San Fernando Regional Congress this weekend!

I hope to see my friends and partners in ministry at the San Fernando Valley Regional Congress this weekend at Bishop Alemany High School. Stop by the ORE Booth for a freebie from your Elementary Division and stuff from other folks, too!

September already?

It just doesn't seem possible, but it's true! It's September and many of your programs will begin within the next four weeks. Stop by my blog on CathololicMom.com and enter to win free stuff to start off your year!

Check out our YouTube Channel!

Drop by and subscribe or sign up to be a friend:

http://www.youtube.com/user/elementaryre

NCCL Round table: Lighting the Fire

I received the electronic copies of this wonderful round table last week and have uploaded them to our Yahoo Group. The title, Lighting the Fire: Using Whole-Group Gatherings to Kick-off Weekly PSR Classes, says it all. Look for them under Files | NCCL | Pre-RE Lighting the Fire.

Enjoy!

Please send your thanks and questions/comments to:


Jenifer Truitt, CRE

St. Oliver Plunkett

reled@stolivers.com OR jtruitt.pflaum@gmail.com

Summer Post: Special Needs Religious Instruction

I am taking a break from posting over the summer-big change, right? Instead of posting weekly, I will be sending up one lonely post per month as I study for summer school and get ready for upcoming Specializations.

We are not, however, idle over the summer months. I have spent the last month and a half traveling across the San Pedro Region at Special Needs Discussion Sessions. The results of these sessions, the formation of five, regional Special Needs Commissions, is something we will report on in the months and years to come.

Please pray for this ministry that crosses all socio-economic and cultural lines. Here are links to two organizations, tirelessly championing the cause of our disabled Catholic brothers and sisters:

 National Catholic Partnership on Disability - www.ncpd.org
 National Catholic Office for the Deaf - www.ncod.org

In His Service.


**DON’T FORGET ABOUT ELEMENTARY SPECIALIZATIONS!! SIGN-UP TODAY OR WE MAY HAVE TO CANCEL IN YOUR REGION**

"For Love in a Time of Conflict" by John O'Donahue

As requested, here is the poem I read during Dr. Carol Epiers' General Session @ NCCL.

"For Love in a Time of Conflict" by John O'Donahue

When the gentleness between you hardens
And you fall out of your belonging with each other,
May the depths you have reached hold you still.

Now is the time for one of you to be gracious
To allow a kindness beyond thought and hurt,
Reach out with sure hands
To take the chalice of your love,
And carry it carefully through this echoless waste
Until this winter pilgrimage leads you
Toward the gateway to spring.

Summer in the Diocese

Hello! The publication, Summer in the Diocese for Kids and Families, has been e-mailed to DREs and posted to our Yahoo! Group. If you did not receive an e-mail, drop me a line. You can click on this link to download the file.

Here is my original e-mail:

Good evening, my brothers and sisters in Christ. I pray this finds you well. Attached please find Summer in the Diocese for Kids & Families. This one-page, tabloid-sized publication was put together based on your input from the “Summer in the Diocese” e-mail I sent last month.
If your program is not listed, I did not receive a response from you, and it is too late to be included. Don’t fret! There is always next year!

NOTE: If you MUST print this out (do you need to really??), you will need to adjust your settings in Adobe Acrobat Viewer to either “Fit to Printable Area” or “Shrink Page.” You will probably have to fiddle with your printer’s settings to get it right. You may also be able to print it over two pages. Again, you will need to work with your printer.

This publication is also available on the “Upcoming Events” (starting in July) and our Yahoo! Group (see link below).

If you have any questions regarding the programs, please contact the individual parishes. For those of you looking to host a VBS next year or sometime in the future, do yourself a favor and volunteer this year at a neighboring parish. You’ll be glad you did…and so will the VBS Coordinator where you volunteer!

**DON’T FORGET ABOUT ELEMENTARY SPECIALIZATIONS!! SIGN-UP TODAY OR WE MAY HAVE TO CANCEL IN YOUR REGION**