Catechetical meeting impressed and inspired

"It was a wonderful experience!" enthused Sister Rose Marie Cardillo, CSJ, religious education coordinator at St. Helen's parish in Schenectady. After going to the conference for the first time, she said, "I came home with some real `goodies' -- some good ideas."

The NCCL promotes excellence in catechetical leadership and boasts about 1,900 members. More than 800 religious education professionals from across the U.S. attended the five-day meeting, which included five keynote addresses, several workshops and the presentation of an award to the New York State bishops for their leadership in catechetical ministry.

'Great spirit'

The meeting's theme was "Catechesis Through the Lens of Evangelization." Mrs. Schrempf explained that just as the image in a camera lens becomes clearer as it is focused, the meeting's many presenters helped participants become clearer about how to use catechesis to evangelize.

"The General Directory for Catechesis is calling the whole Church to understand that the mission of the Church is [to] evangelize -- to live our faith as disciples of Jesus Christ, with enthusiasm and passion," she said.

Sharing faith

Each day of the meeting explored a different aspect of the theme: community, liturgy, culture, mission and catechesis.

"The main speakers resonated strongly that we who are catechists must be disciples," said Mrs. Schrempf. "We must first experience the presence of God in our lives. When this happens, our lives are changed forever, like the Apostles at the Transfiguration. Over and over, we heard that we are called to holiness, and the ground we walk on throughout life is holy ground. Jesus is the reason we do what we do."

Dynamic presenter

"Father Fragomeni was absolutely dynamic," Sister Rosemary said. "He had us in the palm of his hand. The Albany delegation was very proud."

Mrs. Schrempf said she was impressed by Father Fragomeni's passion, and also "deeply moved and challenged" by Rev. John Coleman, SJ, a religion professor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles whose keynote was on "Gospel and Culture: A Discernment Model."

"He said that no culture is truly worthy of the Gospel, but all cultures possess links to Gospel values," she explained. "He suggested striving for a humane culture, but not necessarily a Christian culture -- respecting the great diversity in the world today."

Honored

"Our bishops are really a model for this country," Mrs. Schrempf told The Evangelist. "They are the chief catechists of the Church. Our bishops have taken great leadership here. They also are working with the state diocesan [religious education] directors to publish a series of social justice papers for catechists in the state."

After returning from Buffalo, Sister Rose Marie joked that she was unpacking a "huge bag of free samples and books" that she'd accumulated from exhibitors.

Less tangible, but just as valuable, were the ideas she had amassed. The speakers "reiterated the importance of reaching and supporting families," she stated. "That's one of my major goals at St. Helen's."

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