(CCCB – Ottawa)… Ms. Joanne Chafe died while in hospital in Ottawa on Friday, February 17, 2012, at the age of 60. She had worked for 35 years with the National Office of Religious Education (NORE) of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB).  Since December 2000, she was the Director of NORE and Secretary of the English Sector Episcopal Commission for Catechesis (formerly the Commission for Christian Education). 

After working as a religious education coordinator with the Roman Catholic School Board in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Ms. Chafe joined NORE in 1977, beginning as an Assistant Director and member of the NORE catechetical team, and then in 1983 serving as its project specialist in the adult portfolio.

Ms. Chafe attended the October 1997 International Congress in Rome for the promulgation of the revised General Directory for Catechesis, and also served as President of the Religious Education Association of the United States and Canada and as President of the International Forum on Adult Religious Education.

The Funeral Mass was held on Ash Wednesday, February 22, at Annunciation of the Lord Church in Ottawa.  Burial will be in St. John’s, Newfoundland, on February 25, 2012.