DIOCESE—Two major workshops for employees of the Rockford Diocese feature familar faces this year.

Educational Leadership Day

 

Educational Leadership Day, sponsored by the diocesan Office of Educational Services, was Sept. 26 at St. Rita Parish in Rockford. 

 

The speaker was Matt Schwartz, former religion teacher at Boylan Central Catholic High School in Rockford and former director of Youth and Young Adult Ministry for the diocese.

 

He discussed Pope Francis’s apostolic exhortation, “Christ is Alive.” The document, released in April, focuses on young people and vocations in the Church.

 

Ministry Day

 

Ministry Day, for pastors and their staffs, will be 10 a.m.-3:45 p.m. Oct. 3 at St. Mary Parish, 10307 Dundee Road in Huntley.

 

The topic is “Changing the Culture: The Next Steps” and features a return of last year’s speaker, Deacon Keith Strohm of the Archdiocese of Chicago. He is the former director of the archdiocesan Office for the New Evangelization.

 

“I am so pleased to have been invited back to follow-up on my presentation from last year’s Ministry Day,” Deacon Strohm wrote in a letter to pastors in the Rockford Diocese.

 

Registration for Ministry Day closed Sept. 23.