NEWSLETTER VOLUME 26 ISSUE 3 SPRING 2007

From the Facilitator – Bob Boehm

With the May WDREF Board meeting, I am completing my sixth year on the WDREF Board and my fourth as Facilitator. At the meeting Becky Thompson and Rick Giese were discerned as the Facilitator and Treasurer respectively for the next two years. I am confident that the Holy Spirit helped us select the two best people!!! The quality and enthusiasm of WDREF is not just the responsibility of the Board, but each member of each Local Organization can help us accomplish our varied tasks.

I also am pleased to see so many Youth Ministers on the Board. Although our name states Directors of Religious Education, Youth Ministers have been an important part of our Federation almost from the beginning. In the same vein, I hope we will see Adult Ministers, Pastoral Associates, and Intergenerational Coordinators join our ranks in the future. Our titles may differ but our ministry is the same. As St. Paul points out, there are many gifts but One Spirit, and I hope all Catechists Leaders will all be one some day.

Lastly, I want to say how impressed I have been with the Chairpersons/Presidents of the five Local Organizations in Wisconsin. The past leaders have been exceptional and I am confident that the newly selected ones will continue, with God’s help, to do the same.

I will see many of you at the Retreat in November, and all of you at the Convention 2008 in Stevens Point.

Peace,

Bob Boehm – Facilitator of WDREF

News From Around the State

Steve Pable – GB-AREA

The Spring of 2007 has been a busy time for GB-AREA members. At the diocesans level, we welcomed new staff in the Dept. of Education. Ms. Rosie Bartel is the new Diocesan Director of Religious Education. We hope to acquaint her with the importance of representation through WDREF, and we’re grateful for her educational expertise. Dcn. Ray DuBois is the new Promotional Services Director of the Dept. of Education. He will in large be part responsible for the marketing of Adult Faith Formation, parish Religious Education, and Catholic Schools.

Betty Manion of St. Mary Magdalene of Waupaca is the new VP of GB-AREA, and will therefore be the President in 2008-09. We are working with a newly expanded and active diocesan Board of Education to begin implementation of the recently completed (though ongoing) strategic planning for catechesis. Members thoroughly enjoyed our R&R day with Jason Kotecki in early May. Our executive team had a meeting with Bp. Zubik on May 18^th, which we look forward to sharing with our membership. Plans are in full swing for a great Kick-off day on September 28^th, 2008. The topic will be “Evangelization: Out of Bounds”, and will include pastoral associates and school administrators from across the diocese.

Julie Endl – MDREO

Summer greetings to all WDREF members. There are great things on the way in the Diocese of Madison! To lead us in the coming year, we welcome our new MDREO executive team members. Nicki Paulson is vice president, Julie Wiedmeyer is our new secretary, and Becky Thompson is our WDREF representative (Becky has also been discerned as WDREF Facilitator – congratulations, Becky!) Julie Endl now steps into the role of president.

We also wanted to share the name of the Jack McBride Leadership in Ministry Award Recipient 2007 – Ruth Kolpack. Each year, MDREO presents an award to an individual who is actively engaged in and has made a significant contribution to parish catechetical or youth ministry on an administrative level. This year’s award recipient, Ruth Kolpack, embodies the spirit of the award on many levels. She is a past president of MDREO and has served on the WDREF board. She has been active on the diocesan level through her involvement with TEC; developed The Plunge multicultural experience for high school youth; helped develop and run Party with a Kick for high school students. She has been employed at St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Beloit since 1983. Her positions have included Religious Education, Youth Ministry, and Pastoral Ministry. Ruth has been a leader in the area of social justice, including her involvement in Justice Overcoming Borders (JOB) and the Beloit Hispanic Committee. We are honored to have Ruth as a fellow worker in the field, and happy to present her with the Jack McBride Leadership in Ministry award. We hope to make a formal presentation of the award at our first MDREO gathering in the fall.

Diana Maki – SUMMIT

“Call to Ministry” was the theme for SUMMIT’s February meeting and was presented by Chris Newkirk and Tim Johnson, Principal of Christ the King Cathedral School. On May 17, Sr. Jovita Winkel, CSJ, is presenting “Nurturing Workers in the Vineyard of the Lord.” Sr. Jovita is leaving the diocese to minister near Wisconsin Dells.

