CATFE Biennial Conference was held at St. John's Seminary in January 2018. St. John's serves the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and Southwest dioceses from San Diego and Orange to Monterey, and inland from Fresno to San Bernadino. St. John's Seminary is located in Camarillo, approximately 50 mi. from downtown Los Angeles.

The focus of the conference included input and best practice discussions around Theological Reflection on Ministry in the Context of the New Generation of Ministers, and Supervision, Evaluation and Assessment. See the schedule below.
 
Friday, January 26: TR in the Context of the New Generation and the World
After gathering on Thursday evening for a reception, the group reconvened on Friday morning at a tone-setter from Msgr. Marc Trudeau who introduced the reality of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the other diocese served by St. John's, particularly the demographics of the Southwest Catholic Church.  See below for these statistics. This was followed by a thoughtful invitation by Dr. Christina Zaker from Catholic Theological Union in Chicago to enter into the biennial consultation with the openness we bring to theological reflection. She introduced the gathering to Theological Reflection in Parabolic Mode and thus invited us to pay attention throughout the weekend not only to what is familiar, but to pay even more attention to the stuff that surprised or shocked us, much as the parables do. We were challenged to see with new eyes both our work and our vision for CATFE as we listened and conversed.

The panel was made up of three young adults themselves working in different capacities with young adults in Los Angeles. They were asked to reflect on Current Contexts for Young Adult Catholics and Discerners. The panel consisted of Sr. Jennifer Zimmerman, SND at USC Catholic Center as Campus Minister of Spiritual Life, particularly in the area of religious life discernment; Fr. Jonathan Meyer, a young, recently ordained priest and new formator this year at Queen of Angels Center for Seminary Formation; and Mr. Jason Coito, Coordinator of Young Adult Ministry for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. One of the participants of CATFE was Dr. Maureen Day of Franciscan Theological School in Oceanside who is both a sociologist and field educator, and is awaiting the publishing of her book on young adult ministry. She too weighed in on the conversations about both the young Catholic students in our schools and those young Catholics we are training our students to minister with and evangelize. CATFE will update the website with her research when it is available. In the meantime, there was a fruitful conversation about what we can and cannot profile about this new generation.

In the afternoon the 23 CATFE participants made a field trip to Casa Pacifica (www.casapacifica.org), a residence and outpatient wrap-around facility for at-risk youth and their families. This field placement is located only five miles from the seminary. We were given a presentation and tour of this impressive facility, one the few of its kind in the country.
 
Saturday, January 27: Supervision, Evaluation and Assessment
On Saturday morning Fr. Allen Kuss and Sr. Charlotte Berres from St. Paul Seminary, MN, gave a presentation on their three intensive programs on Evangelization, Spiritual Pastoral Ministry (taking the place of CPE), and the Teaching Parish Program. All three of these manuals and the PowerPoint presentation are available in the Documents tab of this CATFE website under Members Area. This presentation led into a fruitful and lively conversation among all of the participants about areas of pastoral formation in its different iterations across our varied contexts as well as the challenges of good supervision, evaluation, and eventually, assessment.

Fr. Andrew Turner from St. Mary's Seminary, Wickcliffe, OH, gave a presentation on his development of a technological assessment tool he is beta-testing at his seminary for an ATS grant. This software focuses the formators and professors on the five outcomes of the overall program by tracking student progress in a single software program. All of the CATFE participants struggle with program assessment, so this discussion was particularly lively. See Fr. Andy's the ATS Summary Proposal and the accompanying slides in the Documents area.

In the CATFE Business meeting it was determined to leave the leadership team in place for this year as a a few viable candidates cannot commit this year. Fr. Rodel Balagtas and Sr. Leanne Hubbard, SND have been on the team for three and four years, respectively. It was helpful to have leaders geographically in the area of the CATFE Biennial. We will continue to have the conversation about where the next Biennial will take place. Approximately half the members present will attend the ATFE Conference in Asheville, NC January 30-February 2, but there was interest in tacking on a CATFE meeting on January 29 that others may attend. Kathy Castillo from Christ the King Seminary, NY is still on the leadership team. St. John Vianney Regional Seminary in Boyton Beach agreed to look into hosting the next CATFE Biennial. Since then, however, they have offered 2022 instead as they are in a busy time leading up to 2020.

