News

Taking Green Bay to Washington, D.C.

By Patricia Kasten
Compass Associate Editor

	Lee Nagel

When Lee Nagel, former diocesan director of Total Catholic Education, assumes his new duties as executive director of the National Conference of Catechetical Leadership (NCCL) in Washington, D.C, on July 1, he hopes to help people understand their own mission.

That mission - for lay people, bishops and educators - is to catechize - to teach others about life in Christ.

"The faith will only be passed on by all of us," said Nagel, who served the Green Bay Diocese from 1990 to 2005. "We all do that every day. I want to help people find ways to do that without feeling awkward."

The NCCL has approximately 3,000 members nationwide, specializing in catechetics. The conference dates back to the 1930s, when the U.S. Bishops called a gathering of diocesan CCD instructors. Nagel will be NCCL's second executive director, succeeding Neil Parent.

Nagel believes the most important part of his new position will be working collaboratively - a strength he said he learned in the Green Bay Diocese. "What we did here is a great gift," he said. "We were about collaboration, and without it, we fail."

He said collaboration among diocesan departments took the annual education congress to a new level as The Gathering of the Church of Green Bay, which drew not only teachers but also those working in church ministry, and TEAM Days, which was expanded from an educator-based event to welcome all parish staff.

Nagel is excited that, in Washington, he will be close to several agencies that do similar work. He will also strive to advance on the efforts of NCCL and the National Catholic Education Association (NCEA) to speak with "one voice for catechesis in this country."

This March, the two organizations met at the invitation of Abp. Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C., chair of the USCCB Committee on Catechesis. The meeting focused on a long-time vision: the possibility of forming one group serving school-based and parish-based catechetical leaders.

Nagel said leaders in both groups desire to be "a bridge between schools and religious education programs."

The most important part of that effort, Nagel said, will be to help people become more aware of their own spirituality. In the Diocese of Green Bay, he saw that in the stewardship focus of the last several years. Nagel said he was "in awe of the testimony people gave" about their own encounters with Christ at the parish missions which he attended.

"We should all have had that encounter," he said, "but how often are Catholics invited to talk about that?"

Nagel, known for his hospitality skills, wants to work nationally to help people be comfortable with meeting Christ, and bringing Christ to others "as a natural way of life."

Nagel is well-known as a retreat leader, religious education instructor and author whose works include Living for the Lord, Love Beyond All Telling, Inspired by the Spirit, and Journey of Faith. For the past year and a half, he has worked as a national speaker on both Catholic day school and religious education. He also served as a consultant for Benziger, a publisher of parish catechetical materials. Among friends and colleagues, he is known for his ready laugh and theatrical flair.

He said that the hardest thing about his new position will be leaving the Green Bay area: "leaving the people, leaving the quiet."

A native of Bismarck, N.D., Nagel received his undergraduate degree from St. Mary's College in Winona, Minn. and his master's from Northern State College in Aberdeen, S.D. He is working on a doctorate in Leadership and Human Behavior from Alliant University in San Diego. In 2006, NCCL gave Nagel - a member of the organization since 1990 - a special recognition award for outstanding contributions in catechetical ministry.