Before Evangelization, we need Adult Formation

[aicirt]

Yes, that could help. But most EWTN watchers are already more zealous for truth and for learning and growing than the “average” Catholic. The ones that I am concerned about are the “average” Catholics who are as if asleep - because as they sleep, the enemy advances.

We need a strong renewal among clergy and religious - then, the people will begin to follow.

In the meantime, of course, any advance is good! The best need not be the enemy of the good. We must all do what we can, to advance the Gospel.

Let’s work with what we have.

The church bulletin:

Does it include a suggestion re. EWTN TV shows? Did it promote CATHOLICISM by Father Robert Baron? Did it review FOR THE GREATER GLORY, BELLA, THE WAY? All of this gets people talking.

Does it include where to find Catholic Radio on the dial?

Does it review good Catholic books?

Does it advertise the shelter for battered women or run an article as to what constitutes abuse? Does it have pamphlets available?

For the promotion of the Sacrament of Reconcilation, has the bulletin ever included a flier listing the 10 Commandments and all the instances which would constitute a mortal sin under each?

Does it include a DID YOU KNOW article e.g. Did you know that there are 23 churches under the Pope? And then name them.

Does it include something of interest from the Catechism?

 

[MariaChristi]

Catholic education has been “dumbed down” since the 1970’s. There were and still are schools that did not fall into what one of my professors called the “Warm, fuzzy Jesus” trap-but they are not the majority. There’s more than one generation that needs serious remedial education in the Catholic faith.

But the question is-how to get people to understand the value of that remedial learning? How do we send the message that there is so much more-without insulting them and calling them ignorant now?

Dear Seeker,

Good question! I think that is the point of fide’s posting the article in his OP. There is an URGENT NEED for Adult Faith Formation! The average person in the pew is “ignorant” to put it bluntly as Cardinal Cottier did recently in the interview I mentioned. It is not an insult to those humble enough to recognize and willing to admit our ignorance. The reluctance of some may be due to pride, laziness or the refusal to let go of their time to do other things – only God can judge hearts. The article which fide linked to includes good references, reliable sources from the Vatican and the USCCB, which may be used to help people see the truth. Pope Benedict is clearly concerned about the need, saying:

…So many of the baptized have lost their identity and membership: they do not know the essential contents of the faith or think they can cultivate it without ecclesial mediation. And while many look with doubt at the truths taught by the Church, others reduce the Kingdom of God to some great values, which certainly have something to do with the Gospel, but which again have no concern with the central nucleus of the Christian faith. The Kingdom of God is a gift that transcends us. As Blessed John Paul II affirmed: “The kingdom of God is not a concept, a doctrine, or a program subject to free interpretation, but it is before all else a person with the face and name of Jesus of Nazareth, the image of the invisible God.” (John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris missio [December 7, 1990], 18). Unfortunately, it is God Himself who is excluded from the horizon of so many persons, and when the discourse on God does not meet with indifference, closure or rejection, it is nevertheless relegated to the subjective realm, reduced to an intimate and private event, marginalized from the public conscience… It is a spiritual and moral crisis: man pretends to have an identity fulfilled simply in himself…

… the old and new mission that is before us is that of introducing men and women of our time to the relationship with God, to help them to open their mind and heart to that God who seeks them and wants to be close to them, to lead them to understand that to do his will is not a limitation of liberty, but it is to be truly free, to realize the true good of life. God is the guarantor, not the counter-current of our happiness, and where the Gospel enters – and hence the friendship of Christ – man experiences his being the object of a love that purifies, warms and renews, and renders us capable of loving and serving man with divine love.

… the New Evangelization needs adults who are “mature in the faith and witnesses of humanity.” Attention to the world of adults manifests your awareness of the decisive role of those who are called, in the different realms of life, to assume an educational responsibility in addressing the new generations. Watch and work so that the Christian community will be able to form adult persons in the faith because they have encountered Jesus Christ, who has become the fundamental reference of their life; persons who know Him because they love Him and they love Him because they have known Him; persons capable of giving solid and credible reasons of life. Particularly important, in this formative journey – 20 years after its publication – is the Catechism of the Catholic Church, precious aid for an organic and complete knowledge of the contents of the faith and to lead to the encounter with Christ. Also thanks to this instrument, may the assent of faith become criterion of intelligence and action that involves the whole of existence…

Full text of the Pope’s Address can be read HERE

 

[Captain_America]

It’s interesting to see “finger pointing” here: laity vs. professional religious.

