NEW YORK — The Province’s Wellness Committee is developing DVDs to inform Holy Name friars about topics important to their health. This is a new initiative that the committee hopes will address needs of the friars, according to committee chair J. Patrick Kelly, OFM, (Jim).
“To continue fulfilling our mandate of service to the friars in the area of wellness, we recently received approval from the provincial minister and the council to, over the next three years, produce DVDs for the friars about health issues,” said Jim. “We recommended that the presentations focused on unaddressed topics gleaned from the Province-wide survey that we conducted in 2006.”
The committee will continue to provide articles to the Province newsletter. Some of the topics featured in past issues of HNP Today include heart health, depression, food, stress management, diabetes and religious life, and spirituality’s relationship to physical and mental well-being. A number of important topics still need to be addressed, Jim said.
“Given the nature of the areas of interest and concern, it was believed that articles alone would be insufficient. Therefore, we proposed presenting them via DVDs.”
Guardians to Arrange for Showings
The DVDs, along with biographical information about the presenter and questions, will be sent to the Province’s guardians. Knowing the needs of the local ministry and time availability, the guardians will arrange to show the DVD. A CD format may also be produced.
The DVDs will be timely and of personal importance to the friars of the Province, he added. “We believe that using this medium as a means of communication will prove worthwhile for the friars. We will evaluate this approach before the 2011 chapter.”
The philosophy of the committee is to empower friars to be responsible for their own wellness, Jim said. Committee members include Eric Carpine, OFM, Kevin Kriso, OFM, Daniel Nelson, OFM, Maureen Deutermann, and Vicki Masterpaul, OSF.
The committee will provide the first such DVD by mid-fall.