Catechetical Institute Mentor Training

This will be an opportunity to learn more about the Institute and to become trained as a Mentor (optional).  The day will be hosted at St. Theodore’s Catholic Church from 9:30- 4:00.  The first part of the day will be an opportunity for anyone to come and learn more about the Institute.  Following lunch, training to become a mentor in the Institute will take place until 4:00.  Please RSVP by e-mailing faithformation@dow.org.  There is no cost for the day and lunch will be provided.

*The Catechetical Institute’s online programming offers: 
•    catechist formation tools that are wide in their reach, designed to help all those Catholics responsible for helping others, not just catechists.
•    a broad range of workshops, making use of experts not only in catechetics and theology, but also in counseling, education, life sciences, communication, and more.
•    formation that goes deep, exploring topics you won’t find in other online formation programs, including basic evangelization skills, mentoring, spiritual guidance, team building, and many others.
In the emerging field of online formation, Franciscan University’s Catechetical Institute stands apart.

Agenda of the Day:

9:00am Continental Breakfast
9:30am Welcome, Introductions, and Overview of the Catechetical Institute’s work
Rationale for doing online formation with this methodology
The role of beauty and the need to engage the whole person
12:00pm Lunch
1:00pm Key elements of the Institute’s formation system
A detailed look into the Institute’s workshops and ministry standards
How to help others be formed effectively in this type of online context
How to wield the potential of this way of formation
Explanation of next steps
Questions and answers
4:00pm Closing prayer
5:15pm Holy Mass in the parish church

Dr. Bill Keimig is the Assistant Director of the Catechetical Institute at Franciscan University. For 15 years, he served as the Director of Religious Education at St. Mary’s of Piscataway Parish in Clinton, Maryland. Along with this work, Dr. Keimig served as a master catechist in the Faith Foundations Catechist Formation Program for the Archdiocese of Washington, DC. Dr. Keimig has served as a speaker in many other settings, including at the annual St. John Bosco Conference in Steubenville, and at major venues in over 30 dioceses. He served for nine years as the Director of the Association for Catechumenal Ministry (ACM), and was the managing editor of ACM’s series of RCIA texts used in thousands of U.S. parishes and in many other countries. Dr. Keimig holds a Doctorate in Ministry from the Catholic University of America, and a Master’s Degree in Theology and Christian Ministry with a Certification in Catechetics from Franciscan University. He also holds a Master’s Degree in Public Management from the University of Maryland in environmental policy. He and his wife, Heather, have six children running around: Rose, William, Julianna, Theodore, Elizabeth, and Gregory.

Laura Gallant is the Workshop Development Coordinator for the Catechetical Institute at Franciscan University of Steubenville. Her role involves developing the workshops from the initial filming to the final posting on the online learning platform. She previously served as an Instructor for the Department of Communication at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, teaching courses in public speaking and cultural communication, and continues to do consulting in presentation skills and intercultural communication strategies. She has a Master’s Degree in Communication with an emphasis in international and intercultural communication, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and in German from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Laura is currently working on a Master’s of Arts in Theology from Franciscan University, and she hails from the cornfields and chicken coops of the great state of Illinois.