Renowned catechist David Wells to keynote Oct. 26 PVNC Faith Day

The day will offer all PVNC staff the opportunity to reflect on Renewing the Promise, the recently released Pastoral Letter for Catholic Education by the Assembly of Catholic Bishops of Ontario.

The first pastoral letter to Ontario’s Catholic Education community was This Moment of Promise, in 1988, which the bishops followed up with Fulfilling the Promise in 1993.

“Twenty-five years later, the release of a pastoral letter of this magnitude provides an opportunity for the entire PVNC community to celebrate our contributions and reflect on our communal calling in Catholic Education,” said Peter Bagnall, religious education & family life consultant.

Renewing the Promise is the culmination of a province-wide process of consultation that engaged thousands of participants from Catholic school boards across Ontario in prayerful reflection and discussion on the mission and vision of Catholic Education in the province of Ontario.

Renewing the Promise: the Bishops encourage all who share responsibility for Catholic education to continue to nurture and strengthen Catholic schools as communities that exemplify, in word and in deed, the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Our Oct. 26 Faith Day will be an opportunity for all PVNC employees to engage together in this generational conversation, Bagnall added. The day will offer moments to pray, discern, and discuss together the Road to Emmaus passage, which features prominently in the pastoral letter and draws our attention to key themes for our Catholic school communities: accompaniment, relationship, hope, and joy.

Renowned catechist and author David Wells will keynote PVNC Faith Day.

David Wells will appear via video as a keynote speaker throughout the day. Wells has contributed to the production of catechetical resources in the UK and North America and spoken at more than 300 conferences worldwide. He is a regular contributor to the Religious Education Congress at Anaheim in California, where over 30,000 delegates gather to hear some of the world’s most prolific religious writers. He has published two books, The Reluctant Disciple and The Grateful Disciple.

“We are blessed to welcome David Wells into our schools to help us understand and reflect on the Renewing the Promise document,” Director of Education Michael Nasello said. “I have been fortunate to have seen David present and I know he will leave our staff inspired, informed and fully entertained as he helps us navigate our Faith Day with his well-honed intellect and humour.”

St. Peter Catholic Secondary Student Areebah Ahmed’s art piece entitled “Connected” (see image above) has been selected as the featured artwork for our Faith Day. Her artwork will be displayed on the Faith Day posters that will be delivered to schools soon and the original will be displayed at the Board office.