgical and sacramental life of
the Church through presentations on Paschal Mystery spirituality; TEC and youth
ministry; presenting Paschal Mystery to young people; and TEC as an
evangelizing community.
“The workshop will be an excellent
opportunity for TEC spiritual directors to renew themselves and meet others who
are serving in the same capacity. Their role is of critical importance for the
continued growth of each TEC community. Through TEC, each spiritual director
gives youth and young adults the tools they need as they journey toward
adulthood; choosing to live faithfully as members of the Church,” said Sister
Schroeder.
The Spiritual Directors workshop team also
includes:
• Sr. Joy Connealy, ND,
• Dorothy Gereke,
• Dennis Kurtz,
• Ronald Reiter,
The cost for the workshop is $200 per
participant. Space is limited and registration by Friday, June 15, is
encouraged. To sign up, contact Reiter at (636) 933-9233 or
office@TECConference.org. A workshop brochure is available online at
www.TECConference.org/2007SDWorkshop.htm.
TEC,
a Catholic movement of spirituality for older adolescents and young adults, was
founded in
At the
Register for the
following programs by contacting the
Lectio Divina Retreat
June 8-10; Friday 7
p.m. – Sunday noon
Sister Micaela Randolph OSB
$125 ($90 commuter fee)
“This retreat is about being vulnerable to
God’s holy word, the scriptures.
Thoughtful, reflective reading known as lectio
divina is an immersion into the lessons of scripture
and provides the background against which the entire rest of our lives are
lived. This prayer form can lead to a
contemplative attitude toward life as a means of union with God. It is
important that we share silence together during this retreat which will help us
listen more deeply. We will have time to
do private lectio as well as sharing God’s word
together.”
Sister Micaela
Randolph, OSB, is a Benedictine Sister from
Theology Institute
-- Pastoral
Epistles of Timothy
and Titus
June 22-26;
Friday 7 p.m. –
Tuesday noon
Father Sean
Martin
$250 –
registration, room and board
$165
– commuter fee (includes noon meal)
“The Pastoral Epistles (1 Timothy, 2
Timothy and Titus), written a generation after the death of the apostle Paul,
extends his thoughts to new problems and new opportunities faced by the
communities he founded. Notable among
the accomplishments of the author of these three letters is the articulation of
a series of personal and moral qualifications which mark authentic leaders of
the Christian community. See how these ancient letters propose solutions to the
perennial problem of forming wise and effective leaders for Christian
communities.”
Father Sean Martin holds an MA in Theology,
Celebrating the
Paschal
Mystery
August 5-10; Sunday
evening-Friday evening
Father Frank Coady
$175 - Retreat;
$165 – room and board
“The focus of this
retreat will be on the paschal mystery as it is understood in the scripture,
the liturgy, and in Catholic spirituality.
It is the perennial celebration in liturgy and in Christian life of the
dying and rising of Christ and our incorporation into it.”
Father Frank Coady,
with an S.T.D. in dogmatic theology from the
Sister Cecilia Bush to be honored June 2
Sister Cecilia Bush will be honored at a
buffet supper at 6:30 p.m., Saturday, June 2 at the Church of the Magdalen,
Many know Sister
Cecilia from her years as a teacher at Cathedral High School in Wichita;
principal of St. Patrick High School in Parsons; instructor, academic dean and
president of St. Mary of the Plains College in Dodge City; and editor of the Catholic
Advance diocesan newspaper. She is a
member of the Community of St. Joseph.
Matt May, a member of the committee that is
coordinating the event, said, “The thing that is so significant about Sister
Cecilia is her willingness to share her wisdom and energy with anyone who
asks. She is just simply a special
person.”
Matt was hired by Sister Cecilia and served
on the faculty at St. Mary of the
Seating at the tribute will be
limited. Sister Cecilia has requested
that proceeds from the event be used to benefit the Sisters of St. Joseph Dear
Neighbor Ministries. To add your name to the invitation mailing list, write or
e-mail: Pat O’Donnell, Executive Director of Mission Advancement, Sisters of
St. Joseph of Wichita, 3700 East Lincoln,