Vancouver ArchdiocesanOffice of Religious Education

Newsletter • Winter 2011

Vancouver ArchdiocesanOffice of Religious Education

150 Robson Street Vancouver BC V6B 2A7 tel 604.683.0281 fax 604.689.5673 email ore@rcav.orgVisit our ORE website: www.rcav.org/ore

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Winter Institute: Saturday, January 29, 2011 10:00 am - 4:00 pm St.PatrickSecondarySchool 115East11thAvenue,Vancouver

Lenten Twilight Retreat: Friday, March 4, 2011 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm St.FrancisofAssisi 2025NapierStreet,Vancouver

Monday, March 7, 2011 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm St.ClareofAssisi 1320JohnsonSt.,Coquitlam

Perhaps wondering what changes have taken place your first question might be “What is the curia?” The chancery and administrative offices of the diocese are referred to as the diocesan curia which is defined as “an appropriate instrument for the bishop, not only for administering the diocese but also for carrying out the works of the apostolate.”

For our faithful readers of the ORE newsletter our office will no longer be administering the marriage preparation program as it will now come under the direction of Catholic Family Services. In this restructuring it is important to note that the Archbishop has expanded the scope of CFS to include not just marriage preparation but also the Respect Life office. Under the direction of its new director, Pavel Reid, CFS has broadened its outreach to families by joining these offices with its extensive counseling service. While this change may be the most significant in the curia it is simply one of many so we decided to offer our newsletter to a few of the offices to let them introduce themselves. Follow along in our newsletter to meet Patrick Gillespie from the Office of Evangelization, Evelyn Vollet, Office of Service and Justice, Paul Schratz, director of the Communcation Office, Rennie Nahanee of the First Nations Ministry, and Pavel Reid, director of Catholic Family Services.

From the Director

CHANGES IN THE DIOCESAN CURIA FOR 2011

DEUS EST.

The Office of Service and Justice expands the scope of Catholic Charities to include the entire apostolate which includes: social justice issues, human rights advocacy and corporal and spiritual works of mercy. This office is everybody’s office! We focus on our schools, parishes and larger community providing 1) education, 2) communication and networking; 3) call to service and justice.

An incredible amount of social services are offered through our 80 parishes. We house homeless people – there is room for 102 men in the Vancouver Archdiocese building on the 3rd floor! We provide warm food and

friendship at over 12 parishes. We have 24 St Vincent de Paul conferences that support the most vulnerable in our communities with visiting, food and shelter. More than 150 volunteers visit prisoners and newly released inmates in community to help them integrate, providing tangible support and loving encouragement. In the past two years we sponsored more than 500 refugees from countries they had to flee to save their lives and those of their families. Our schools have social justice clubs and are instrumental in providing hours of volunteer support at Agape Street Ministry and Door is Open.

Please watch for our new website which we will be launching to provide more information regarding this Office by early Spring 2011. Email evollet@rcav.org to learn more about this exciting office.

Office of Service and Justice is your office too!by Evelyn Vollet

Office of Evangelizationby Pat Gillespie

There is a God, who loves every one of us unconditionally and to prove it became one of us in Jesus Christ, who expiated human sin through his death and offers eternal life through his resurrection.

What an amazing offer!

This is the whole point of the Church, to enter into this gift of eternal life and to go tell the people in our lives about it. This is evangelization. We live this life and tell others in all we are, say, and do. So what does the Office of Evangelization do about this?

We are available to:

• Consultandnetworkwithpastors,ministryleaders,groups,andparishesaboutevangelization

• Assistparishesindevelopingoutreachstrategies

• Suggestevangelizationprogramandresourceoptionsforparishes

• Presentworkshopsonevangelization

We provide:• ArchdiocesanInstitutecoursesonevangelization

For more information visit Evangelization at rcav.org

Just picture radiant, attractive, parish communities of intimate disciples of Jesus Christ, reflecting Christ in all they are say and do, and through whom the Holy Spirit converts people and transforms our culture.

Catholic media work is not simply one more program alongside all the rest of the Church’s activities: social communications have a role to play in every aspect of the Church’s mission. Thus, not only should there be a pastoral plan for communications, but communications should be an integral part of every pastoral plan, for it has something to contribute to virtually every other apostolate, ministry and program. – PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR SOCIAL COMMUNICATIONS, AETATIS NOVAE, 1992

At its basic level, a Catholic Communication Office has seven specific objectives: • Evangelizing • Influencing the values, judgments and actions of society • Telling the Church’s story • Protecting the communication environment • Teaching communication • Reflecting on the quality of Church communication, and • Supporting one another in a ministry of communication.

