Diocesan representatives attend NCEA convention in Atlanta

By KATIE LEFEBVRE, Globe staff reporter
April 27, 2006

A group of about 25 from the Diocese of Sioux City attended the National Catholic Education Association (NCEA) convention in Atlanta, Ga. The convention began April 18 through April 21.

The intent of the conference is to provide the opportunity for all Catholic educators - teachers, administrators, central school office people, directors of religious education and pastors.

"It is the one opportunity that every involved in the ministry of the Catholic education to come together and celebrate and grow in our ministry," said Kevin Vickery, superintendent of Catholic schools for the diocese. "It is always the week after Easter, so it is a great week of renewal. It is a great way to celebrate the joy of the Easter resurrection. It is time to come together and find so many people who have a common mission to spread the good news of Jesus Christ."

Those who attended from the diocese included people from Algona Garrigan, Carroll Kuemper, Granville Spalding, Spencer Sacred Heart, Catholic Schools of Sioux City and Central Catholic Offices.

According the Vickery, the importance of attending the NCEA convention is that it "provides a broad-based picture of all the parts of what good quality education is about. If we don't stay a part of that, we miss out on some of the key pieces."

"It reaffirms our commitment and mission as Catholic schools," said the superintendent. "It brings everyone together. No matter what our one little piece of Catholic education is, we see it in its totality. We see that if we do our piece of it, if we can enhance Catholic education by getting better at whatever our one little piece of the puzzle is, that the whole puzzle becomes stronger. We become a stronger part of the mission of the total church."

There were hundreds of workshops on a wide-range of topics as they apply to Catholic schools, Vickery pointed out. The topics ranged from instruction and how boards operate to the development and recruitment of students.

"There were several sessions that were important," said Vickery. "The one that I personally walked away from saying, 'I am transformed,' was presented by Sister Helen Prejean."

Sister Helen Prejean is the person who has raised awareness about the issue of the death penalty.

"If in fact, we want to have a culture of life, we have to have a culture of life at all stages," recounted Vickery. "We cannot allow anyone to become the stone which the builder rejects. Once we do that, we have created another rejected stone."

He added that her message was revitalizing.

"We don't have the choice to decide which life we value. If in fact we value the culture of life, we have to value all life," said Vickery. "Her message is that none of us are expendable. We are not the ones who get to choose who is expendable or not."

Vickery hopes that the people who attended walked away with unique stories of how they can be better Catholic educators and better understand what they are called to do.

Pat Boggs, a third grade teacher at Holy Cross School in Sioux City, attended the convention. She mentioned that the principal at Holy Cross sent out an e-mail requesting that anyone interested in attending the convention to send an e-mail back and their names would be put in a hat. Her name was drawn to go to the convention.

"I chose several workshops that were under the elementary curriculum strand and the other strand that had to do with special needs learning," said Boggs. "As I looked back through my notes, I was able to pick up some new ideas, methods and techniques that I am hoping will be beneficial to all of my students."

Boggs added that she is grateful to have the opportunity to attend. She felt the liturgies she was able to participate in were uplifting.

"I had never gone to the NCEA convention before," said Father Joe Dillinger, chaplain at Kuemper High School in Carroll and pastor at Holy Family Parish in Lidderdale and St. Elizabeth Seton Parish in Glidden. "This was the first year that I had really been spending a lot of time up at Kuemper. I go up to the school three days a week."

He mentioned that the reason he went was to get resources that would be useful to him within his ministry. Father Dillinger also went in hopes of coming in contact with people who have similar interests to his own.

"Even though it was National Catholic Educators Association, I found a lot of resources for my CCD program in Glidden," said the priest. "I found resources that I can use in my parish. Even though it was geared towards Catholic educators, there were a lot of things I found that I could use in a variety of different places."

Father Dillinger continued that one of his main purposes or goals is that he is always looking for prayer resources to use with families.

"I found several that I can use with a lot of my ministry with the school as well to the CCD program," he said. "I also found some things as far as spirituality in athletics. That is how I got involved at Kuemper to begin with. I was helping as the chaplain for the football team which led into other things for me - being more involved in the school."

He concluded that he was appreciative of the opportunity for him to go to the convention in Atlanta.