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STEP - University of Notre Dame
Newsletter - May 2013
University of Notre Dame  

Summer Liturgy Symposium
baptism of the Lord The 2013 Symposium will be held June 17th through 20th.  It will focus on the sacraments of initiation, exploring how baptism, confirmation, and Eucharist transform us into beloved children, imitators of God (cf. Ephesians 5:1).  The central theological theme of the symposium will be deification, the process of sanctification in which human beings enter into the divine life.
STEP facilitator Andrew Casad, M.T.S. will present at the symposium.  Information and registration are available on the website of the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy.
 
PROCLAIM! New Initiative from the Institute for Church Life 

Through PROCLAIM!, the ICL targets  volunteer lay ministers in parishes at the grassroots level to enrich ongoing faith formation and to strengthen the central role of the parish in the life of the Church. The initiative supports and motivates lay volunteer ministers on their journey by offering to parishes custom-tailored tools designed to invigorate the volunteer ministers' prayer lives, to boost their doctrinal knowledge in apologetic dialogue, and to enliven their pedagogical skills.

For information and upcoming events, visit the PROCLAIM! website. Patricia Bellm, who leads PROCLAIM!, is a former STEP course participant and a STEP Facilitator.
 
The Church   
 
Notre Dame Experts Share Thoughts and Insights on Pope Francis

Kathleen Sprows Cummings, creator of the STEP course Women and Catholicism in the U.S. and Associate Professor of American Studies and Director of the Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism,

Rev. Robert Pelton, C.S.C., Professor of Theology and Kellogg Institute Fellow,

U.S. Bishops Report Strong Support for Immigration Reform
   
WASHINGTON­­-A large majority of Catholics support immigration reform legislation that provides a path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country, according to a recent survey sponsored by the Office of Migration Policy and Public Affairs of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).
  • Nearly eighty percent of Catholic voters support earned citizenship  
  • Most Catholics support the bishops' call to respect human rights and dignity
  • Catholics need to contact their legislators
What's New at STEP?  

  

New STEP Outreach Effort to Catholic Schools

 

Lisa Orchen is STEP's Coordinator of Catholic School Outreach. Lisa has served as a STEP Facilitator for nine years and has been guiding groups of Catholic School Personnel through the Catholic Faith and Tradition Course for over a year. Please contact Lisa (lorchen@nd.edu) to discuss how STEP can assist the faith formation efforts of Catholic School faculty in your diocese.  Lisa can also assist you to schedule cohorts of faculty into customized courses that best meet the scheduling needs in your local area.
 

New Course: The Liturgical Year 

 

This course will explore liturgical time - the structure of the Church's calendar, its theological meaning, and its liturgical expression. Christians are invited to enter ever more deeply into Christ's life through the liturgical use of time. The talks and the other materials presented in this course are intended to make you conscious of the way liturgical time is used by God for our redemption.  Learn more »

  

Upcoming Courses


The following courses will begin on June 3, 2013:

Course Participants

  

Sakai Transition Complete
  
Concourse as we know it will be replaced by Sakai in June 2013. Please note that any course materials from courses prior tosakai April 2012 will no longer be available once the transition to Sakai is complete.  Content remaining in Concourse will not be available after June 3, 2013.