Religious Education
RESOURCES & RESOURCE CENTERS


RESOURCE CENTERS
Office of Religious Education
65 Elliot Street
Springfield, MA 01105
Berkshire Regional Office
56 Newell Street
Pittsfield, MA 01201

Come visit us. Office hours –
Monday thru Friday 9 am to 4:30 pm, Springfield
Monday thru Thursday 9 am to 2 pm, Pittsfield
Other times by appointment

 

 

Both offices offer a wide range of catechetical resources:

  • Publishers’ samples of recommended religious education programs for the parish setting along with textbook series’ for Pre-K through adult, including sacramental resources are available for preview.
  • Audio-visual resources, including audio cassettes and CDs are available at both sites at no charge. Parishes are invited to become members of the video/DVD portion of the library for a reasonable annual fee. For a list of available videos click here to download the ALPHABETICAL INDEX, click here for the NUMERIC INDEX, and click here for the THEMATIC INDEX (PDFs).
    • Over 1,000 videos and DVDs available.
    • Parishes normally pay an annual fee (sliding scale) for unlimited borrowing.
    • Videos/DVD’s may be rented individually at $15.00 to those that do not subscribe.
  • A full library of over 700 volumes consisting of reference materials and educational resources is available in many different areas. Some of these areas include theology, catechesis, ministry, prayer, scripture and spirituality. These materials are available for the public to borrow at no charge.
  • Audio tapes/CDs – both presentations on ministry, religious education, theology, etc., as well as music tapes and CDs are available for borrowing at no fee.

Both of these offices provide:

  • Consulting on catechetical programming, resources, and other pertinent issues, including: curriculum planning, textbook selection process, video/DVD resources, teacher training, etc.
  • Reading room/conference room
  • CONTACT US to request the presentation of a workshop at your parish or in your Deanery.
Handbook for Parish Catechesis
To assist parishes in their efforts to establish life-long learning in Their Community, the Office of Religious Education has published a Handbook for Parish Catechesis. This document is designed to offer practical suggestions for enhancing the parish efforts to reach out to all its parishioners with quality catechetics. The Handbook has been distributed to parishes and is on line, click Handbook for Parish Catechesis.


HANDBOOK TABLE OF CONTENTS
SECTION 1
SECTION 2
SECTION 3
SECTION 4
SECTION 5
CONSENT AND RELEASE FORM
CATECHIST APPLICATION FORM5 FILE
MINISTRY ANALYSIS WORKSHEET
SAMPLE JOB DESCRIPTION


The staff of the Office of
Religious Education
welcomes invitations to offer
presentations, workshops, or
courses in parishes or
Deaneries. Pleases call
either the Springfield (413-
452-0812) or Pittsfield office
(local: 443-3187; from
Springfield area: 452-0651)
for further information. Go to CONTACT US for more options.

See Calendar of Events page for more information on current activities and opportunities.

Silver Burdett www.RCLBenziger.com
www.FaithFirst.com
www.BlestAreWe.com
www.EchoesofFaith.com
www.ChristJesustheway.com
www.wholecommunitycatechesis.com
econnect www.CalltoDiscipleship.com
Hartcourt www.harcourtreligion.com
Resource Publications www.rcpinet.com
Good Ground Press www.goodgroundpress.com
Loyola Press www.findinggod.org
TwentyThird Publications www.twentythirdpublications.com
St. Mary’s Press www.smp.org
Center for Learning www.centerforlearning.org
Our Lady of the Elms College, Chicopee
www.elms.edu
Sadlier www.coming to Faith.com or
www.cyerFaith.com or
www.sadlier.com
PFlaum
www.pFlaum.com
Our Sunday Visitor
www.osv.com
Resources for Christian Living (RCL) www.RCLWeb.com
USCCB (US Conference of Catholic Bishops)

www.usccbpublishing.org

Prayer:
Fr. Ron Rolheiser
www.ronrolheiser.com

Each of these sites offers many links to other helpful sites.


Publisher Resources
Catechesis for RCIA Catechumenate:
“Association for Catechumenate Ministry” ACM Publications, www.acm.org
“Come and See” St. Anthony Messenger Press 2004, www.americancatholic.org
“Foundations in Faith” Resources for Christian Living (RCL), www.RCLWeb.com
“Growing Faith Project” TwentyThird Publications, www.twentythirdpublications.com
“How to Teach with the Lectionary” Philip J. McBrien Twenty Third Publications
“Journey of Faith” (3 levels-children/adolescents/adults) Liguori Publications 1993, www.liguori.org
“Making Disciples” Our Sunday Visitor, www.osv.com
Breaking Open the Gospel:
“Bringing Home the Word” 1-800-488-0488
“The Word Among Us” 1-800-775-9673
“Disciples in Prayer” Oregon Catholic Press, www.ocp.org
“Share the Word” Paulist National Catholic Evangelization
Association, www.pncea.org
“Sunday By Sunday” Good Ground Press, www.goodgroundpress.com
“Quest” Pastoral Dept. of Small Christian Communities, Hartford, Ct.,
www.nafscc.org
“Good News” Gr. 1-2 Pflaum Pub. Group/Peter Li Inc., www.pflaum.com
“Ventures” Gr. 4-5-6 Pflaum Pub. Group/Peter Li Inc.
“Visions” Gr. 7-8 Pflaum Pub. Group/Peter Li Inc.

Publications
“Catechumenate” A Journal of Christian Initiation (Monthly Publication) Liturgical Training Publications, www.@LTP.org


ORGANIZATIONS
Paulist National Catholic Evangelization Association www.pncea.org
Landings International: Welcoming Returning Catholics
www.Landings-International.org
Office of Reconciliation www.paulist.org
North American Forum www.naforum.org

CHURCH DOCUMENTS

Pope Paul VI, On Evangelization in the Modern World
(Washington D.C. USCCB, 1975)

Pope John Paul II, The Mission of the Redeemer: On the Permanent Validity of the Church’s Missionary Mandate (Washington, D.C. USCCB 1991)

Go and Make Disciples:
A Plan and Strategy for Catholic Evangelization in the United States
(Washington, D.C. USCCB 1993)
Published with commentary and planning guide through PNCEA.
Pamphlet also available.

Thy Kingdom Come: A Manual for Evangelizing Staff
(Committee on Evangelization National Conference of Catholic Bishops 1999)

Visit: www.OnceCatholic.org
www.BustedHalo.com