By Marie Mulvenna

Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan told over 200 members of the National Conference of Diocesan Directors (NCDD) that theirs was “a mission of proclamation.” Speaking to the assembled religious education delegates at the opening liturgy of the five-day gathering in Atlanta, the archbishop said both the importance of their work and the need for their work are clear.

Monsignor Paul G. Cook, president of the NCDD addressed the diocesan directors, presenting a state of the conference message in which he outlined the activities and accomplishments of the conference stating that the group “is moving positively and constructively toward designated long-range goals and specified objectives.”

Terming the NCDD “soundly established as it goes into this 1974 meeting,” Monsignor Cook called on delegates to contribute their skills, vision, experience and energy “adding that the conference is limited only by the limits its members place on their individual active participation.

Outlining the five goals of the NCDD, Monsignor Cook said the conference had succeeded in accomplishing: the production of two research papers; collaboration with existing religious education agencies both within the outside the Church; a set of guidelines for Provincial meetings; a directory listing opportunities in administration, management and other skills to increase members’ competence in the field of religious education; a set of criteria for the selections and funding of research projects by the conference.

Monsignor Cook also said the conference was acting on the subject of total religious education, the major concern of the Atlanta session. In addition, the group has called for respect and openness to the plurality of views and concern within the field of religious education, and the concern of the membership for adequate attention to the religious education needs of minority groups. The Conference has, as well, cooperated with the National Center in staffing, promoting and participating in a workshop on “Leadership in Organizing Religious Education,” and has extended cooperation on the subject of clergy education.

From the NCDD membership, which is composed of diocesan directors of religious education, 114 members are currently serving as chairman of their diocesan committees for consultation on the National Catechetical Directory. The group’s directory committee has submitted 70 recommendations for the Directory consultation process.