Advanced religious education comes to the North Country

The groups sat together recently at three different Washington County parishes, reciting the Jesus Prayer ("Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner") and practicing "lectio divina," a monastic tradition of meditation on the Scriptures.

Kathy Sinnott could almost smell the incense, but the faces she saw when she looked up were those of laypeople, not monks.

Ms. Sinnott, who attends Sacred Heart parish in Lake George and St. Cecilia's in Warrensburg, was participating in a three-week lecture series about monastic life. Attendees started with readings during each class, engaged in a call-and-response style of singing hymns and learned about the refined speech of monks and their history.

The lecture series was part of NC Café, or "North Country Continuing Adult Faith Enrichment." The program serves parishioners in the Albany Diocese's northern area who find it difficult to travel to Albany for advanced religious education or for the Formation for Ministry program, which prepares Catholics for parish leadership roles.

NC Café received a grant in late 2008 for mileage and speaker fees, said Nancy Normandin, one of about six organizers.

Four multi-week classes and several one-night NC Café classes have covered such topics as prayer styles, Hebrew Scriptures and different names for the Eucharist. Most classes are free, unless the Diocese asks for $5 to provide continuing education credits for catechists. Ms. Sinnott said the instructor for the monasticism series, a layman, had much to share. "His knowledge is deep," she explained. "It was substantive. It was well-framed."

Ms. Sinnott's interest in the quiet life had attracted her to the class, which ultimately reminded her that peace can be found in almost anything.

"You can listen to Mick Jagger [songs] and find God," she remarked.

After the class on the Eucharist, the instructor, a local pastor, answered questions on the role of women in the Church and on fasting before Com-munion, said Mickey Onofrietto, a parishioner of Sacred Heart in Lake George.

Ms. Sinnott, who also participated in the Hebrew Scriptures series held at St. Michael's parish in South Glens Falls, said it reminded her that Scripture, like the Eucharist, is a pillar of Catholic life.

The instructor, Brother James Posluszny, CSC, discussed Scripture passages that don't appear in prayer services because of graphic language or content. He also explained ideas that may be overlooked, such as the concept of man and woman being made from dirt in God's image in the first creation story.

Ms. Sinnott interpreted this as commentary on gender equality. She also appreciated Brother James' personal stories about hearing God through the Bible and relating his anger to that of Job when his father died: "He was absolutely naked about his own life, his own feelings about being inadequate."

Brother James told The Evangelist that his intentions in leading the class were to explain how passages are translated from several versions of the Bible and to make the Old Testament approachable and the Jewish culture understandable.

"I like working with adults and enjoy their curiosity, their questions, their interactions," he said.

Instructors range from nuns to music ministers: for example, Kathleen Sousa, parish life director at Blessed Sacrament parish in Bolton Landing, spearheaded a class on pastoral care.

She focused on how to listen to ill people's needs, what to say and what to withhold, and how to offer prayer at a patient's bedside and at hospitals, nursing homes and private homes.

"You don't know what to say when you go to a wake, or if a young mother's baby dies," Ms. Sousa noted. "Sometimes what they need is for you to just go over and hold their hand." A class about the bread and wine of the Eucharist and its connection with Jewish culture is in the works for the spring, Ms. Normandin said. NC Café may also participate in the Diocese's new distance learning program.

Some participants want basic education, while others are interested in more challenging topics. Organizers are confident about the program's future.

"We're getting great reception," Ms. Normandin stated. "Some of the parishes are just throwing open their doors."

(11/26/09)