The Communiqué From the Office of Religious Education 9292 Broadway, Merrillville, IN 46410-7088; 219-769-9292 ext. 230; email fzolvins@dcgary.org Vol. 14 Issue 3 God s Gift of Forgiveness 22 June 2015 This morning on my drive to the Pastoral Center I stopped by St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish to drop off a load of men s clothes for the Diocesan prison ministry. Our parish Deacons collect usable men s clothes, sort through them and store them at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish for distribution to ex offenders as they are released from prison in Michigan City or Westville. My parish, Sacred Heart in La Porte, just conducted our spring clothing drive and our Peace and Justice committee sorted and boxed the clothes for me to transport to the Valparaiso parish. As I was driving along I thought to myself, I could be doing a lot more of this after June 30th the day I retire from the Office of Religious Education. I ll have time to devote to more parish ministry at Sacred Heart and develop new programs, perform more pastoral visits, conduct more funeral vigils and make more hospital rounds. Plus there is a Bible study I want to start and a monthly book club for the parish adults. So when people ask me about retirement I joke with them that the word is not in my vocabulary. I plan to stay active, still do my gardening, yard work and other outside interests, but at a pace that I choose and a schedule that fits my needs. I have been blessed with some God given gifts and I intend to use them to continue to build Mark Mark Your Your Calendar Calendar Feb. July 1719 Valpo Virtus PCL Facilitator Cluster Training Meeting Feb. July 17-19 26 Francis Catholic Effect Youth Part Experience II La Porte Mar. 15 Cat. Lit. Day St. Matthias August 8 Summer Professional Meeting Mar. 20-2 TAPT XXVII Retreat Apr. September 2 20 Chrism Catechetical Mass Cathedral Sunday May Sept. 22-25 17-21 NCCL World Conference Buffalo Meeting of Families May Oct. 3 28 PCL DRE Recognition Retreat Day Banquet up God s kingdom on earth. I ve had an outstanding career working for the Church of Gary at the parish and diocesan level, in the Office of Religious Education and Office of Youth Ministry for four different bishops. As I look back it s all been good, rewarding and challenging. I ve been surrounded by some outstanding and talented people of faith. I ve grown from their expertise and experience and helped shape parish leadership over the past 25 years. And I hope to stay active in Diocesan activities if and when I am called upon. More importantly I want to thank you for your commitment and dedication to parish faith formation. You re an important reason why I m here and continued to in my current position since 1998. This past May, I was shocked to receive the 2015 Distinguished Service Award from our national organization, NCCL. You should know that I dedicated the award in the spirit of Pope Francis to every parish DRE who struggles to make ends meet, maybe is a volunteer, works with inadequate staff or resources, but still continues to provide outstanding faith formation for our families, children and teens. You have been an inspiration to me and to all those you serve. June 30th is my last day in the Diocesan Office of Religious Education but know that you can reach me at fjzolvo@comcast.net or 219-575-1090. My forwarding address is 201 Bach Street, La Porte, Indiana 46350. If there is anything I can do for you please let me know. I will continue to pray for you and your success in faith formation. Pax Christi, Deacon Frank
PCL Recognition Banquet Over 85 people attended last month s PCL Recognition Banquet at Our Lady of Consolation, Vamos Hall. Bishop Hying was present to lead us in Evening Prayer and commissioned the new leadership team for our PCLDG/PAREFF organization. They joined catechists, PCLs, family and friends who gathered for the year end celebration. We acknowledged nine outgoing parish catechetical leaders, four were present for the banquet, who plan to move into retirement or other ministerial positions. Sr. Sallie Latkovich provided an after dinner reflection touching on themes from Pope Francis Joy of the Gospel. 