Dialogue Within the Church (Group 3)
2nd Conference Call on May 24th 2007

Present on Call:

Eileen Brown
Carol Fleitz
Jeanenne Weis
Mary Garvin
Mary Ellen Holohan
Norman Bengel

Eileen opened our call with a prayer from the Celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Beatification of Blessed Marie Rose:

Blessed Marie-Rose we ask you to intercede for us that our lives may be, like yours, rooted in prayer, energized by mission and steadfast in our commitment to serve in the names of Jesus and Mary who are our strength and our glory.

We began by inviting our newcomers (Norm, Mary Ellen and Carol) to tell us a little about themselves and why they joined this group.

A major topic of our conversation centered around the theme of “Our Experiences of Church” in light of the material on the Church in Chapter Acts of 2001 and 2006. Eileen facilitated and group members offered the following insights:

-Awareness of technology and media as significant means of influencing people regarding Church and church issues
Positive example of Religion and Ethics on PBS
Numerous examples of adult education including RCIA, talk shows, teaching teams in parishes around various themes, lectures for parish groups.
(And a moment of nostalgia for some of us who remember Fulton Sheen)

Some questions which we want to consider further:

What if we thought about a “reverse education flow”?
What if we were asked to give a talk to a parish on “The Catholic Church”. What would we include?
What are the questions people are asking about the church?
What topics are being left untouched?
Who is concerned about Catholic school teachers and what questions are they asking?

-We note the significance of public lectures such as the one by Episcopal Bishop Katharine Jefferts as an example of inclusion, equality and the real meaning of the “Body of Christ” as well as social issues of poverty and climate change

-Need to revive the knowledge and spirit of Vatican II forty years later specially interest in Bible and Church

-We recognized the contribution of publications like National Catholic Reporter to keep updated and informed

-Some noticed the emergence of movements of peer groups for education and formation who gather around themes or common interests:

Continuing RENEW groups
Eco-spirituality
Virtual groups
Trafficking
Sojourners
Cross generational groups

We concluded this section of our call by agreeing on the importance of adult education. We are aware of its many forms and a variety of projects going on. We want to explore different ways of reaching diverse groups of people.

The other area we talked about was in response to our “homework” to look for “signs of hope in the Church.”

-Enthusiasm in congregations for sacramental life
-Paul Lakeland’s new book Catholicism at the Crossroads – How the Laity Can Save the Church
-Organizations like Call to Action
-Laity in parishes keeping the parishes going and claiming responsibility in the wake of the sexual abuse crisis
-Younger members of the church desiring to enter church ministry as a profession
-Families active in parishes and children in Catholic schools

We were reminded of a vivid image: When an ant hill is stepped on, the ants reach out to touch each other so that they can re-organize. The can teach us how to keep at our project and remind us that the determination of a few people can make a difference.

Our next conference call is Thursday June 28th at 7:00 PM (PDT)
Topic: Adult education and the church
Topics, means of delivery, groups for focus etc.
And Signs of hope in the church
July Conference call scheduled for Thursday July 26th

Submitted by Mary – additions and corrections always welcome

Mary Garvin snjm
Religious Studies Department
Gonzaga University
Spokane Washington
509-323-6798
garvinm@calvin.gonzaga.edu