The Archdiocese of Vancouver Communications Office develops and implements the archdiocese’s communications strategy. This includes all internal and external communications, from employee news through the chancery building intranet, to handling press releases and media requests, to helping the archbishop speak to the people in the pews.

The office:

• oversees the RCAV.org website, keeping it updated and functional and managing its content; • co-ordinates media and publicity for archdiocesan celebrations and events, and helps archdiocesan departments with their communications needs, whether through newsletters and brochures, or online. It co-ordinates media on-site at major events;

• provides communications advice and services to departments, schools and parishes, particularly in terms of crisis communications;

• co-ordinates archdiocesan social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and provides an archdiocesan face in the digital social universe; • produces briefing materials for the archbishop and helps him develop statements and messaging for Church and non-Church audiences;

• serves as a clearing house for information to the public on Archdiocesan policies (e.g. filming in churches) and on matters of Church teaching.

The goal of the First Nations Ministry is to spiritually support First Nations Communities, to foster healing and reconciliation, to help find solutions that promote spiritual health, and to increase First Nations people’s participation in the life, mission, and ministry of Christ and the Church. This is being accomplished by having a dialogue between Church, First Nation’s people, and Organizations which represent First Nations people’s interests. This would include but is not limited to the Residential Schools and its effects on the former students, the Churches role today with First Nations people, working with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, introducing and promoting the services available from the Archdiocese of Vancouver, preparing people for carrying out various ministries at the Mass and other occasions, facilitating meetings whereby priests, nuns, and lay Catholic leaders attend First Nations events and First Nations people attend Church events, and to be available to help with healing sessions held on reserve or Church facilities. Two recent events were the Prayer Breakfast held on the Seabird Island Reservation, and a Prayer Luncheon held at the Vancouver Aboriginal Centre, where two priests gave their testimonies on their life with Christ.

First Nations Ministryby Rennie Nahanee

Vancouver Archdiocese Communications Officeby Paul Schratz

Upcoming Events

Winter Institute 2011Learn your faith and pass it on! Attend a general interest course on Church Histoty, apologetics, basics of the faith, and more, or a ministry training course for PREP, RCIA and Youth Minstry.Saturday, January 29th 10 am - 4 pm

St. Patrick Regional Secondary School115 East 11th Avenue, Vancouver

Lenten Twilight RetreatFriday, March 4, 2011 6 pm - 9 pm at St. Francis of Assisi Parish, Vancouver &

Monday, March 7, 2011 6 pm - 9 pm at St. Clare of Assisi Parish, Coquitlam

FreedomFriday, March 11, 2011 7 pm - 10 pm

St. Joseph Parish, Langley

A powerful one-of-a-kind reconciliation event for youth and young adults.

Rite of ElectionSunday, March 13th & 20th 2:30 pm

Holy Rosary Cathedral

Parishes allocated by deanery location.

Jesus the Teacher Retreat for CatechistsMarch 25 - March 27, 2011Westminster Abbey, Mission

This overnight retreat is a part of the RCIA and PREP Certificate Programs offered at the seasonal Formation Institutes. It provides an opportunity for catechists to deepen their relationship with the one Teacher, Jesus Christ, and reflect on their vocation to lead others to Him.

Spring Institute 2011Saturday, April 30th 10 am - 4 pm

Holy Cross Regional Secondary School16193 - 88th Ave., Surrey

www.rcav.org/ore

Catholic Family Servicesby Pavel Reid

In Chuck Luttrell’s “From the Director” article at the beginning of this newsletter, he explained how Catholic Family Services has merged with the Respect Life and Marriage Preparation offices to form the “new” CFS.

So why the change?

To quote John Paul II, ‘the family is the sanctuary of life.’ With the growing threats to the sanctity of human life in our culture, the Church’s most effective response is to strengthen the family, the sanctuary of life. Anything sacred is most likely to be recognized and treated as sacred within its sanctuary. Within a strong, faith-filled family, life is well protected.

Of course, it is not only human life that is threatened these days but also human love. In order to form sanctuaries of life, the Holy Spirit binds men and women in the love of marriage. Over the past few decades a number of cultural changes have made it more difficult for couples to respond to the Spirit and to enter successfully into happy and stable marriages. And whenever love is threatened, life is sure to be threatened.

Fortunately, at the same time, the Church and the wider society have been making leaps and bounds in our theological and psychological understanding of what it takes to form healthy, happy and holy marriages — and what it will take to build a culture of life, a culture founded on marriage. By blending the work of our professional counsellors and educators, theological experts and administrators, our volunteers and employees, the combined efforts of the ‘new’ CFS will use what we have learned to assist the work of the Holy Spirit in forming sanctuaries of life.

Please join us in this important ministry by praying for the families and individuals we serve — and for our work.

To discover more about CFS visit www.rcav.org/cfs/.