Diocesan Resource Center is font of religious information

By Cathy Tilzey

Need a video or DVD to supplement your parish materials for a religious education class? Or advice on what will hold teenagers’ attention after they have been confirmed?
The Diocese of Helena’s Resource Center is the place to call.
Kathy Ward, who has been managing it for 17 years, calls it a “multi-media lending library,” with an emphasis on lending. The center does not sell any of its holdings or order materials for the public, she explained, but occasionally items that have not been checked out for a long time are given away.
Books that have not circulated for over a year will be free at the Resource Center display at Connections, the diocese’s catechetical conference Oct. 12-13 at Carroll College.
Ward has the daunting job of managing 3,447 books, 1,856 video tapes, 85 DVDs, plus CDs, audiotapes, magazines, and a topical file of articles she has clipped from old magazines that need to be cleaned out. She said they have kept video tapes because some of the parishes do not have a CD player.
The Resource Center also carries Origins, a weekly publication of Catholic News Service, and documents from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Vatican.
In August and early September, she is on the telephone and computer a lot, taking requests from parishes and shipping materials to them, and helping others to decide what will work best for their programs.
From chancery employees to parish religious education directors or pastors, she helps people find what they need, whether it’s in-person or by telephone or e-mail.
The Resource Center has another tool for parishes – an online catalog of all the center’s holdings. It was designed and set up by a member of the National Association of Catechetical Media Professionals, of which Ward is president, and by Karen Hendricks, the diocesan information services manager.
Ward said she does a lot of consulting, mostly by telephone. She also travels occasionally to give presentations on using media in the classroom and media literacy.
Many parishes pay an annual fee for unlimited use of Resource Center materials by the parish and parishioners. If a parish chooses not to pay the annual fee, the user/parish would be charged per item used, she explained.
Materials are checked out in the parish’s name, Ward pointed out. So if someone fails to return an item, she will call the parish to track it down.
This week and next, she and other members of the diocesan Catholic Formation Services are on the road, attending deanery meetings to discuss their services and work with parish staff members.

Published in The Montana Catholic, Vol. 23, No. 9, September 21, 2007.