AS ALWAYS, ALL LECTURES ARE FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, AND GUESTS ARE WELCOME!
Adult Education
Fall 2007 – Spring 2008
Join us as we look at two challenging contemporary issues that call for prayerful response informed by our faith and our renewed understanding of the Gospel.
Programs presented by the Adult Education Committee St. Agnes and St. Athanasius Parishes of Reading, Massachusetts
Experiencing the Forgiveness and Encouragement of God: A new look at the Sacrament of Reconciliation
Fr. Bill Kremmell, Pastor of St. Athanasius Church 
Sunday, October 28 th
St. Athanasius Parish Center 3:00 PM
Fr. Bill Kremmell will discuss the renewal of the Sacrament and what's new in the way we celebrate Reconciliation. This session is meant to help Catholics take a fresh look at a Sacrament that has fallen out of favor in recent years and develop a new appreciation of how it can make a significant difference in how we live our Christian lives. Fr. Bill is Pastor of St. Athanasius Church in Reading and a leader of retreats and other programs of adult spirituality.
What Difference Does the Eucharist Make? Or Does It?
Dr. Ernest Collamati, RegisCollege
Thursday, November 8th
St. Athanasius Parish Center 7:30 PM
Does Sunday have any connection with what we face at home or at work? This presentation will focus on how we can enrich our lives through a new look at a very ancient practice of Christians - the Eucharist. Could it be that our hunger for more from life in a fast paced world leads us to the table of the Lord? Whether Sunday Mass is for you a weekly experience or an occasional one, come and bring your questions to an evening of exploration and important questions.
Ernest Collamati is currently Chairperson of the Religious Studies Department at Regis College, Weston, Massachusetts.
Matters of Life and Death
Dr. Ernest Collamati, RegisCollege
Thursday, January 17th
St. Athanasius Parish Center 7:30 PM
The world of medicine offers us a dazzling array of treatments, interventions, surgical techniques and amazing life-sustaining machinery. How do we handle the opportunities and the challenges that modern medicine and American culture offer us? How do we handle end of life care for ourselves and our loved ones? Are we obliged to take advantage of every treatment available and appropriate to our situation? What do we say to proposals of Physician Assisted Suicide as enacted in Oregon? What wisdom does the Christian tradition have in response to breakthroughs in genetic testing as well as in reproductive technologies? Dr. Collamati joins us again for an evening to explore the problems and challenges of America's medical practices. How shall we live? How shall we die?
Better Understanding the Gospel
Professor Celia Sirois, St. John’s Seminary
Wednesday, April 9th and 16th
St. Agnes Lower Church 7:30 PM
Celia Sirois will provide an introduction to the Church's teachings on the nature of the Gospel to help us better understand it, teach it and proclaim it. The first night of the program will be an introduction of the gospel genre and the second evening will look at the gospel of St. John with an eye toward applying the skills learned on the first evening.
Celia Sirois is an adjunct professor of Sacred Scripture in the Master of Art in Ministry Program at St. John's Seminary in Brighton.
Courage to Open the Doors: A Catholic Perspective on Immigration, A Two Evening Presentation
Sr. Marie Prefontaine, SNDdeN
Wednesday, May 7th and 14th
St. Agnes Lower Church 7:30 PM
The pastoral concerns and ecclesial responses of immigrant, refugee and mobility communities who migrate from continents throughout the world to the United States raise questions. How does and how might our Church effectively evangelize, catechize and provide more effective pastoral care among these communities? How responsible are we for comprehensive immigration reform? The on-going development of migration theology, enhanced by the rich tradition of Catholic Social Teachings, grounds this pastoral ministry in the virtues of courage and hope for “there will be no peace without justice, and no justice without forgiveness.”