There needs to be a church council of some kind in a parish, that brings together the priest and church leadership.

Compare this to the message of Vatican 2, in which the LAITY is supposed to be more involved in spreading the word.

 

[fide]

It’s interesting to see “finger pointing” here: laity vs. professional religious.

There needs to be a church council of some kind in a parish, that brings together the priest and church leadership.

Compare this to the message of Vatican 2, in which the LAITY is supposed to be more involved in spreading the word.

Hello Captain -

“Finger pointing” in itself is not a bad thing. Jesus pointed out many faults in His people that needed correction! In Mt 5-7, the “Sermon on the Mount,” for example, Jesus points to sins to be repented of as well as holiness to be sought. The Church is ever in need of conversion, correction and renewal.

It is not good if the “pointer” can see sins only in others and not himself! For us, the “pointer” must humbly know that he is also among the “pointees” on a journey to the holiness of our common vocation.

So two points:

1. The living Body of Christ has many members, each having particular gifts and burdens and responsibilities in Body-Life. All members ought to acknowledge and respect the gifts of all others - all others- as each member grows in fidelity in his own gifts.
2. Clericalism - a disordered sense of elevation/superiority of the clergy, which includes the corresponding disordered sense of depreciation of the laity. The attitude of clericalism can be found among some, both clergy and laity!

Clericalism easily results in a “finger-pointing” that is unhealthy and unfruitful - much as we can see in the gospels between the two opposing camps of the Pharisees and the crowds.

I agree: we need a “coming together”, as you point to in your “parish council” suggestion, in humility and mutual respect and love among all the many different members in the living Body of Christ, both clergy and laity.

 

[DiZent]

I have been involved in several adult programs in my parish & continue to do so.

Renew (the original one, not Renew 2000)
Disciples in Mission
Why Catholic (all 4 books)
Little Rock Scripture Study (Women of the Old Testament, Women of the New Testament)

These programs were designed to be short sequences for “Small Faith Communities”, but the group I belong to has continued to meet weekly for many years. We have a core group of about 6, and often as many as 12 participants. We meet at the home of one of the parishioners. When there was no “program” offered, we studied from the weekly Scripture readings. We found the Little Rock program on our own.

There has been some discussion about having Adult Faith formation between Masses on Sunday. I support this idea. So many parents drop their kids off at Religious Ed, and while some of them do attend Mass while the children are in class, many do not attnd at all; and many of the children only attend Mass when the Religious Ed class schedules it instead of a regulas class session. Several years ago, one of our DREs tried to shift Religious Ed to weeknights (like it was when I was a child in CCD), but the attendance dropped so dramatically (and the children were still not getting to Mass), that the next DRE put it back on Sunday. I think having an Adult Faith formation class on Sundays will encourage some families to attend both, though they don’t have the timing issue worked out yet.

 

[MariaChristi]

I have been involved in several adult programs in my parish & continue to do so.

Renew (the original one, not Renew 2000)
Disciples in Mission
Why Catholic (all 4 books)
Little Rock Scripture Study (Women of the Old Testament, Women of the New Testament)

These programs were designed to be short sequences for “Small Faith Communities”, but the group I belong to has continued to meet weekly for many years. We have a core group of about 6, and often as many as 12 participants. We meet at the home of one of the parishioners. When there was no “program” offered, we studied from the weekly Scripture readings. We found the Little Rock program on our own.

