By Marie Mulvenna

Concluding a four-day in-depth session on the topic religious education, the National Conference of Diocesan Directors of Religious Education (NCDD), wound up their Atlanta conference with a strong call for continuing and expanded priestly education and the inclusion of contemporary religious education as “part of the core curriculum of every American seminary theologate.”

The Conference, composed of 350 diocesan religious education administrators throughout the U.S., issued a forceful, and much amended, resolution seeking the systematic evaluation of the office of pastor, and those in special ministries, stating “where such evaluation programs exist, the person’s efforts in total religious education, constitute a criteria of this evaluation.”

Other resolutions receiving NCDD approval call for cooperation between all departments engaged in the “educational mission of the Church,” including the formation of a joint committee with the National Catholic Education Association (NCEA) to study means for implementing the goals of total religious education issued in the forthcoming National Catechetical Directory.

The NCDD also approved resolutions that the national office of religious education of the United States Catholic conference give “certain priority” to early childhood and pre-school education and that formal recognition be given the ministry of the catechist with provisions for training and a rite of institution. The U.S. bishops have already petitioned Rome for approval of such a ministry.

On the topic of priestly education, the NCDD resolution stated that “programs of clergy education on a part-time, once a week basis are often not sufficient,” recommending that continuing education programs of the National Organization for the Continuing Education of the Roman Catholic Clergy (NOCEROC) “include the topics of contemporary religious education and leadership training.” The NCDD went on record as supporting long-term leaves and sabbatical programs in each diocese, geared for additional education of its priests.

Terming seminary training as the “principal vehicle of priestly formation,” the Conference, in a unanimous vote, affirmed “the necessity of establishing in a professional and academic manner the subject of contemporary religious education” in every seminary core curriculum. Some delegates expressed the opinion that catechetics has too often been a part-time program seminary training.

Increased and expanded cooperation between various personnel and departments in the field of education was underscored in a resolution seeking “sharing program planning, program staffing and resources personnel involved in all educational aspects on parish and diocesan levels.”

The Conference specifically recommended liaison with the NCEA in their resolution for a joint committee on the National Catechetical Directory. “The success of efforts concerned with total religious education depends on the cooperation of all involved in the ministry of religious education.”

Monsignor Paul Cook, outgoing president of the NCDD, and newly named Secretary for Education for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, commended the membership on their handling of the first confession, first communion issue in which he said the Conference “provided a voice of honest concern that led to clarification and progress.”

Conference workshops covered models of adult religious education programs by Father James Bacik of Bowling Green University, Ohio. Father Virgil Funk, director of social ministry for the Diocese of Richmond, addressed the subject of education for minority ethnic and cultural groups. Dr. John Nelson of the Graduate Institute of Religious Studies at Fordham University, presented an analysis of the theology of catechesis. Dr.Francis Ryan of Rockville Center, N.Y., discussed the future role of media in the field of religious education.

Incoming president, Father Terrence Sullivan, director of religious education for the Archdiocese of San Francisco, said he looked forward with hope to the work of the Conference, stating the national administrators had a good sense of cooperation between themselves and would do the same together for the entire nation.