Last night I attended my end-of-the-year meeting with Arlene, my DRE. She schedules grade level meetings to informally evaluate the year and to look at the schedule for next year. So I was with several of my fellow 8th grade catechists last night as we chatted about what worked and what we’d like to tweak for the coming year. It was a good opportunity to compare notes with colleagues and to hear how they dealt with similar experiences. Our conclusion was that we made some great strides this past year in implementing some innovative ideas, especially the confirmation intensives. We committed to doing those once again and decided to schedule a couple of opportunities for our groups to come together for some large-group presentations, particularly for the Church history PowerPoint and the viewing of the segment from the Jesus of Nazareth DVD. It was a productive meeting and I appreciate the attention and affirmation that Arlene gives to all of us catechists!