Connections

Tomorrow is my official last day as a working woman. After that my contract with the diocese will be officially over.

Today I received a call from my supervisor from the diocese asking if I would be willing to remain a contact person and facilitator for a workshop on using the Archdiocesan Religion Curriculum ( a workshop I helped to develop and have presented a time or two in the past). He thought since this workshop was going to be required for all Catholic school religion teachers in the fall he might need a few more facilitators in the outer areas away from Indianapolis. I told him that I would be more than happy to offer my services to present this workshop to any group that called me. He said that it would bring in a little money (each group is supposed to offer a stipend,) but that isn't why I agreed.

I have always been a big proponent of using the Archdiocesan Religion Curriculum in my program. In fact I usually spent the summer preparing the program for the next year so that each catechist would know which Standards of the curriculum we were focusing on each week and making sure that we covered each standard thoroughly. I believe in a holistic approach, and I think that if the Archidocesan curriculum is used correctly a good 2/3rds of the work is done for the catechists.

So, I may be doing workshops for neighboring parishes and schools in the fall, or none may call, but at least I have done my part to further the goal of good religious education for all students.

It was really nice to talk to my supervisor as well. He invited me to continue to access the OCE (Office of Catholic Education) website in the diocese, and attend any workshops that I wanted to in the next year. I told him that I might be interested in attending the Indiana Conference of Catechetical Leaders (the biannual conference for all five dioceses in the state) as a way to network for future positions and to see colleagues. He thought that was a great idea and encouraged me to follow up on that.

I may just do that.

Pax