There has been some discussion about having Adult Faith formation between Masses on Sunday. I support this idea. So many parents drop their kids off at Religious Ed, and while some of them do attend Mass while the children are in class, many do not attnd at all; and many of the children only attend Mass when the Religious Ed class schedules it instead of a regulas class session. Several years ago, one of our DREs tried to shift Religious Ed to weeknights (like it was when I was a child in CCD), but the attendance dropped so dramatically (and the children were still not getting to Mass), that the next DRE put it back on Sunday. I think having an Adult Faith formation class on Sundays will encourage some families to attend both, though they don’t have the timing issue worked out yet.

Dear Diane,

Thanks for your faithfulness to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit. I believe He gives us grace to keep asking, seeking, knocking on the door of God’s Heart, so that we will receive and find and have the door opened for us.

Good for you and your fellow parishioners, and the pastor or whomever encourages you all to keep learning. I have participated in the Little Rock series and also Disciples in Mission, but I found in both cases that the books were not as good as using Scripture itself, along with reliable commentaries like the Navarre Bible Series, and also the Catechism of the Catholic Church as a reference. It is so important for Catholics to really get to know their Bible, the New Testament especially but also using cross-references in the New Testament to go back to the Old Testament. St. Jerome is credited with saying, “Ignorance of Scripture is Ignorance of Christ”.

The fact that a small group has remained together in your parish is very hopeful sign that people are hearing the Good News of Jesus and want to continue listening. Perhaps, the parish has a meeting room where your small group could gather “between the Masses” and invite others. Some persons simply need more than one invitation, but once they “taste and see” the goodness of the Lord in His Word, they too by His Grace, will want to continue learning. Please let us continue to pray for the Church and all those in most need of His Mercy.

 

[DiZent]

Dear Diane,

Thanks for your faithfulness to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit. I believe He gives us grace to keep asking, seeking, knocking on the door of God’s Heart, so that we will receive and find and have the door opened for us.

Good for you and your fellow parishioners, and the pastor or whomever encourages you all to keep learning. I have participated in the Little Rock series and also Disciples in Mission, but I found in both cases that the books were not as good as using Scripture itself, along with reliable commentaries like the Navarre Bible Series, and also the Catechism of the Catholic Church as a reference. It is so important for Catholics to really get to know their Bible, the New Testament especially but also using cross-references in the New Testament to go back to the Old Testament. St. Jerome is credited with saying, “Ignorance of Scripture is Ignorance of Christ”.

The fact that a small group has remained together in your parish is very hopeful sign that people are hearing the Good News of Jesus and want to continue listening. Perhaps, the parish has a meeting room where your small group could gather “between the Masses” and invite others. Some persons simply need more than one invitation, but once they “taste and see” the goodness of the Lord in His Word, they too by His Grace, will want to continue learning. Please let us continue to pray for the Church and all those in most need of His Mercy.

Thank you MC. Some of those programs were better than others, but each of them helped me grow in my personal faith journey. Renew introduced me to the concept of Small Faith Community. There were several years that passed after my participation in Renew, but it was a positive experience. When my daughter’s boss gave me a copy of “Purpose Driven Life”, I immediately looked for a “small group” to join at my parish & found Disciples in Mission. (I know PDL is a Protestant book, but I read it with a Catholic perspective & the Protestant parts were easy to recognize). Disciples in Mission got me to read the Sunday readings in advance of the Mass. Why Catholic got me to read the Catechism. Little Rock series got me to look at the women of the Bible in a way I never had before.

I do not have a Catholic Bible Commentary. I printed the article that the OP linked to & I will give it to our group leader & to our pastor. I really liked how the author suggested alternating Scripture & Catechism. The problem with “programs” is the cost. You need for people to “register” in order to provide materials. I think that a “drop-in” where you just bring your Bible would attract more participants. We could then have copies of the Catechism and Catholic Bible commentaries available for purchase and have a “lending library” for any other resources.

 

[fide]

…

I do not have a Catholic Bible Commentary. I printed the article that the OP linked to & I will give it to our group leader & to our pastor. I really liked how the author suggested alternating Scripture & Catechism. The problem with “programs” is the cost. You need for people to “register” in order to provide materials. I think that a “drop-in” where you just bring your Bible would attract more participants. We could then have copies of the Catechism and Catholic Bible commentaries available for purchase and have a “lending library” for any other resources.