At the end of these meetings, the last stop was Ventura for a tour and Vigil Mass at the San Buenaventura Mission with one of the St. John's Interns and Supervising Pastor. Mass was followed by a bite to eat on Ventura's happening Main St. Here ended CATFE Biennial 2018.

If you attended and would like to write about the experience and the input, please email smleanne@stjohnsem.edu. More articles will be coming from our leadership team in the near future.

Profile of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles - Msgr. Marc Trudeau, Rector

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles comprises three counties in the southern part of the State of California: Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties. The area extends from the northern county line of Santa Barbara County, near the city of Santa Maria, to the southern county line of Los Angeles County.

It covers 8,762 square miles (22,430 square kilometers) of territory. The total Roman Catholic population, as of 2016, stands at 4,031,831 people living among a total population of 11,519,000. (about 35% of the population).

To put into perspective, there are 3.9 million people living in Ireland, a country with 26 Dioceses. Los Angeles has more Catholics than the entire population of Ireland.
 
In 2016, 67,000 children and adults were baptized or brought into the church in Los Angeles, more than New York and Chicago, combined. Added to that would be the 10,000 from the Diocese of Orange, and around the same from San Bernardino and San Diego dioceses.
 
There are 288 parishes located in 120 cities throughout the Archdiocese in the three counties. There are seven missions and chapels and nine Eastern Catholic churches. In all, there are a total of 225 Catholic elementary schools serving some 65,000 students, while there are 53 Catholic high schools with about 30,000 students enrolled. Together they comprise one of the three largest school systems in California in either the public or private sector.

Ethnic services in a very culturally mixed environment are offered to 72 different groups. These services include clergy, liturgy, social services, publications, counseling, and cultural affairs.

Hospitals, various social service programs, jails, as well as advocacy operations are all part of the ministerial service of parishes.
Serving these ministries, the archdiocese employs about 1000 priests. It sounds like a lot but of 1000, 495 (including the 150 retired)  are diocesan priests, most of whom work in parish ministry. Of these, 282  or 57% are St. John’s alumni.

Los Angeles seminarians make up a little less than 2/3 of our students but we have students from all over southern California, including Orange and San Bernardino both of which are in the top 10 largest dioceses in the country. San Diego, Monterey and the Maronite dioceses all have their own unique flavors. The realities of the different dioceses are important in our strategy to expose the men to ministries that are meaningful to their local church.

The impact on the seminary is twofold. Preparing men for the mission becomes increasingly complicated because of the diverse populations and accompanying needs of the community. Secondly, our men come from those realities so we are, ourselves, dealing with diverse needs of students, some of whom come with challenges in English literacy, either coming as foreign student or students coming without humanities degrees

CATFE This month seventeen CATFE members from thirteen Catholic seminaries and theological schools met on January 20 for a dinner meeting during the ATFE Convocation held in The St. Paul hotel in Minnesota. The conversations at ATFE among Catholic members and across traditions focused on the theme: "Across the Divides," playing on the the geographical position of the Twin Cities along the North American Continental Divides. CATFE member Barbara Sutton of St. John's School of Theology, Collegeville delivered a tone-setter at the beginning of the gathering, encouraging us to  reflect not only on the geographical and physical divides, but also the social, economic, political and spiritual divides that are a part of the Twin Cities and our current ministries.

At the previous ATFE Biennial, CATFE members from Minnesota, along with other theological schools close to the region, had offered to host ATFE Biennial 2017 in the Twin Cities. Fr. Allen Kuss and Sr. Charlotte Berres, CSJ from St. Paul Seminary were instrumental in the preparation and success of this endeavor.

At the Catholic caucus gathering, it was announced that Barbara Sutton was finished with her term as part of the CATFE Steering Committee, and Kathleen Castillo of Christ the King Seminary, NY was elected. Fr. Rodel Balagtas and Sr. Leanne Hubbard, SND both from St. John's Seminary, CA will remain on the Steering Committee as they host the next CATFE convocation 2018 in California. There will be an email going out to all Catholic member and non-member schools inviting input on the timely topics to explore together at this meeting.

CATFE will be meeting as a caucus of ATFE at 6:30PM on Friday, January 20th during the Biennial Consultation in St. Paul, Minnesota.