2015 2016 Directory Every June a number of parish catechetical leaders change positions, retire or move on. As new folks come into these positions it is useful to have a current listing of names, addresses, emails, phone numbers, FB pages or Twitter accounts at our disposal. So it s time to collect and gather current information for our PCL/Youth Ministry/Pastoral Associate Directory for the 2015-2016 academic year. This little resource contains a wealth of information from individual birthdays, PAREFF membership, diocesan offices and national organizations. You can help me update this year s directory by completing the enclosed RE/YM/PA form and returning it to the Rel. Ed. Office by July 16, 2016. With a little work and your help, I plan to have the new directory available by the August 8th Professional Meeting. If I do not hear back from you, then I will continue to use last year s information for this year s directory. Virtus Facilitator Training Steve Weigand, Sue Bednarz, Marilyn Baron, Madelon Albert, Bishop Donald Hying We also acknowledged Pat Hoffman our RCL- Benziger consultant and frequent workshop presenter along with Darlene Marchina from our Catholic School Office who administered our VIRTUS program since its inception. Both will be missed. The 2015 Mary Ann Kelley award was presented to Mercedes Austgen of Holy Name Parish, Cedar Lake and Sally Davis from St. Andrew Parish, Merrillville. Both were excellent recipients but only Mercedes was present as Sally was on vacation. It s time to take stock in your parish s VIRTUS training efforts. Do you have enough trained facilitators to conduct your trainings? Do you have the most current materials? Are you still using the old VHS cassettes or do you have the new DVD format? Are the issues of bullying and cyber stalking a part of your presentations? If not, then you need to consider taking a refresher course this July 17th at the Pastoral Center. You may want to invite another adult to be trained with you. The session goes from 9:00 a.m. 3:00 p.m. Cost is $75.00 for the binder and materials. Contact Cheryl at 769-9292 ext. 277 for details
Summer Professional Day World Day of Families Summer is here and before you know it August 8th will arrive and it s time for our PCL Professional Meeting. We will gather at Our Lady of Consolation Hall in Merrillville for morning prayer, in-service, lunch and important business items. We will welcome four two new parish catechetical leaders this year: Beth Lasky of St. Joan of Arc, Maria Wilson of St. Andrew both in Merrillville; Erica Jimenez of Our Lady of Guadalupe/St. Patricks, East Chicago and Jamie Sandona of the Whiting Robertsdale Cluster. There may be more PCLs once they have filled their positions in La Porte, St. John, and Highland. Janet Olivieri Cashetta a consultant from RCL Benziger, will provide the morning s in-service as we discuss how to improve our adult faith formation with families and parents. Her workshop is titled: Evangelizing Parents. Janet will explore how communicating with parents is catechizing them. She has techniques and tools to give parents to use at home without them even knowing it. After lunch there will be a chance to meet the new Diocesan Director as well as a report from PCLDG/ PAREFF. You can register on the Diocesan Webpage under Recently Updated. Position Openings A number of parish job openings are listed on our Diocesan web page. They include: Director of Religious Education, for St. John Evangelist, St. John, St. Peter/ Sacred Heart, La Porte, and Our Lady of Grace, Highland. St. Francis Xavier in Lake Station needs a part time Rel. Ed. Secretary as well. Please pass the word to anyone who might be interested. Pope Francis is coming to the United States in September to close the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia. The gathering runs from September 22 28th with the Papal Mass to be held on September 27th. Jennifer Dyer of Catholic Charities has plans for two Diocesan Pilgrimages. The longer one is from Sept. 22-25 and the shorter one being Sept. 26-27th. Enclosed is a brochure with more information about the trip. You can also visit: Catholic-Charities.org or call 219-886- 3549 for further information. See the Flat Francis from the Catholic Extension Office for your promotional use. Laudato Si Care for Our Common Home is Pope Francis latest encyclical on the environment. It s described as a call for global action as well as an appeal for deep inner conversion. It would be good summer time reading if you want to down load it from the Vatican web site. This comes on the heels of the Indiana Bishop s pastoral letter on poverty in Indiana. Both topics are a must read for our parish peace and justice commissions. I will include an article from the Catholic News Service that provides some practical tips for helping the environment for your consideration. Share it with your constituents and friends. I like his closing remarks in #s 244 and 246: Sing as you go. and Pray
