Florida Catholic | AV Library Supplements Formation, Living Eucharist

AV library supplements formation, Living Eucharist

Resources of the Diocese of St. Petersburg’s large audiovisual media library are available to the community.

FLORIDA CATHOLIC STAFF REPORT

Published: 04.11.08

“Basically, the collection is available for faith formation people, catechists, Catholic school teachers and some home-school parents,” said Kathi Filapelli, diocesan associate director for catechist certification, whose office is in charge of the library.
JANET SHELTON | FC

ST. PETERSBURG | The diocese would like catechists, sacramental preparation instructors, deacons and others to know that audiovisual resources are available in the Pastoral Center.

When the diocesan library closed several years ago, the books used in deacon preparation were sent to Bishop McLaughlin High School in Hudson. Videos and other electronic media were moved to a room in the Pastoral Center. Unfortunately, that resource wasn’t well known.

Now, because of the work of Pastoral Center employees and a St. Petersburg Catholic High School media assistant, the diocesan audio/video library is organized, features catalogs of high-interest topics, and contains many new items, including audio presentations of Bishop Robert N. Lynch’s Living Eucharist initiative.

Making the library easier to use was a labor of love for Filapelli and Lori Wright, now a media assistant at St. Petersburg Catholic. As a library professional, Wright played a key role in the project.

“I worked at the diocesan library before it was dismantled,” she said. “(The diocese) kept the videos and I helped them catalog things that came in.”

Wright’s knowledge of the Dewey Decimal Classification System, used by about 200,000 libraries worldwide, was instrumental both in the placement of items in the library and in the creation of catalogs that show some of what is available, their location in the library, and their video or audio form. The catalogs, which can be viewed on the diocesan Web site, www.dioceseofstpete.org, under the Living Eucharist area as well as on the Office of Evangelization and Lifelong Faith Formation pages, provides a list of programs — organized by topic — and a summary of each item’s contents.

Need help on understanding the history and contents of the Mass, sacraments, Catholic social teaching or Catholic beliefs in general? The library can help. And those who couldn’t make the “Living Eucharist: Gathered, Nourished, Sent” conference earlier this year also need not despair. Those presentations were taped and are available on 24 volumes designed for different age groups. The library also is building up its Spanish collection.

The library is intended mainly to support the faith formation community. However, others can access its contents as well. Filapelli asks that those hoping to check out materials call her office in advance so that arrangements can be made, and so people looking for a specific title will not be disappointed because it has already been loaned.

The main idea now is to increase awareness that the library is there to serve.

“Basically, (we’re) letting the faith formation community know that it is available,” Filapelli said. “People who know about it have used it.”

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AV library supplements formation, Living Eucharist

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