When Education Parish Service (EPS) begins its 23^rd year of educating adult Catholics in the Diocese of Arlington in September, it will do so with a new Virginia program director from one part of the diocese, an assistant to the president from another, and plans for an October seminar and celebration that will draw key Catholic theologians and Bishop Paul Loverde.

Foundational level EPS daytime classes begin from 9:30 a.m. until 2 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 8, at St. Thomas `a Becket Church, Reston, with a course in the Old Testament. Evening EPS courses, held at Trinity University in Washington, D.C., also are open to adults from the Arlington Diocese. Late registration is available in both locations if space is available.

For more information about the Virginia or Washington programs, contact Jane Vichi, Washington/Virginia EPS Recruiter at 202-884-9026, e-mail EPSDCVARecruiter@trinitydc.edu or visit http://eps.trinitydc.edu.

EPS was established in Washington in 1978 at the urging of local pastors who wanted their parishioners to learn more about their faith so they could take a more active role in sharing the Gospel in their homes, parishes, workplaces and communities. The EPS certificate program includes courses in Scripture, theology, Church history, documents of the Second Vatican Council and Catholic social teaching.

In addition to its certificate program, EPS offers adults other opportunities for expanding their understanding of the faith. One of those will take place in a special symposium at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church in Vienna on Oct. 22.

Formed in the wake of the Second Vatican Council, EPS will explore how the Church is implementing the Council’s work in "Church: A Community of Holy Conversation: Learning the Art of Dialogue through the Vision of Lumen Gentium."

The symposium, reception and sung evening prayer, with Bishop Loverde presiding, begin at 1:30 p.m. Keynote speaker will be University of Toledo theologian Dr. Richard Gaillardetz, who has written extensively on the council’s work. Jesuit Father John Long, who was a staff member to the Second Vatican Council and to the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity and is a current EPS New York instructor, will be one of the responders, joined by a soon-to-be-announced EPS graduate.

The new Virginia Program Director is EPS graduate Pam Blankenship, a member of Our Lady Queen of Peace in Arlington. Blankenship, currently working toward her masters in pastoral studies at Washington Theological Union, wants to continue to build on the Northern Virginia program’s deep sense of community, which she experienced as a student. Blankenship has served in various ministries at Our Lady Queen of Peace, including as liturgy coordinator and a lector.

Also joining the EPS staff is All Saints parishioner Gregory Shoemaker, who will serve as Assistant for Development to EPS President Sister Mary Ann Cook SND. In Manassas, Shoemaker serves as Eucharistic Minister, on the RCIA team and as member of the George Brent Council of the Knights of Columbus. He is also on the board of BARN, a transitional housing program for homeless women and children.

For more information about the symposium, contact 202-884-9021.