Published: August 18, 2011
“Roman Catholic vision”
Annual ‘Study Days’ for priests in Sacramento Diocese to focus on preaching
“Renewing Sunday Preaching” will be the topic of a three-day meeting this fall for priests of the Diocese of Sacramento. The annual diocesan ‘Priests Study Days’ will be held at Christ the King Retreat Center in Citrus Heights.
“This year’s Study Days will address the importance of preaching, the need for preachers to prepare carefully, and the goal of improving the quality of homilies,” said Fr. Michael J. Hebda, director of Continuing Education for Priests for the diocese, in an Aug. 16 letter to priests.
“The National Organization for Continuing Education of Roman Catholic Clergy (NOCERCC) will be presenting the ‘Renewing Sunday Preaching’ program,” Fr. Hebda’s letter continued. “The program has the following goals: To affirm participants’ dedication to preaching the Word of God and to encourage their best gifts in the preaching ministry; To assist in forming a presbyterate’s identity as preachers of the Word; To help priests, bishops, and deacons claim a Roman Catholic vision of Sunday homiletic preaching; and to nurture a homiletic competence that flows from this vision.”
“The study days will begin on Monday, October 10th with check-in at 11:30 a.m. and lunch at 12:00 noon,” said Fr. Hebda in the letter. “It will conclude after morning Mass on Thursday, October 13th.”
According to the National Organization for Continuing Education of Roman Catholic Clergy website, the ‘Renewing Sunday Preaching’ program was developed with funding from the Koch Foundation, Our Sunday Visitor, and the Raskob Foundation.
The Koch Foundation, according to its website, “is an independent, private Catholic family foundation that administers grants for projects and programs that spread the Catholic faith. Established in 1979 by the founders, Carl and Paula Koch, the Foundation uses its endowment to support evangelization activities of the Catholic faith.”
“The Raskob Foundation,” says its website, “has as its purpose to engage in such exclusively religious, charitable, literary and educational activities as will aid the Roman Catholic Church and institutions and organizations identified with it.”
The Our Sunday Visitor Institute is the philanthropic arm of the well-known Indiana-based publishing company of the same name. “Through Our Sunday Visitor Institute, we ensure that monies generated by Our Sunday Visitor's activities are given back to the Church,” says the OSV website. “The Institute's mission is to serve: to help bishops and pastors minister to the faithful, and to help ordinary Catholics live the true faith of the Church in their hearts and homes, in neighborhoods and workplaces, and in their lives as citizens.”
According to the National Organization for Continuing Education of Roman Catholic Clergy, the ‘Renewing Sunday Preaching’ program “is intended for a bishop and the priests or priests and deacons of a diocese or for a provincial and other members of a religious community who preach at the Sunday Eucharist.”
“The program,” according to the website, “consists of four two-hour sessions to be scheduled as part of a convocation and is conducted by a team of two faculty… The four Renewing Sunday Preaching sessions usually take place over two or three days.”
Comment: I hope they strongly recommend that Deacons, Priests and Bishops read and/or re-read the "Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition" which addresses all matters of Faith and Morals.
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