What s Going On In Your Ministry... St. Joan of Arc, Merrillville Congratulations to Beth Lasky who recently assumed the PCL role at St. Joan of Arc parish in Merrillville. Beth is a 2013 graduate of the Lay Ministry Program and long time catechist at St. Michael s in Schererville. Beth Lasky PCL at St. Joan of Arc St. Andrew, Merrillville Congratulations to Marie Wilson who will begin her tenure as the new PCL at St. Andrew the Apostle Parish in Merrillville. Marie replaces Sally Davis who recently retired. Welcome aboard Marie. St. Mary s Crown Point Marian Weeks has a number of RCL text books and teacher manuals, grades 1-8 of the Faith First edition. These are free for the taking. You can contact Marian at mweeks@stmarycp.org. 219-663-7934. St. Thomas More, Munster Emily Hackett reported that Bishop Hying recently visited their R. E. program and it was great! The special needs class that began this past year turned out quite well. Plans are to continue it this fall. Our Lady of Grace, Highland Pat Franz, the long time PCL at Our Lady of Grace will retire this summer. The parish is looking for a replacement. Resumés can be sent to Search Committee, 3005 Conduit Street, Highland, IN 46322 or email: ourladygrace@sbcglobal.net. Congratulations Pat on a well deserved retirement. PCL Institute Summoned for Service Empowered of Excellence is the title of the Parish Catechetical Leadership Institute to be held July 12-16 at St. Meinrad School of Theology. This institute is perfect for new DREs and veteran PCLs who want to learn more about catechetical ministry. Topics include: The Church, Faith Development, The Hierarchy of Truths, Program Planning, Sacred Scripture and Working with Volunteers. See the enclosed brochure for details or call Kathy Gallo at 812-424-5536 or email Kgallo@evdio.org. Scholarships are available to cover the cost. As of today we have two PCLs from the Diocese of Gary planning to attend. PCL Retreat Day PCLDG/PAREFF is planning a Day of Reflection with Bishop Hying on Saturday, October 3rd at St. Ann of the Dunes Church in Beverly Shores. It will take place from 9:00 a.m. 2:00 p.m. and includes lunch. This retreat is free of charge for all PCLDG/PAREFF members so plan to attend. Birthday Celebrations June 21 Sharon De Groote June 25 Meghan Chargualef July 12 Stacia Bolakowski July 15 Vickie Blackwood July 24 Josie Perez August 2 Joyce Malecki August 8 Tyra Serrano Galarza August 14 Paula Hammersley August 17 Claudia Fierros August 18 Bishop Hying
ENCYCLICAL-TODO Jun-18-2015 (910 words) xxxi What to do? The pope's practical tips for helping the environment By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis' encyclical "Laudato Si', on Care for Our Common Home" is a call for global action as well as an appeal for deep inner conversion. He points to numerous ways world organizations, nations and communities must move forward and the way individuals -- believers and people of good will -- should see, think, feel and act. Here are some of the pope's suggestions, with references in parentheses to their paragraphs in the encyclical: -- Do not give in to denial, indifference, resignation, blind confidence in technical solutions. (14, 59) -- Have forthright and honest debates and policies; issues cannot be dealt with once and for all, but will need to be "reframed and enriched again and again" by everyone with plenty of different proposals because there is no one way to solve problems. (16, 60, 185) -- Reduce, reuse, recycle. Preserve resources, use them more efficiently, moderate consumption and limit use of non-renewable resources. (22, 192) -- Slash pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions. Transition to cleaner and renewable energies and replace fossil fuels "without delay." (26, 165) -- Promote green construction with energy efficient homes and buildings. (26, 180) -- Protect clean, safe drinking water and don't privatize it with market-based fees for the poor. (27-29, 164) -- Keep oceans and waterways clean and safe from pollutants; use biodegradable detergents at home and business. (30, 174) -- Be aware that synthetic pesticides and herbicides will hurt birds and