Dear Friends:
I am now in class recess until the Fall Semester starts on August 30th. It has been an exciting adventure for me through the Spring Semester and Summer "Mini-Mester". I started out with three classes in the Spring of this year:
* Eucharist and the Mass
* RCIA
During my course of the Eucharist of the Mass I learned about the History of the Mass from the time of Christ through Vatican II and beyond. It was a fast-paced and exciting course with Bishop William Johnson, D.D. as my instructor.
My final project for the class was to provide a video-tape of myself performing a "dry mass" (a mass that in essence goes through all the motions of celebrating mass so that once I am ordained I will be able to perform a real mass like the back of my hand. In my case, in June I made a visit to our Diocesan Office (Diocese of St Luke) and met with my Bishop for three days. It was a very intense but productive meeting. We covered everything from my goals and objectives with the Pastoral & Outreach Center here in Indianapolis, to business administration such as registering as with the Corporations Divisions of the Indianan Secretary of State as a Foreign Not-for-Profit Religious Organization to establish state tax exempt status, to discussing Diocese and Church Administration matter and how with my expertise in the IT world, I might provide support.
In addition, on Sunday, after attending Mass at St. Joseph the Worker, the Pastoral & Outreach Center established by Bishop William Johnson, D.D., I performed my final project for Bishop Bill (with Bishop Bill videotaping my "dry mass"). The good news is that I passed the course and my final project. More about my current grades in a moment.
My other course in the Spring was entitled "RCIA". This is with the Catholic Community the catechism process whereby an non-catholic learns about the Catholic Faith and then makes an informed decision as to whether to become a member of the Catholic Community. RCIA stands for Rites for Christian Initiation for Adults. It is a standard course that is taught in most Catholic communities including our Roman brothers and sisters.
I attended RCIA and converted to Roman Catholicism officially in March 11, 1982. Under the direction of Associate Chaplain at the St. Paul's Cardinal Newman Center in Bloomington, IN, Fr. Jeremiah Cullinane Baptized me within the Catholic Faith, Confirmed Me, and provided my First Holy Communion and became a member in full communion with the Roman Catholic church on that date. The date that I was accepted to ACCUS and St. John XXIII Pastoral & Outreach Center as member of the Independent Catholic community an a seminarian was March 28, 2011.
Within our RCIA course I learned to do what Fr. Cullinane provided for me - to lead a class on RCIA in accordance with the liturgy schedule. Our final project was to establish a syllabus which we could use once ordained in preparing RCIA classes in the future. I passed my final and the course as well.
With about a week break, I began what St. John XXIII Theological Institute (seminary) calls the summer "Mini-Mester". It literally takes a full semester of content and compacts it into five (5) weeks.
Msgr Art Spring was my instructor for both of my courses for the Mini-Mester: 1) Intro to Sacred Scripture; and 2) Intro to Theological Reflection. The first provided a high level overview of the history of sacred scripture from the time of its inception to the present. Much time was spent in the details of the sociological, cultural, spiritual and emotional details which shaped the creation of what we know today as the Old Testament and the New Testament. I passed the course successfully.
The other course which Msgr Art taught was "Intro to Theological Reflection". In this course much thought and consideration was given to the different models which have been developed over the years regarding Theological Reflection as well as exploring one of those Theological Reflection models in details. Our final assignment was to prepare a "Critical Incident Report". This is an analysis of our personal interaction with another within a recent time frame and it is a look back at what actually took place in the interaction between myself and the other person, how I could have handled the situation better and reflected on the things which I did not do so well with the interaction. The final result was to then bring God into the interaction and reflect on what could have been done as a Christian and a future Priest from my perspective to have a better out come of the situation. Overall I learned a tremendous amount about where I succeed, where are my pitfalls, and what I can do in the future in interactions with others to avoid those same pitfalls. I passed with flying colors.
OK. Now to the final grades:
* RCIA (Sacraments of Initiation) A-
* Eucharist and the Mass A-
* Theological Reflection A
* Intro to Sacred Scripture A
One grade yet to be determined in my first Supervised Ministry with Bishop Bill.
My fall courses are scheduled to start August 30th. I have a full schedule for the semester as you can see below:
* Early & Medieval Church History: Instructor, Fr. Chris Bisett
* Foundational Theology: Instructor, Fr. Chris Bisett
* Pentateuch: Instructor, Fr. Chris Bisett
* Pastoral Counseling: Instructor: Fr. James Calderone
* Supervised Ministry: Instructor: Fr. James Calderone
I am looking forward to the fall schedule and I wanted to provide to each of you, my supporters, what your support is reaping so far in the training of a seminarian to one day receive Holy Orders, God willing.
A quick update on St. John XXIII Pastoral & Outreach Center established here in Indianapolis. You can learn more about St John XXIII POC by going to http://www.stjohnxxiiipoc.org. I am in the process of recruiting volunteer facilitators whom I will train in September so that in October, four new support groups for the HIV Community will be launched: 1) Newly Diagnosed; 2) Long Term Survivors; 3) Family Members and Caregivers; and 4) Women. For details go to St John XXIII POC's website and download a brochure on the support groups. You can also check out and download a brochure on ACCUS as well as find links to our Facebook websites for St. John XXIII Pastoral & Outreach Center, the American Catholic Church in the United States (ACCUS), and St. John XXIII Theological Institute.
One last update: St John XXIII Theological Institute has been approved by the Arizona Board of Higher Education as an accredited Theological school. Fr. Bisett, our Registrar for the school, is just waiting on receiving the final paper work! The school offers the following advanced degrees: Master of Divinity (M.Div.); Licentiate in Sacred Theology (S.T.L.); Doctorate in Sacred Theology (S.T.D.); and finally a Doctorate in Canon Law (J.C.D.). Special thanks to Fr Bisett, who is also our legal counsel, and Archbishop Harms, our Metropolitan, for making this possible.
Thank you for you continued support and look for an update sometime this fall.
One note - I will be having surgery sometime in the next month to place a titanium hip in my right hip. Years of long distant running has taken it toll. I will let each of you know when exactly I will be hospitalized. The process of hip replacement has become so routine that it usually involves a 3-day in hospital stay, with me being up and walking the same day as surgery. I am told I will be able to resume normal activities with restrictions within a week. I ask your prayers during this time and pray for a speedy recovery as it will occur right at the beginning of the Fall Semester so I'll play catch up on the first week or so.
Peace and Grace to each of you,
Br Jeff
--
Rev. Brother Jeff Wolfe, M.Div. (Candidate)
Director
St. John XXIII Pastoral & Outreach Center
http://www.stjohnxxiiipoc.org
rev_jwolfe@accus.us
(317) 238-9393 (office)
(952) 556-9171 (fax)
http://www.accus.us
