Summer
School opens in Regina
By Frank Flegel
REGINA — The Summer School for Liturgical Studies opened its first road trip July 19 with around 40 registrants in four core courses and seven electives. This is the first time the school has been held outside Edmonton and the Newman Theological College where it was formally housed. The college had to move when the Alberta government decided to build a road through the property and a new site was chosen in downtown Edmonton.
That left the Summer School without a venue, so it was decided to take the school on the road. It will now rotate among cities in the four western provinces. Regina was chosen as the first location for the summer of 2010 and Saskatoon will host the school in 2011.
“We are pleased at the number of people from Regina and area that
are 
registered,”
said school director Bernadette Gasslein. “That’s
one of the goals that we hope to accomplish in moving it to various
places. We hope that the people in the local churches would be able
to take more ready advantage of the Summer School than they would be
able to if it was always in Edmonton.”
Campion College at the University of Regina was to host the school but
building renovations scuttled that plan. Luther College, next door to
Campion on the U of R Campus, made their dorm rooms available for out-of-town
students and St. Mathew Roman Catholic School and St. Martin’s
Church, both located near the university in south Regina, provided classrooms
and church services for the school.
Gasslein, who has been associated with the school for about seven years,
said besides changing location every summer, the biggest change is compressing
the courses from 20 hours over two weeks; it is now 15 hours in one
week.
“It’s a tight timetable but we’re doing mostly the
same courses and people seem to be responding well.”
Gasslein said she is delighted with the enthusiasm shown by the students
and the overall quality of students. “I’ve seen this before
in the Summer School. I’ve seen the hunger that lay people have
for formation in liturgy and I think it’s just wonderful to see
that hunger continuing to exist and be satisfied in something like the
Summer School.”
Besides being director of the school, Gasslein also teaches one of the
courses, Liturgical Ministries Practicum. She is also editor of the
pastoral magazine, Celebrate.
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