April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
ADULT EDUCATION
Spring Enrichment expands to Oneonta
This year, the four-day series of talks and courses on faith will be presented not just May 11-14 at its traditional site, The College of Saint Rose in Albany, but on May 12 at a satellite site, St. Mary's parish in Oneonta.
For the first time ever, four Albany keynote talks will be broadcast live at St. Mary's, and a dozen other workshops will be held throughout the day and evening right at the parish, including a popular course on pastoral care.
Spring Enrichment is attended in Albany by hundreds of Catholics each year, from lay catechists, lectors and youth ministers to clergy and religious -- but Stephen Mawn of the diocesan Office of Evangelization, Catechesis and Family Life, which puts on the event, noted that "several years ago, we realized that there are a lot of people on the perimeter of the Diocese who never come to Spring Enrichment.
"We tried a couple of online courses, but the technology wasn't fully in place to do it," he explained.
Now, videoconferencing is gaining popularity around the Albany Diocese, and Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger is focusing on the need for the Diocese to be "less Albany-centric" in providing resources for parishes, Mr. Mawn said. This seemed like the perfect time to try a test case for expanding Spring Enrichment.
Oneonta was chosen as a satellite site because it was the furthest parish from Albany that already had the technology in place: a 70-inch TV, videocameras and enough internet capacity to allow for live transmission of presentations.
During the courses that are broadcast from Albany, Mr. Mawn noted, a speaker can suggest that participants break up into small groups, and a leader in Oneonta can facilitate the discussion there. Courses on the liturgy, Scripture, history, evangelization, reconciliation, working with youth, the catechism, the creed and the RCIA process for people joining the Catholic Church will be held at St. Mary's.
"We're very, very excited about this," said Kathy Neuer, pastoral associate for administration at St. Mary's. "There are lots of individuals who would like to attend things, but travel is an issue."
The fact that Catholics from the entire region can skip the 90-minute drive to Albany and still participate in this major adult faith formation event makes Ms. Neuer happy.
"There's so many wonderful offerings, it's hard to choose," she enthused, citing Bishop Emeritus Howard J. Hubbard's keynote on Pope Francis -- a live transmission she believes will be "pretty popular" -- and the aforementioned course on pastoral care and depression, which will be offered at St. Mary's by the Rev. Betsy Jay, a Presbyterian minister from Cooperstown.
The parish's Around the Table hospitality committee will offer boxed lunches, just as the Albany site does, and the Saint Rose exhibitor's hall will be replicated with representatives from area bookstores, a farmer's market and other businesses. A Taize prayer session will be offered, too.
"I'm hoping for 75 to 100 [attendees], at least," said Ms. Neuer. St. Mary's just finished hosting a "Lent for Real Life" retreat that drew 130 participants for just one Sunday-afternoon session, she noted, so that's a realistic expectation.
"People are used to Spring Enrichment up here. They see 'Spring Enrichment' and tune out because they think it doesn't apply to them," Mr. Mawn told The Evangelist. Adding a satellite site is "a good sign we're recognizing that people are in local communities, and we're trying to think outside the box for how we can provide resources to them."[[In-content Ad]]
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