Formed In Faith

On Tuesday evening, September 29, our staff — from the Archdiocesan Office of Lifelong Formation & Education (OLFE) — hosted our annual Catechetical Appreciation Dinner.  This event was held at the Flaget Center.

A main feature of the evening, as with similar annual celebrations, was the chance for OLFE Faith-Formation staff to honor all persons within the Archdiocese of Louisville who have achieved an Associate Catechist, Advanced Catechist, Master Catechist, and/or RCIA Coordinator Training certificate, during the last 12 months, to enhance their catechetical knowledge and skills.

       A high point during this element of the evening was the announcement of Roncalli Award winners for this academic year. This Archdiocesan award is named after St. John XXIII (Cardinal Angelo Roncalli) who convened the Second Vatican Council.  The award recognizes key persons who, through years of faith-formation endeavors, have been led by the spirit of Vatican II to spread the faith through various types of catechetical ministry.

      The three Roncalli recipients identified for 2015 were Rev. Terry Bradshaw, Ms. Margaret Ann Underwood, and Ms. Mary Waskevich.

      Many of those who were honored with certificates or the special awards were accompanied by family members, parish co-workers, and/or school faculty colleagues.

      A special feature of the Appreciation Dinner this year came next through introductions and recognition of all recipients of either a Masters Degree or Continuing Education Certificate (in Pastoral Studies or Religious Education), over the past 10 years, through the LIMEX program. LIMEX is an acronym for the Loyola Institute for Ministry Extension program. It is implemented through collaboration between the Archdiocese and Loyola University New Orleans.

In addition, all adult students currently pursuing LIMEX graduate degrees and certificates, and their group facilitators, were invited to be guests at the dinner. They were likewise recognized for their efforts aimed at advanced ministry education credentials.

In the absence of Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, who was in Rome preparing for the upcoming Synod, the main speaker on the Appreciation Dinner agenda was Thomas Ryan, Ph.D. — Dr. Ryan is the Director of the Loyola Institute for Ministry in New Orleans. He spoke to attendees about “The Joy and Challenge of Pope Francis.”

Following his presentation, Dr. Ryan, along with the Archdiocesan Director of Faith-Formation, Art Turner, acknowledged four very recent recipients (all from the Louisville metro area) of Loyola degrees and certificates through LIMEX.

          Picture: Taken immediately following the Catechetical Appreciation Dinner, on September 29, this picture includes some of the LIMEX alums and current Loyola students within the Archdiocese. Also pictured are the LIM Director, Dr. Tom Ryan (front, center), and the Archdiocesan Director and Associate Director of Faith-Formation, Art Turner (red shirt) and Butch Ekstrom (blue shirt).

Congratulations from OLFE, once again, to all who received awards and recognitions at the Appreciation Dinner of 2015.

                      “The family is not first and foremost a cause for concern but rather                     the joyous sign of God’s blessing upon the masterpiece of creation.”

                                                                                   — Pope Francis, September 27 (2015)

          Before his departure from the USA, Pope Francis took part, on Saturday and Sunday, in the 2015 “World Meeting of Families.”

          Read his message:  http://ncronline.org/news/francis-pastoral-plan-families-gratitude-over-concerns-appreciation-over-complaints

                                                       HOLY FATHER, THANK YOU FOR VISITING                                                   THE CHURCH IN THE U.S.A. AND CUBA !

Pope Francis made an impassioned plea to the nations of the world this morning, while addressing the United Nations’ general assembly, in New York City, to act constructively to avert the dangers of climate change.

The Pope is currently in the midst of a long, packed-schedule day in the Big Apple. 

More re: the U.N. speech from CRUX — 

http://www.cruxnow.com/church/2015/09/25/pope-francis-pleads-with-nations-to-act-now-on-climate-change/

On Thursday evening, Pope Francis touched down — with a wave and a smile — for his first visit to New York City. As the saying goes, he took Manhattan (and he took it by storm). After a quick Popemobile ride down Fifth Avenue, Francis entered the famed Saint Patrick’s Cathedral. There he led a Vespers service, before retiring for the night at the Vatican’s diplomatic residence in NYC.

Truly an historic and inspiring day in the U.S. — Pope Francis addressed (in English) a Joint Session of Congress, in Washington D.C. Soon he will travel to the inner city to dish out lunch and then eat, @ Catholic Charities, with 300 hundred homeless people.

                                   “We must protect and defend human  life at                                        all stages of its development!” — Francis 

Wednesday, September 23 — Washington D.C.

          In a major talk to American Bishops during a prayer service, Pope Francis stressed the themes of inclusion, encounter, and dialogue once again.

“The heart of the Pope expands to include everyone,” Francis said. “To testify to the immensity of God’s love is the heart of the mission entrusted to the Successor of Peter . . . May no member of Christ’s Body and the American people ever feel excluded from the Pope’s embrace.”

Later in his talk, Francis stated, “Dialogue is our method, not as a shrewd strategy but out of fidelity to the One who never wearies of visiting the marketplace, even at the eleventh hour, to propose an offer of love (Mt 20:1-16).  The path ahead, then, is dialogue among yourselves, dialogue in your presbyterates, dialogue with lay persons, dialogue with families, dialogue with society.  I cannot ever tire of encouraging you to dialogue fearlessly.” 

Francis said this will lead the Church to better stewardship of humanity and all of creation. Today we must care for the “innocent victim of abortion; children who die of hunger or from bombings; immigrants who drown in the search for a better tomorrow; the elderly or the sick who are considered a burden; the victims of terrorism, wars, violence and drug trafficking; the environment devastated by man’s predatory relationship with nature. — At stake in all of this is the gift of God, of which we are noble stewards but not masters.”

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