May 10, 2004

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

1.    Young Catholic Musicians:  A concert of 40 voices plus musical instruments from 80 parishes in Saint Louis will be held at Saint Mathias on Saturday, June 5 at 7 pm.  The young group was featured at the National Eucharistic Congress and will soon be heard at the Lincoln Center Plaza in New York.  (Free will offering)

2.    Middle East Studies Summer Workshop - June 14-26, 2004:  The Middle East Studies Summer Workshop will be comprised of daily lectures and presentations on various aspects of the Middle East including culture, language and literature, history, religion, social institutions, folklore, cuisine, art and architecture, and the status of women, as well as lectures on teaching strategies.  One day of the workshop will be devoted to a full day tour of various Middle Eastern religious and community organizations.  Financial Aid grants in the form of partial tuition and fee authorizations may be available.  The workshop is geared primarily toward the needs and interests of K-12 teachers, educators and administrators.  The workshop is available on a credit or non-credit basis.  More information:  http://oia.osu.edu/mesc/Website_files/page0001.htm or wightman.16@osu.edu.

3.    Weekly Religion Ideas, April 28, 2004 
        Objectives about Grace and Trinity:  Standard II C-1,2,3 and D-1,3,4:

For teachers:  To help our students see the world and everything in it as graced would be quite an accomplishment as a teacher/catechist.  What is this favor that is all around us?  Simply it is the love of God (the Father, Son and Spirit) found everywhere and always.  But, we need the eyes of faith to see it.  God's activity builds upon nature.  There are two ways of seeing reality.  Do we see nature as permeated with God's love?  God's love or God's life are available to us at every turn of our day if we have faith to see and accept it.  Like the blind Bartimaeus (Mk:  10:46) in the Gospel our prayer can be extended to say "Lord, that I may see your love and goodness all around me in myself, my family, my friends, my co-workers, the people you bring into my life when I least expect, the surprises you send my way, my sufferings, my joys and sorrows, creation, the Church and world communities, etc."  Somehow all these parts of my life are alive with relationship and can be a means of God saying "I love you and I am with you."

For the Classroom:  Ask your students where they see God's love, God's grace in their lives.  We all need reminders that God is with us and loves us very much.  Jesus came to help us deal with our blindness.  Some of these videos might help:

VC 6607    The Holy Spirit    A
VC 6967    The Mystery of God, Father, Jesus, Spirit (3 tapes)    SA
VC 6986    The Mystery of Faith:  Tape #4 Grace    SA
VC 6986    The Mystery of Faith:  Tape #1 Trinity    SA
VC 6851    Making Moral Decisions:  Conscience & Conflict    SA
VC 6833    What Catholics Believe About the Holy Spirit    JSA
VC 6625    The Choice    JSA
VC 7351    Haunted Heart    JSA
VC 7352    The Secret of the Horse    JSA
VC 7353    Taylor's Wall    JSA
VC 7023    Stop, Look and Listen Christian Moral Decision-Making    JSA
VC 7270    Who Is the Holy Spirit    PI
VC 6242#2    Grace    P

Resources: The Mystery of Faith (An Introduction to Catholicism) by Michael J.Himes.  Chapter 1 and 2 on Trinity and Grace.  St. Anthony Messenger Press.  Good small group study book with reflections after each chapter.

The New Concise Catholic Dictionary by Reynolds R. Ekstrom gives good Theological information to anyone about various Catholic beliefs and teachings.  Every teacher/catechist should have access to one.  Twenty-Third Publications.

A New Look at Grace (A Spirituality of Wholeness) by Bill Huebsch.  Twenty-Third Publications.

4.    Final LPDC Meeting:  The Diocese of Columbus LPDC will meet for the last time this school year on Thursday, June 10 at Saint Anthony School.  Teachers seeking CEU credit approval or who need to have an IPDP approved should submit their information to the LPDC via the Diocesan Department of Education, 197 East Gay Street, Columbus, Ohio.

5.    Congratulations:  Congratulations to the following schools for their participation in the "Abilibi Consolidated Recycling for Our Children's Future Program."  With 125 schools participating, St. Michael took first place, St. Mary, German Village took third place, and Christ the King took seventh place.

Comments to office@cdeducation.org

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