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Representative Council Minutes

May 17, 2015

Present: Cris Villapando, Ximena deBroeck, Chris Hoag (subbing for Ken Gleason), Jamin Herold, Lorraine DeLuca, Elizabeth Marcil, Dcn. Frank Zolvinski, Maria Olivia “Marioly” Galvan, Dennis Johnson, Gary Pokorny, Aline Harbison (subbing for Barbara McAtee), Catherine Cornue, Patricia Koenig, Christopher Chapman, Anelita Reyas, Maria Cruz Cordoba, , Katie Dubas, John Gaffney, Elizabeth Girton, Michelle Tomshack, Ellie Nelson, Justin Huyck, Marinell High, Carol Ann Gaddis, Pam Fischer, Vicki Smith, Josie Longoria, Judy Snyder, Sara Carey, Margaret Matijasevic, Maria Covarrubias, Don Kurre, Dr. Peter Murphy, Dr. Michael Steier, William Miller, Mary Jo Waggoner, Linda Stryker, Joanie McKeown, Jose Amaya, Sr. Sally Russell, SSJ, Theresa Burns, Richard Drabik, and Bryan Reising.

Absent: Jonathan Sullivan, Jackie Hopper, Evelyn Tucker, Jim Gontis, Rev. Elias Rafaj, Most Rev. Christopher Coyne, Dr. Robert McCarty,

The meeting opened with a prayer led by the Board.

Introductions were given of each Rep Council member.

The minutes for the November Rep Council meeting were approved.

The Executive Director gave an update of the Strategic Plan.

Goal One: To explore evangelization as concretely expressed in diverse catechetical and ministerial settings.

·  The Evangelization Committee has been giving webinars regularly.

·  NCCL now has a YouTube channel.

·  Don Mulhall wrote an article on evangelization.

Goal Two: To foster the centrality of adult faith formation in evangelizing catechesis.

·  FCH purchased AdobeConnect and it is available for all committees to use. Training will be offered for committees to use this media.

·  YouTube accounts have been merged and can host multiple managers.

·  There is discernment of committee chairs for the Editorial Committee.

·  Michael Theisen of NFCYM, who is active with from Strong Catholic Families is assisting with posts about this program for CL Weekly.

Goal Three: To promote professionalism of parish catechetical leaders.

·  The Product Development Committee and Editorial Committee will be asked for ideas for catechetical leader formation.

·  The AFF website is cleaned and admin access is available.

·  The Annual Conferences 2015 and 2016 are strategically incorporating AFF speakers and methodologies.

·  AFF webinars can be put on the NCCL YouTube channel.

Goal Four: To become the resource center for diocesan directors who are seeking ideas and best practices.

·  A Technology Task Force will be created if there is enough interest. . The question was asked about what the difference between a task force and committee. The answer was the task force might be larger than a committee and use a more diverse group of people.

·  A discussion was held on the use of technology and how technology could help parishes considering the fact that some dioceses restrict the use of technology.

·  The question was asked how to get the word out that the new technology is available for NCCL members.

·  NACMP could be a way to link some of these needs.

·  The ED is talking to other organizations to investigate sharing documents of other organizations.

·  Our current Wild Apricot is not sufficient for electronic content management. Other avenues are being researched. The con of keeping status quo is NCCL will not grow.

·  By collaborating amongst all committees, NCCL could maximize resources and energy, unify vision and be strategic/proactive and not reactive. The con is we will have to learn to work differently and chairs may need to meet regularly.

We have met goals with the strategic plan as far as we can go with the existing technology.

FCH Report

Maria Covarrubias gave the report.

·  Membership categories are determined.

·  They have completed the requirements of becoming a federation.

·  The website is launched at FCHcatechesis.org

·  On April 17 they launched their two webinars, one in English and one in Spanish.

·  The election process guidelines have been finalized. Three positions are open and an election will be held on Wednesday.

·  Sunday, May 17th is a preconference on working with adolescent youth which will be live-streamed and recorded. The title of the preconference is “Effective Catechesis with U.S. Born Hispanic Youth”.

·  They have received two grants of $8,000 and $3,000.

Committee Reports:

·  Therese Stahl has agreed to be a co-chair for the Editorial Committee. She has experience in magazine work.

·  Others are in discernment to chair or co-chair important committees, such as the Product Development Committee.

