FORT
LAUDERDALE | If families come in all shapes and sizes, then this one stands out
for both its size and diversity: a multitude of lay people, dozens of
religious, a handful of priests, an army of teenagers, and a bishop.
The
37th annual Catechetical Conference brought a massive family of faith-teachers
to St. Thomas Aquinas High School Oct. 24, all of them devoted to passing on
the joy of the Gospel.
For
many of the nearly 1,000 catechists, the majority of them lay volunteers, the
drive to the Fort Lauderdale high school represented quite a trek.
“People
were here from Homestead, from St. Joachim, from St. Ann Mission,” said Peter
Ductram, director of the Office of Catechesis, which organized the conference with
input from the Missions Office.
“The
distance wasn’t a limitation,” Ductram said. “That speaks of their past
experience. It’s a community of catechists that are coming together. It’s
beautiful.”
Photographer: ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO | FC
The 2015 catechetical awards recipients pose in the chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas High School. From left: Rose Young, Esperanza Ginoris Award winner; Adrian Dominican Sister Joan Leo Kehn of St. Gregory Parish and Vilma Angulo, winners of the Lifetime Catechetical Leadership Award; back row: Kim Pryzbylski, senior director of Faith Formation for the archdiocese; Msgr. Vincent Kelly, supervising principal of St. Thomas Aquinas High; and Peter Ductram, director of the Office of Catechesis.
Photographer: ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO | FC
Archbishop Thomas Wenski says some closing remarks to catechists at the conclusion of the conference's opening Mass.
Waiting
on them at the school — literally and figuratively — were a small army of
students who guided the catechists to the various workshop sites, boxed their
lunches and even live-streamed the opening Mass.
It
was the first time that had happened, and the Aquinas teens were the camera
operators and producers of the webcast that people saw on their tablets or
computers.
Ductram
said a catechetical coordinator from St. Raymond Church in Miami had sent her
teachers to the conference but was herself unable to attend. “She almost shed
tears” when she found out she could be present at the Mass via the Internet, he
said.
So
what brought so many people out early on a Saturday morning and kept them there
until late in the afternoon? The same thing that brings them out to their
churches a lot of other weekend mornings and weekday evenings.
“I
love to share my faith with the children. I really do. They’re just so open to
the word of the Lord,” said Rose Young, who has been serving as a catechist at St. Anthony Parish and School since 1993.
Young
received this year’s Esperanza Ginoris Award for being “a model for catechesis”
in the archdiocese. She spends Sunday mornings preparing groups of third,
fourth and fifth graders — some with special needs — to make their first
Communion.
“It’s
a blessing for me,” she said.
The
other honorees were Vilma Angulo, now a bilingual catechetical consultant for
William H. Sadlier Inc., and Adrian Dominican Sister Joan Leo Kehn. Both
received the Lifetime Catechetical Leadership Award in recognition of
“outstanding ministry, faithful service, joyful commitment and visionary
leadership” in catechesis.
Angulo
began her work as a catechist in the Diocese of St. Petersburg and continued it
for 18 years in the Archdiocese of Miami, at St. Gregory Parish in Plantation
and All Saints in Sunrise.
Sister
Joan teaches religion at St. Gregory School and serves as co-director of the
religious education program. She is also marking 60 years as a religious during
this Year of Consecrated Life.
“I
am very grateful for the most energizing day,” she wrote in an email afterward.
“The place was the best! The service was the best. The students were very
present and most helpful, too. They gave up their whole Saturday…”
Praise
came from one of the keynote speakers as well, Sister Judy Gomila, a Marianite
Sister of Holy Cross who is both a missionary and a catechist. She currently
serves in New Orleans but has taught religion in Alaska, the bayou and the
inner city.
She
spoke to the catechists about the personal call to holiness. “They just got
right into it. The enthusiasm was incredible,” she said.
Channeling
Pope Francis, she added that “the call to holiness and the sense of humor go
hand in hand, especially if you’re a missionary.”
Other
keynote speakers were:
Father Robert Schreiter of the Missionaries of the Most Precious Blood, who has
authored 19 books and delved deeply into the topics of forgiveness and
reconciliation. He spoke about the Church’s “expansive sense of mission” and
“the face of mercy,” especially during this upcoming Year of Mercy.
Nelly Lorenzo, who directs the formation of lay ministers and permanent deacons
in the Archdiocese of Chicago. She spoke about the Church’s compelling mission
to evangelize.
Father Gabriel Naranjo, a Vincentian priest from Colombia who has served on the
Latin American Bishops Conference (CELAM) and as secretary general of the CLAR,
the Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Men and Women Religious. He
delved into Church documents on evangelization, including the Vatican II Decree
Ad Gentes, Pope Paul VI’s Evangelli Nuntiandi and St. John Paul II’s
Redemptoris Missio.
Joe Paprocki, national consultant for Loyola Press in Chicago and a catechist
who blogs about his experience at www.catechistsjourney.com. He spoke about the
way the Apostles proclaimed the Gospel, “with such zeal and lack of inhibition
that people thought perhaps they were intoxicated.”
Another
speaker, as well as exhibitor, was Ricardo Grzona, president and chief
executive of the Miami-based Fundación Ramón Pané. At the behest of Pope
Francis himself, the Pané foundation has just published a Lectio Divina for Families
— an eight-week guide for families to read and study the New Testament together.
(See accompanying story.)
Because
this is the Year of Consecrated Life, the Office of Catechesis also recognized all
the men and women religious who serve in the Archdiocese of Miami. They took up
a whole section at the front of St. Thomas Aquinas’ gymnatorium during the
opening Mass, which was celebrated by Archbishop Thomas Wenski.
In his homily and in closing remarks, he praised the catechists for taking on a
“difficult job.”
It
is difficult, he said, because “today a lot of people are not attuned to the
joy of the Gospel. And you have to wake them up.”
Photographer: ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO | FC
Archbishop Thomas Wenski hands out diplomas to catechists who have completed their certification coursework.