SUMMIT Executive Board and diocesan personnel met with Bishop on May 10, 2007 for their annual meeting. There was open dialogue on a variety of topics:

*Competency of Lay Ecclesial Ministers and relationship with Pastors.

*Continued assistance for Parish Catechetical Leaders in regards to Safe Environment training.

*Vision and challenge of evangelization, intergenerational catechesis.

*How to minister to needs of changing and future church.

www.wdref.org

NCCL BUSINESS

NCCL is pleased to announce that Leland D. Nagel of Oneida, Wisconsin, has been named executive director and will assume his new role on July 1. Lee is a catechetical leader. He is known to many of us as the director of Total Catholic Education in the Diocese of Green Bay where he served from 1990 to 2005. But most of us probably know him from the more than one hundred appearances he has made as a keynoter or major presenter at conferences and meetings across the country. For CACE, NCEA, NACFLM, NCCL; from the LA Congress to Bismarck, Baker and Boise; Lee’s words have made an impact on thousands of people over the years.

In 2006 NCCL honored Lee with a special recognition award for his outstanding contribution in catechetical ministry. Congratulations Lee from all of you friends and colleagues in Wisconsin!!!

On March 19, 2007 the board of directors of NCEA and NCCL met together at the offices of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington, DC, at the invitation of Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl, chair of the USCCB Committee on Catechesis. Archbishop Wuerl envisioned the event as a catalyst in the organizations ongoing dialogue process to resolve issues of overlapping missions, membership and services.

Archbishop Wuerl identified two major outcomes for the meeting. First, each board would identify and share values that it deemed constitutive to any new entity that might emerge out of the dialogue process. Second, the boards would establish a joint planning committee to try and conceptualize a new organization that could serve both parish-based and school based catechetical leaders more effectively than the current two organization arrangement.

NCCL, NYCYM, NALM and NAPM all have certification standards approved by the USCCB Commission on Certification and Accreditation. These standards are published in the updated National Certification Standards for Lay Ecclesial Minister. To order copies please go to NCCL’s website at www.nccl.org. The four organizations have also been investigating the possibility of developing a joint national certification process. The executive directors of the four organizations met January 18 at NCCL’s offices to explore approaches to the issue.

This Spring NCCL will publish Foundations, an assessment tool for enabling parish catechetical leaders to measure their ministerial competencies against those in the National Standards. Foundations include both a leaders’ guide for conducting training on the use of the assessment tool and a participant’s book. Foundations are a development of NCCL's Standards and Certification Committee.

IN MEMORY OF Jack McBride

Jack McBride, associate director of the Diocese of Madison’s Office of Evangelization and Catechesis and a National Leader in adult religious education, died on Thursday, Feb 1, at the age of 53, after a long battle with cancer. “Jack was a very faithful co-worker of the truth. Even when he was quite sick, Jack was determined to work hard so that people could receive the truth of Christ. His fidelity to the truth was a sign that he drew his strength from the truth” said Bishop Morlino.

From 1986 to the present he served the Diocese of Madison as associate director for the Office of Evangelization and Catechesis. In June 2006, he was presented the Distinguished Service Award by the National Conference of Catechetical Leadership (NCCL), in recognition of his dedicated and selfless service to the catechetical mission of the church.

McBride served as the chair of the NCCL's Adult Formation Task Force. He also served as a consultant to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' National Advisory Committee on Adult Religious Education, a group he also chaired. (Madison Catholic Herald)

May his soul, and all the souls of the faithfully departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen

Thank you to outgoing members of

the WDREF Executive Team who

shared their many gifts with us!

Bob Boehm is the DRE at Immaculate Conception and Nativity Parishes in Milwaukee and Larry Behlen is the Faith Formation Director at Our Lady of the Lake Parish in Green Lake.

God’s blessings!!

From the left: facilitator, Bob Boehm representing

Mareda, Kathie Fritz, secretary, and Larry Behlen,

treasurer, representing MDREO

“Nurturing Your Spirit as a Disciple in the Vineyard of the Lord”

Sr. Maria Lang, FSPA

November 8-9, 2007

St. Anthony’s Retreat Center, Marathon, WI

$115 – WDREF Members

$140 – Non-members