A presentation on PAC Document A, “The Joy of Adolescent Catechesis” was given.

·  NFCYM, NCEA, USCCB and NCCL are working together in writing this document. The last document was written over 20 years ago. The catechist will be able to use this document and it can also be used to recruit catechists.

·  A process has been started asking for provinces’ feedback for the first draft. Feedback should be given back by the middle of June.

·  It was asked if the information could be put again in the CL Weekly.

Echoes 3.0 Anne Battes from RCL/Benziger presented the updates to Echoes 3.0.

·  The module of Ecclesiology will be available by fall 2015.

·  RCL/Benziger is looking for feedback. It is still online. .

·  The goal is to use Echoes for catechist formation.

·  Members are asked to give valuable feedback on content. Ask your diocese for feedback

National Certification for Parish Catechetical Leaders: The future of the Standards for Certification of Lay Ecclesial Ministers was presented. The NCCL Standards and Certification committee oversees the procedure.

Diocesan directors and staff, parish catechetical leaders, bishops, pastors and co-workers are all involved in certification. NCCL will have six persons certified at the end of this conference (May 2015). There are nine candidates who have started the process.

Some challenges are communication within the process, assessing theological background, personnel for PCRCs, and promotion.

Videos will be available to help candidates in the application process. The diocesan offices can help candidates in applying for the certification.

An important question to be answered is what benefits are gained in becoming certified since there is no just wage to accompany the certification. It was suggested that individual diocesan directors of catechesis might consider asking their bishops to establish a printed and accessible pay scale for professional Lay Ecclesial Ministers in their dioceses, where such a scale is not already available. Another reason to work on certification is to improve the professional image and role of the parish catechetical leader.

Financial report:

·  Overall the numbers look good for the year.

·  Rep Council decided to meet in Atlanta for the meeting in November.

·  NCCL does have a one-year savings contingency fund in the bank.

·  There are a few factors that will affect our budget.

o  Federal employees, including the military, have an opportunity to give money to non-profits, but the list of non-profits will be cut and NCCL may not be included.

o  The money Lee Nagel earned in speaking engagements will not be there. Such speaking engagements are not part of the ED contract.

o  The NCCL Offices are moving in June. The rent and some other expenses will increase. (The positive factors are there is more space and the office is not in the basement. This will be an expense of $20,000 more each year.)

·  Our expenses/reduction in income from these factors could be $50,000 more a year.

·  Grants, increased membership and other possibilities will be checked to increase revenue to offset these added expenses and loss of revenue.

Call All Discussion

What can NCCL do to serve our members better? What items should be top priority? (The following items were presented orally and in written form.)

  1. Help Diocesan and Parish directors realize how important it is to meet regionally; assist us in holding regional gatherings. Get diocesan directors more involved in NCCL. (Diocesan directors are understaffed and overwhelmed and need resources to do their job effectively.)
  1. Provide mentorship for new leadership.
  1. Strengthen NCCL’s ties with the dioceses, help us get to know NCCL better, what does NCCL offer, reach out more to new directors, show them the relevancy of NCCL; perhaps an annual contact by the officers.
  2. Educate pastors in catechesis; provide workshops so we can do this at the local level. Joanie noted that in the 1990s, NCCL worked with Sadlier to develop a workshop called “Priest as Empowerer” which helped pastors to understand their important role as primary catechists of the parish. A similar workshop could be developed.
  1. Continue raising consciousness on the topic of catechesis, being a voice for catechesis nationally, promoting a comprehensive vision of catechesis, and raise the bar, don’t lower it.
  1. PCL Formation: Developing more intentional leadership formation, developing a certification process, offerings for those who are certified. Training is needed for PCLs in human relationships, budget, and other issues besides theology. The Effective DRE series could be updated.
  1. Education for PCL's and catechists about working with children who are living with disabilities.
  2. Provide on-line videos or webinars that can be used by PCLs or catechists for formation that would also have some accountability/assessment tool.
  1. Evangelization Resources, including those for lapsed Catholics are needed. Push for publishers to include evangelization topics within the texts.
  1. Catechist Formation: Develop a standard online formation process for forming catechists with mandatory face-to-face meetings.
  2. Training resources for catechist aides and VBS volunteers are needed.
  3. Echoes 3.0: continue to develop content and interactive features.
  1. Expand the online Best Practices section so other Arch/dioceses are encouraged by, can learn from, and replicate what is working.
  2. CL weekly: keep people up-to-date on the various diocesan topics. Offer resources for the Year of Mercy in CL Weekly. Have more adult faith formation ideas in CL Weekly.
  3. Send the ED links and ideas to include in CL Weekly.
  1. Offer more that addresses the needs of the growing Catholic Hispanic community. Help with cultural diversity.
  2. Create an online directory of current diocesan initiatives so conversation can be engaged, networking encouraged, a blog for discussing challenges we face, curating shared ideas
  3. Have more recognition in NCCL that all members are equal. There is not a hierarchy from top down - Diocesan Directors or Parish Catechetical leaders – or bottom up but collegially working together
  4. Offer more resources on successful whole family catechesis, online possibly.
  5. Show ways parishes can balance their catechetical efforts between children and adults.
  6. Get more involved with other new Catholic publishing companies, like “My Catholic Faith Delivered”.
  1. Find ways to bring catechetical information to the rural settings.
  1. USCCB has the Leadership Institute but needs local intervention to monitor the person wrestling with questions. Harry Dudley has provided ways to use this tool.

