30th Anniversary of Pope John Paul II Visit to Des Moines

What God Has Given and Human Hands Have Made

On Friday, October 2 and Saturday, October 3rd we will celebrate the 30th anniverary of Pope John Paul's historic visit to Des Moines.

Three organizations- the Diocese of Des Moines, Living History Farms and the National Catholic Rural Life Conference-are sponsoring a commemoration of the Holy Father's visit, to express our gratitude and to explore agriculture, feeding the world, environmental ethics, and spirituality.

For more information about the symposium, please consult the diocesan website at http://www.dmdiocese.org/

On a Journey Together Blog Launched

On a Journey Together:

A Process of Evangelization

and Renewal in the

Diocese of Des Moines

http://onajourneytogether.blogspot.com/

The Blog for the Evangelization and Renewal process in the Diocese of Des Moines is up and running. You can find it at the address listed above. Please feel free to share the blog address with your communities and the groups who might be interested in pursuing on-line conversation about the process.

Fall Creighton Course Announced...Introduction to Christian Ethics

The Diocese of Des Moines in partnership with Creighton University are co-sponsoring

Introduction to Christian Ethics


Dates: Friday, August 28, 2009 Registration 5:00– 6:00 pm
First session follows, 6:00—9:00 pm

Six Saturdays, 9:00 am to 3:30 pm:
August 29, September 19, October 10
October 24, November 21, December 12
Location: All Saints Parish Center, Stuart, Iowa

Instructor

Todd Salzman, Ph.D., is professor of Christian ethics and Chair of the Theology Department at Creighton University. He completed his doctorate at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, in 1994 and has been teaching at Creighton University since 1997. He has published five books on fundamental moral theology, marriage, and sexual ethics, including his most recent book, The Sexual
Person: Towards a Renewed Catholic Anthropology (Georgetown University Press, 2008, co-authored with Michael Lawler) and over 35 scholarly articles.

Learning from a distance in your own home!

The Virtual Learning Community for Faith Formation through the University of Dayton offers adults the opportunity to learn more about their Catholic faith in the comfort of their own homes by way of the internet. Each course is limited to fourteen participants so that there is a sense of community among the learners as they embark on a five-week experience of learning, reflecting, sharing and responding to questions designed to reinforce the readings, discussion boards and exercises that are required for successful completion of the course.

The Diocese of Des Moines is a “partner diocese” which means that the per course cost is reduced from $90.00 to $40.00 for people within the diocese. Additional costs may be required for texts for each course (usually no more than $20.00).

For a list of courses being offered from May 24 through June 27, please visit the Virtual Learning Community for Faith Formation website at http://vlc.udayton.edu/ , or contact Cheryl Fournier in the Office of Adult Faith Formation at 515-237-5006 or by email at cfournier@dmdiocese.org.

On a Journey Together!

On a Journey Together is the name of the process of evangelization and renewal that is now underway in three pilot parishes in the Diocese of Des Moines. In the fall of this year, 2009, all of the parishes in the Diocese will be participating in this process as one means of preparing for the Diocesan Centennial in 2011. More information will be coming soon.