insects that are helpful for agriculture. (34) -- Leave room for wandering and migrating species by creating "biological corridors;" don't let dams, highways and construction lead to their extinction. (35) -- Protect biodiversity, especially wild forests, wetlands, coastal areas, mangrove swamps. (39) -- Promote smart growth. Create livable communities with beautiful design and plentiful green spaces for everyone, especially the poor. Tackle noise and "visual pollution," and save cities' cultural treasures. Design spaces that help people connect and trust each other. (44-45, 113, 143, 147) -- Put an end to "mental pollution." Think deeply, live wisely, love generously. (47)
-- End the tyranny of the screen, information overload and distractions. Watch out for media-induced melancholy and isolation. Cultivate real relationships with others. (47) -- Get down from the ivory tower and stop the rhetoric. Get to know the poor and suffering; it will wake up a numbed conscience and inspire real action. (49) -- Stop blaming problems on population growth. The real threat is excessive consumerism and waste. (50) -- For genuine change, put the common good first. Special interests manipulate information, offer "superficial rhetoric, sporadic acts of philanthropy and perfunctory expressions of concern." (54) -- Sweat it out. Increasing use and power of air-conditioning seems "self-destructive." (55) -- Even if it doesn't fix the world, beautification and goodwill gestures inspire and remind people that "we were made for love." (58, 113, 212) -- Get back to nature -- "the caress of God" -- to recharge. Be more attentive to its beauty and wonder and revisit places that left you with happy memories. (84, 97, 215, 233) -- Be consistent. Pro-life, environmental and social justice movements are all connected. Protecting vulnerable species must include the unborn, endangered animals and the exploited. (91, 120) -- Use technology to solve real problems and serve people, helping them have more dignity, less suffering and healthier lives. (112) -- Believe in a happy future, a better tomorrow. Slow down, recover values and the meaning of life. Putting the brakes on "unrestrained delusions of grandeur" is not a call to go back to the Stone Age. (113-114, 225) -- "Business is a noble vocation." Create jobs that allow for personal growth, stability, living out one's values. (124-128) -- Listen to, protect lands of and involve indigenous peoples. The disappearance of cultures is even more serious than losing a species. (145) -- Create neighborhood networks and improvement programs. Create welcoming spaces that help people connect and trust each other. Do something nice for your community. (148-150, 152, 219, 232) -- Make public transportation a priority and a more pleasant experience. (153) -- Provide essential services to rural areas. (154) -- Accept and care for the body God gave you. Value sexual differences and your own gender. (155) -- Join, implement and police global agreements on sustainable development, caring for the ecosystem, limiting greenhouse gases, handling hazardous wastes, ozone protection. Nix the "ploy" of trading carbon credits. (164, 167-171)
-- Politicians: don't be afraid of long-term goals and upsetting people with measures that affect levels of consumption, financial risks. Citizens: put pressure on your representatives. (177-180) -- Less is more. Stop needless consumption. (193, 203, 222, 211) -- Harness purchasing power. Examine what you buy and know that boycotts make a difference. (206) -- Plant a tree. Take mass transit. Car pool. Turn off the lights when you leave the room. Chilly? Wear a sweater. Little things add up. (211) -- Moms and dads: teach kids to use things properly; to respect, take care of others; to ask permission politely; to say, "Thank you;" to control temper; to ask forgiveness; share. (213) -- Find happiness in simple things: get-togethers, helping others, honing a talent, enjoying art and music, praying. (223-224, 226) -- Say grace before meals. (227) -- Love your enemies. (228) -- Practice "the little way" of St. Therese. (230) -- Go to Sunday Mass; receive the sacraments; encounter God in everything; rest on Sundays. (233-237) -- Sing as you go. (244) -- Pray. (246) - - - Editor's Note: Print copies of "Laudato Si'" in Origins, CNS Documentary Service, will be available for shipping June 22. To order individual copies for $8, call 202-541-3290. Bulk discounts apply.