24.  Certification process: more clarity on requirements, on employment history status, availability of mentors. Several people voiced the concern of a frustrating, unclear, and overwhelming process.

25.  Membership; availability of board members and rep council members to speak at local gatherings to increase awareness of NCCL

26.  Resources to form volunteer catechetical leaders.

27.  Maintain a current list of potential speakers.

Conference 2016 will have a new approach.

·  The Conference will be May 23-26 in Jacksonville, Florida.

·  The Conference Committee is looking at ways for participants to unpack the content and have a more mature model of learning.

·  The theme is dynamic discipleship: Dare. Lead. Innovate.

·  Rep Council will pass out postcards to each participant after the 2016 presentation /introduction at the 2015 Conference.

·  From now until July 31, you can register for $249. On August 1 the price goes up to $349.

Catechetical Leader Reps are vacant in many provinces. The Rep Council may need to discuss how to increase parish catechetical leaders to become reps. Some provinces meet annually for networking and reps could be chosen from this group.

Catechetical History Project

Grant money has been set aside to do this project. Ed Gordon already has worked on this by interviewing some catechetical leaders. The project will be resumed.

NPCD is disbanding on June 30, 2015.

A Task Force with members from NCEA, NPCD, and NCCL met in Chicago in March to talk about the vision of catechetical ministry. At the end of the morning session on Monday, Carrie Sallwasser and Bill Miller are scheduled to make an announcement stating dialogue will happen to decide how to collaborate.

About half of members of Rep Council were not in favor of having the joint statement from the NCEA/NPCD/NCCL Task Force read. After a lengthy discussion, Rep Council asked the Board to reconsider if the statement would be read. If the Board approved reading the statement, members of the Rep Council insisted that some type of qualifying statement be added as an introduction to the statement. That qualifying statement should make it clear that this is an ongoing conversation and that any action taken would be taken as part of an effort to recruit new PCL members in general, not only new members from the ranks of NPCD. About half of members of Rep Council were not in favor of having the joint statement from the NCEA/NPCD/NCCL Task Force read. After a lengthy discussion, Rep Council asked the Board to reconsider if the statement would be read or how to put it in an appropriate context that this was not a statement from the NCCL Board.

The reason for disbanding NPCD is for NCEA to be able to focus on schools and principals and their needs. They decided that they were doing many tasks not related to education in the Catholic schools.

Current NPCD members have some concerns about NCCL:

1. One concern is will NCCL honor the dues NPCD members paid to NPCD.

2. Are there leadership positions within NCCL that NPCD members could move into?

3. Some members of NPCD still look at NCCL as a diocesan directors’ organization, even though that is no longer the case. This could be, in part, because those NPCD members don’t realize that PCLs have a strong voice on both the NCCL Board and the Representative Council.

The resource printed by NCEA is Parish Catechetical Leader Formation Workbook is something that needs to be re-printed and it could be a product we sell (if NCEA would let us have the rights to the resource).

ACRE is a resource that NCEA produces that some dioceses need and a reduced price is offered to members. This should be addressed.