REMEX: What is it?
by Cindy Muenchrath

REMEX. No, we are not a real estate company. That's RE/MAX. We are REMEX—Religious Education Media Exchange. We are the resource center for the Diocese of Grand Island. Many people of the diocese have heard of us and many know what services we offer. For those who do not, I would like to reintroduce our office to you.

We are part of the Religious Education Office for the diocese and our main objective is to help parishes, ministers, and individuals in the diocese find and explore the abundant resources that are available in all areas of faith formation and pastoral concerns.

Not every diocese has a resource center. When I lived and worked in the Archdiocese of Denver I was on my own for resources. In having a resource center, our diocese has a commitment to aid teachers, catechists, ministers and clergy with resourcing their ministries.

Looking for a video for third-graders about the beatitudes? We can help you. Planning a passion play for high school? We will help you brainstorm ideas. Want to start a family Bible study? We can help you choose resources.

In our center, here in North Platte at 1225 S. Poplar Suite 100, we have thousands of books, videos, audio resources, and other media to recommend and lend to you. Topics include Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA), sacraments, Small Christian Communities, catechist training, Scripture, world religions, church history and a multitude of others. Being a part of a parish in our diocese gives you the access to our resources. Most parishes have a contract with us for unlimited use of our resources.

But, we are much more than a lending library. Often the difficult part is searching out what to use for a particular group or a particular subject.

Give us a call—we are ready to help in this endeavor.

Besides the resources we hold in our physical location, we can also guide you to other wellsprings of information and help you explore your options.

For instance, the Internet is a gold mine of information, yet sometimes untapped. Often we are able to spur your exploration by simply recommending a Web site to begin a search. As we are all very busy these days, the hard part is often finding time to do that little extra to make a presentation, a session, or a class interactive and exciting for those involved. If we can, we will help you with this.

You can stop by anytime you are in North Platte and take a gander at our offerings. But, since this is not realistic for many in our vast diocese, you can access the resource center other ways. Check us out on the Web at www.gidiocese.org. Click on REMEX, then from there you can search our online database of all our videos, books, and audio resources.

Also on our Web site you can see a list of our latest acquired resources, links to other sites, information about using popular culture in teaching, and tips on how to effectively use media. You can also call us at (800) 252-9325 and ask for Ann. Or e-mail at alehmkuhler@gidiocese.org.

Ministry and growing in our faith is not something we do alone. We do it together, as a family, as a community, as a parish, and as a diocese.

As part of the diocese, REMEX is here for you to utilize and explore.