2015-16 Religious Education/Youth Ministry Directory We are currently updating our Religious Education/Youth Ministry Directory. Please send us any corrections or changes since last year. If there are no changes then we will continue to use the 2014-15 information. Please double check email address, zip codes and phone numbers. Use this side for DREs and the reverse side for youth ministers. Please send, fax, email, this form to the Office of Religious Education by July 15 th 2015. Parish Catechetical Leader/Pastoral Associate Parish: City: (please print) DRE/CRE Name: Title: Office address: City: State: Zip: Office Phone: Fax: Email: Facebook: Mailing Address if different from above: City: State: Zip: Home Phone: Cell Phone: Home Email: Please send, fax email to: Office of Religious Education 9292 Broadway Merrillville, IN 46410-7088 Fax: 219-738-9034 Email: fzolvins@dcgary.org Deadline: July 15, 2015
2015-16 Youth Ministry/Religious Education Directory We are currently updating our Youth Ministry/Religious Education Directory. Please send us any corrections or changes since last year. If there are no changes then we will continue to use the 2014-15 information. Please double check email address, zip codes and phone numbers. Use this side for Youth Ministers and the reverse side for PCLs. Please send, fax, email, this form to the Office Religious Education by July 15 h 2015. Youth Ministry Coordinator Parish: City: (please print) Youth Minister s Name: Birthday: Title: Office address: City: State: Zip: Office Phone: Fax: Email: Facebook: Mailing Address if different from above: City: State: Zip: Home Phone: Cell Phone: Home Email: Please send, fax email to: Office of Religious Education 9292 Broadway Merrillville, IN 46410-7088 Fax: 219-738-9034 Email: fzolvins@dcgary.org Deadline: July 15, 2015
Protecting God s Children Safe Environment Program Friday, July 17, 2015 9:00am 3:00pm Diocese of Gary Pastoral Center 9292 Broadway, Merrillville, IN 46410 I am interested in becoming a Facilitator for the Protecting God s Children Safe Environment Program. Please complete this form and mail to: Diocese of Gary, Schools Office, 9292 Broadway, Merrillville, IN 46410 before Friday, July 10, 2015. (Please print) Last Name First Name Address of Participant City State Zip Code ( ) Telephone Number of Participant Email address of Participant Parish/School Affiliation City All parishes and schools currently have at least 1 set of materials (Binder and DV D). Please bring the PGC binder of information which will be used at the training session. The original version is 1.0; an updated version is 2.0, and currently there is a newer version 3.0. All workbooks are Version 3.0 which can be used with any of the DVDs, 2.0 and 3.0. If you wish to order the binder with the DVD, or just the revised Version 3.0 DVD, please indicate this on the form below. If you order DVD Version 3.0, the revised manual pages will be included in the $35.00. Payment should be mailed prior to session, made payable to the Diocese of Gary (ATTN: Schools Office) 9292 Broadway, Merrillville, IN 46410. There is no registration fee for the workshop; breakfast and lunch included. Binder w/ DVD $75.00 Protecting God s Children DVD English/Spanish combo Updated Version 3.0 - $35.00
PCL Summer Professional Meeting Saturday, August 8, 2015 Our Lady of Consolation 8303 Taft Street Merrillville, Indiana 46410 9:00 Check in Hospitality Welcome new DRE/CREs & friends 9:30 Morning Prayer 10:00 General Session Evangelizing Parents Janet Caschetta Communicating with parents is catechizing them. Give them nuggets of faith tools to use at home, without them even knowing it. (Sponsored by RCL Benziger) 12:00 Lunch 12:45 Brief Diocesan Sharing & Updates 1. New Director 2. PAREFF Update Joe De Frier 3. Catechist Retreat Fr. Jerry Schweitzer 4. Dismissal Cost: $20.00 includes workshop, lunch, and materials ($15.00 for DGPCL Members) Checks payable to: Diocese of Gary ******************************************(RSVP by August 3, 2015)***************************************** To register on line go to www.dcgary.org, go to Office of Rel. Ed. and click on, Recently Updated or complete the following form. Name: Parish: Email: Phone: Send or fax to: Office of Religious Education 9292 Broadway Merrillville, Indiana 46410 Fax: 219-738-9034 Information: 219-769-9292 ext. 230 C D A