The Association for Theological Field Education is accepting proposals for break-out sessions at our 34th Biennial Consultation in Saint Paul, MN January 19-21, 2017.  Our theme will be “Across the Divides,” but proposals will be accepted for any topic pertaining to our practice as theological field educators. 
There are three continental divides in MN and three rivers in the Twin Cities that divide.  This geographical contour provides a metaphor for the challenge of addressing our social context.  We confront many divides, such as those of culture, language, race, gender, privilege, income, clergy/laity, technology, ideology, and theological stance.  Our Consultation will encourage us to reflect together on ways to cross these and other divides and so to strengthen the work we do.  We will explore ways to help our students to cross divides and to embrace difference in their places of ministry.  If you have experience or expertise in one of these areas, or in other areas related to our work as field educators, the Steering Committee invites you to submit a break-out session proposal for consideration. 
Break-out sessions at ATFE Consultation can take six different forms as outlined below.  Please send proposals by February 20, 2016 to the Chair of the ATFE Steering Committee:  Joseph Bush, Wesley Theological Seminary, 4500 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington DC 20016. jbush@wesleyseminary.edu
 
PROGRAM SESSION DESCRIPTIONS
 
CLINIC
An extended experiential learning event for theory enrichment and skill development.
                                                                                                                       

COLLOQUY
A conversation with a designated moderator in which all contribute to the announced discussion topic out of their own experience.
 

IMMERSION
An extended experiential learning experience in the context of a particular ministry, which effectively uses field education pedagogies.
 

OPEN SPACE WORKSHOP
An opportunity for any ATFE member to address any topic of interest. Topics are participant-initiated and announced during the Consultation.
 

SEMINAR
A presentation made on an announced topic with opportunity for participants to dialogue. A supportive environment for mutually exploring and developing specified skills through application and practice.
 

WORKING GROUP
A ‘round-table’ gathering in which colleagues focus upon a significant question that is of continuing concern to members for the purpose of seeking insights, drafting proposals for research, standards or continued study, and defining new approaches.
 

The Religious Education Association, a multi-faith organization made up of professors, researchers and senior practitioners in the field of religious education announces its Annual Meeting Call for Papers for a gathering to be held in Pittsburgh, PA from November 4-6, 2016.

Our meeting theme is: Generating Hope: The Future of the Teaching Profession in a Globalized World. We will be accepting proposals through the end of April. More information is available here:

http://www.religiouseducation.net/rea2016/

You need not be a member of the REA to respond to our call, but if your proposal is accepted in the blind peer-review you will need to become a member prior to the meeting.

We welcome proposals which focus on this theme from a wide range of fields, and we ask that you share this information widely.

Full time three-year appointment with possibility for continuation.  Rank open.
 
Requirements:

• Doctorate (Ph.D., Th.D., STD, D.Min. or equivalent), appropriate teaching and professional experience.
• Work with students in MDiv and MTS programs, including candidates for chaplaincy and candidates for ordination to priesthood.
• Strongly preferred Spanish-English bilingual.
• Roman Catholic.
• With demonstrated multicultural understanding, shown in research and scholarship, and professional experience in pastoral ministry.
• Knowledge of Christian and Catholic tradition and practice, particularly the Franciscan tradition.

 
Position has:

• Teaching component, two (2) courses plus supervision of ministry placements per semester.

 
Applicant will be expected to participate with other faculty and ministerial professionals in Ministry Seminar I-IV, and meet with supervisors of student placements. The applicant must be able to structure programs following professional and Church norms for ministry preparation. The position requires full participation in the academic, pastoral, and communal life of the school, including student advising, liturgical participation, and committee responsibilities. FST has a strong commitment to diversity and seeks a broad spectrum of well-qualified candidates.
 
Applications will include: cover letter, c.v. and three letters of recommendation.
Deadline for applications: February 15, 2016
 
Send application to: jtaele@fst.edu
Franciscan School of Theology
4050 Mission Avenue
Oceanside, CA 92057
www.fst.edu

Taking a frank look at unfinished business of Co-Workers in the Vineyard of the Lord (USCCB , 20015), about fifty individuals gathered in June, 2015 at St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota. Participants from ministerial education, research, canon law, and church leadership came to “Toward Canonical Consideration for Lay Ecclesial Ministry. “ This was the latest in a series of major seminars on Lay Ecclesial Ministry (LEM) held at Collegeville involving leaders in lay ministry and national organizations. Since providing major influence on Co-Workers, the seminars have further articulated theological foundations for vocation and authorization, and recommended steps for advancing excellence in lay ecclesial ministry. http://www.csbsju.edu/sot/lifelong-learning-and-events/collegeville-national-symposium-on-lay-ecclesial-ministry.

