NATIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON ADULT RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Dr. Michael Steier, D.Min.
Assistant Secretary for Catechesis & Leadership Formation
USCCB, Staff

NACARE consists of one representative from each of the fourteen episcopal regions and up to five consultants. Regional representatives are to be full-time, salaried professionals who have responsibility for promoting and implementing adult religious education in their respective dioceses. Consultants possess a special expertise or knowledge that NACARE identifies as important to its work.

Selection: Ordinarily, the diocesan contacts for adult religious education in each region elect a representative to serve on NACARE for a term of three years. If an election cannot be held, an appointment will be made by the USCCB staff person in consultation with the chair of the executive committee. The representative may be re-elected or re-appointed once.
Responsibilities:

• Attend the annual Spring meeting
• Convene the diocesan adult religious education contacts of their region at least annually for communications, professional support and development.
• Contact in a timely manner newly appointed contacts and offer assistance as possible
• Serve on the subcommittees of NACARE
• Represent their contacts to NACARE and facilitate communication between NACARE and their contacts.
• Apprise their contacts twice a year of NACARE's work once following the annual Spring meeting and once following the Fall executive committee meeting.
• Conduct a self-assessment of the completion of their annual responsibilities

CONSULTANTS

Dr. Angela Ann Kukowski, MSHS, D.Min.
Executive Director
University of Dayton

Mr. Adrián Herrera, Associate Director
Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston
Office of Continuing Christian Education

Mr. Neil Parent
3502 Cameron Mills Road
Alexandria, VA 22305-1103

Selection: Are appointed at the discretion of the Assistant Secretary for Catechesis and Leadership Formation in consultation with the Executive Committee.

Responsibilities:

• attend the annual Spring meeting
• serve on the subcommittee of NACARE
• participate fully in NACARE in light of their expertise

• Yearly gathering of data about adult religious education from diocesan offices through the NACARE regional representatives.
• Leader's Guide to Our Hearts Were Burning Within Us, USCCB, 2000.
• Serving Life and Faith, a working document offering a vision for adult religious education in the United States. 1986.
• The Catechism of the Catholic Church: An Access Guide for Adult Discussion Groups. USCC Department of Education,1995.
• Development of Our Hearts Were Burning Within Us implementation assessment tool.
• Participation in the International Consultation on Adult Religious Education.

  ... the continuing education of adults is situated not at the periphery of the Church's educational mission but at its center.
  (#43) To Teach as Jesus Did. USCC, 1972

  "‘Catechesis for adults, since it deals with persons who are capable of an adherence that is fully responsible, must be considered the chief form of catechesis. All the other forms, which are indeed always necessary, are in some way oriented to it.' This implies that the catechesis of other age groups should have it for a point of reference and should be expressed in conjunction with it, in a coherent catechetical program suitable to meet the pastoral needs of dioceses."
  

  (#59) General Directory for Catechesis. USCC, 1998

  ". . . to teach as Jesus did means calling and equipping all Christians of every age and stage of life to fulfill their baptismal call to holiness in family, Church, and society—their mission to evangelize and transform the world into a more caring and just society. Ongoing faith formation is essential to accomplish this mission; it does not end at confirmation or graduation but continues until one's death."
  

  P.14 Our Hearts Were Burning With Us. USCC, 1999

  Adult catechesis should be the “organizing principle, which gives coherence to the various catechetical programs offered by a particular Church …. This is the axis around which revolves the catechesis of childhood and adolescence as well as that of old age.”
  

  #48 A National Directory for Catechesis. USCCB, 2005

  “It is our hope that this United States Catholic Catechism for Adults will be an aid and a guide for deepening faith. It may serve as a resource for the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults and for the ongoing catechesis of adults. It will also be of interest for those who wish to become acquainted with Catholicism. Finally, it can serve as an invitation for all the faithful to continuing growing in the understanding of Jesus Christ and his saving love for all people.”
  

  #xxiii Conclusion to Introduction, United States Catholic Catechism for Adults, USCCB, 2006

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