Thomas Groome By Chris Delisle

Thomas Groome Ordained Catholic priest from old Irish Seminary. After 17 years, decided celibacy not for him, met a woman, got dispensation from Rome and was Married Professor of Theology and Religious Education at Boston College Director of the Institute of Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry (at Boston College)

Marriage "I've often said I'd love to go back and re-preach some of the sermons I gave on marriage," he says. "Now that I know a little bit more about it, I wouldn't be nearly as self- righteous and as advising either, because I know the challenges of it.”

Women Should Be Ordained “Likewise, the presence of women as priests and bishops would be an extraordinary gift to the life of the Catholic Church. What a loss it is when ordained ministry is limited to men, excluding the consciousness and gifts of women; at best we benefit from only half our priestly resources. To ordain women would surely hasten the demise of clericalism -- the antithesis to priesthood as servant leadership -- and catalyze a renewed ministry of "holy order.” cus.htm

Books by Thomas Groome Very widely used texts in Religious Education

Three Themes from Thomas Groome  What Makes Us Catholic?  What Makes a School Catholic?  What Keeps Us Catholic?

What Makes Us Catholic? 1. “What Stories to Tell?” – Interpreting Christian Faith 2. “Who Do We Think We Are?” – Living as a Graceful People 3. “What’s It All About?” – Taking a Sacramental View 4. “Are We Made For Each Other?” – Getting Together for Good

What Makes Us Catholic? 5. “What Time Do We Have?” – Mining the Treasury of Scripture and Tradition 6. “In What Will We Invest?” – Risking the Leap of Faith 7. “What Are Our Politics?” – Working for Justice for All 8. “Who is Our Neighbour”? – Loving Beyond Borders

So What Makes Us Catholic? Let’s put our thoughts into plain English. Please go to pqpdelisle.wikispaces.com and contribute your ideas to the Padlet “What Makes Us Catholic?”pqpdelisle.wikispaces.com 4 minutes only!

What Makes a School Catholic? Chapter 7 by Thomas Groome 1. Its positive anthropology of the person 2. Its sacramentality of life 3. Its communal emphasis regarding human and Christian existence 4. Its commitment to tradition as a source of its Story and Vision 5. Its appreciation of rationality and learning, epitomized in its commitment to education

What Makes a School Catholic? Three Cardinal Characteristics Catholicism’s commitment to people’s ‘personhood’, to who they become and their ethic of life – an ontological concern Catholicism’s commitment to ‘basic justice’ – a sociological concern Catholicism’s commitment to ‘catholicity’ – a universal concern

So What makes a School Catholic? Let’s put our thoughts into plain English. Please go to pqpdelisle.wikispaces.com and contribute your ideas to the Padlet “What Makes a School Catholic?”pqpdelisle.wikispaces.com 4 minutes only!

What Keeps Us Catholic?

“ Keep our Eyes Fixed on Jesus”

So What Keeps us Catholic? Let’s put our thoughts into plain English. Please go to pqpdelisle.wikispaces.com and contribute your ideas to the Padlet “What Keeps Us Catholic?”pqpdelisle.wikispaces.com 4 minutes only!

Conclusion We are looking to be leaders of our schools How do we give a clear message to our community, staff, students and ourselves?

Question/Answer Time My Question – How can we summarize our thoughts into a coherent answer for each of Thomas Groome’s three questions? As leaders of our school community, we will be asked these questions. We need clear, easy to understand responses. Break into 3 groups. Please post your sentence on your respective Padlet and label it clearly.