Barbara Sutton, Associate Dean of Formation and Outreach at St. John’s School of Theology and Seminary at Collegeville, substantially planned and led this Symposium. She worked also on the 2011 Collegeville Symposium, and contributed a chapter to its resulting In the Name of the Church, William J. Cahoy, ed. Barbara is on CATFE’s leadership team. Thanks to Barbara’s invitation to CATFE, I represented CATFE, to continue its traditional influence on pastoral formation, as in Co-Workers and early editions of the Program of Priestly Formation (USCCB).

Our day and a half gathering was intense and productive. We examined closely the bishops’ vision in Co-Workers for authorization for lay ecclesial ministers with Lynda Robitaille, Ph.D., JCD. Dr. Robitaille is a canon lawyer who has worked before with the Collegeville Lay Ecclesial Ministry Symposium. She noted that the Bishops had recognized in Co-Workers, that canonical authorization is a must for lay ecclesial ministers to take their appropriate place in the church’s ministry.

Mary Gautier, Ph.D., the primary researcher at CARA for research on Authorization of Lay Ecclesial Ministers for Ministry, provided a nuanced presentation of reliable nationwide data, enabling us to take stock of growth, and acknowledge too that Authorization takes place in just some dioceses, most often for directors of religious education. We next met in small groups to more deeply interpret the meaning of this data. One important revelation to me was the extent to which resources to realize the Bishops’ vision for lay ecclesial ministry and authorization were redirected to respond to clergy abuse accusations.  

We then engaged in a planning process that yielded priority goals and action steps to address unfinished work related to that vision. I highly recommend you check out this process.  This method was given us as a “tool to use at home” http://www.csbsju.edu/documents/sot/events/co-workers/facilitating%20a%20conversation-%2010th%20anniversary.pdf

Praxis became method as we repeated the process the next day. Joined by additional individuals, from Minnesota churches far and near, we facilitated their active reflection on the meaning of Co-Workers in the local church. Their discussions yielded hopes and plans to bring Co-Workers to the parish level. Their input also helped refine national goals and action steps. The symposium concluded by celebrating the Co-Workers tenth anniversary with prayer, followed by a luncheon honoring H. Richard McCord whose address on the Co-Workers’ anniversary was a reflection on its journey from past to present.

Kathleen Murphy Castillo
Director, Theological Field Education
Christ the King Seminary, East Aurora, NY
 

The School of Ministry at the University of Dallas, in Irving, Texas, seeks applicants for a full time, tenure track faculty position as ASSISTANT PROFESSOR & DIRECTOR OF FIELD EDUATION in its graduate masters’ degree programs as well as its undergraduate Pastoral Ministry program. 

Qualified applicants will hold a terminal degree in pastoral care, practical theology, ministry or related field; or be ABD in one of these fields. Highly qualified candidates with masters degrees may also be considered. A thorough knowledge of and appreciation for Catholic theological tradition and pastoral practice, including contemporary theology and practice of ministry, is essential. Successful applicants will have significant experience in teaching adults and undergraduates, an active interest in pursuing research, and a demonstrated record of success in ministerial formation, pastoral supervision, and field education for pastoral ministry. Teaching competency in another related field of theological and ministerial studies such as pastoral care and counseling, Catholic social teaching, ministerial ethics, cross cultural ministry, etc, and pastoral experience in a Catholic setting are highly preferred. Experience with online teaching is desirable.
The School of Ministry at the University of Dallas equips its students with the critical skills needed for theological reflection in a contemporary context of Catholic tradition, as well as the pastoral skills for service in the Catholic Church.  For more information on the School of Ministry go to www.udallas.edu/ministry. 

For a full description of the position and to apply see the University of Dallas Human Resources University of Dallas Human Resources webpage. To be considered candidates should submit a letter of application, curriculum vitae, transcripts, and contact information for three references addressed to Dr. Daniel Luby, Director of Graduate Programs, School of Ministry by December 22.