Hello Diane,

It’s great that you are moved to pass that article around, especially to your pastor - and maybe to endorse the Bible+Catechism together/alternating approach. And there is almost no “program cost”, if you can find a good leader to serve. I vote for you for “Adult Formation Coordinator” for your parish!

 

[Seeker1961]

Our parish is using Father Barron’s Catholicism for Wednesday night classes. I wish I could go, but that’s a work night for me. I hope they’re getting good attendance.

 

[MariaChristi]

Thank you MC. Some of those programs were better than others, but each of them helped me grow in my personal faith journey. Renew introduced me to the concept of Small Faith Community. There were several years that passed after my participation in Renew, but it was a positive experience. When my daughter’s boss gave me a copy of “Purpose Driven Life”, I immediately looked for a “small group” to join at my parish & found Disciples in Mission. (I know PDL is a Protestant book, but I read it with a Catholic perspective & the Protestant parts were easy to recognize). Disciples in Mission got me to read the Sunday readings in advance of the Mass. Why Catholic got me to read the Catechism. Little Rock series got me to look at the women of the Bible in a way I never had before.

I do not have a Catholic Bible Commentary. I printed the article that the OP linked to & I will give it to our group leader & to our pastor. I really liked how the author suggested alternating Scripture & Catechism. The problem with “programs” is the cost. You need for people to “register” in order to provide materials. I think that a “drop-in” where you just bring your Bible would attract more participants. We could then have copies of the Catechism and Catholic Bible commentaries available for purchase and have a “lending library” for any other resources.

Dear Diane,

Excellent! I too have passed on the article. I have not heard back from our Deacon in charge of Religious Education. Neither he nor our pastor object to my husband and I offering Bible Studies, or other Adult Faith Formation but both seem far more committed to the children in the Parish School of Religion and in the Catholic School in our parish.

Again, I would recommend the Navarre Bible series and also the Catechism of the Catholic Church. We have copies of both in our Adult Ed room which were purchased for RCIA but we use in our Bible Studies also.

I agree wholeheartedly that so many “bought programs” cost too much for the so called “workbooks”. Our parish put a lot of time, effort and money into the Disciples In Mission program but I have seen little lasting fruit from it. I say “little” because like yourself, I’m hoping some people grew simply by using their Bibles in the program, and perhaps learned a bit more more what the word “Disciples” truly means .

Please let us continue to pray for the Church and for all those in most need of His Mercy. I second fide’s vote. You would be a great “Adult Formation Coordinator” for your parish!

 

[DiZent]

Dear Diane,

Excellent! I too have passed on the article. I have not heard back from our Deacon in charge of Religious Education. Neither he nor our pastor object to my husband and I offering Bible Studies, or other Adult Faith Formation but both seem far more committed to the children in the Parish School of Religion and in the Catholic School in our parish.

Again, I would recommend the Navarre Bible series and also the Catechism of the Catholic Church. We have copies of both in our Adult Ed room which were purchased for RCIA but we use in our Bible Studies also.

I agree wholeheartedly that so many “bought programs” cost too much for the so called “workbooks”. Our parish put a lot of time, effort and money into the Disciples In Mission program but I have seen little lasting fruit from it. I say “little” because like yourself, I’m hoping some people grew simply by using their Bibles in the program, and perhaps learned a bit more more what the word “Disciples” truly means .

Please let us continue to pray for the Church and for all those in most need of His Mercy. I second fide’s vote. You would be a great “Adult Formation Coordinator” for your parish!

Thanks. At this point, I just want to share my own experiences & provide (name removed by moderator)ut & support for having an adult program. I am an assistant catechist, probably 3rd grade this year, and I just volunteered to be VBC director for 2013. I would have to take off one of those hats in order to wear another.

One program that gets good support already is the Parish Mission.

 

[jmcrae]

Besides saying Mass each day, what are the responsibilites of a parish priest?

The priest is responsible for everything that happens in the parish. If he puts a volunteer in charge of something, he still has to supervise the volunteer and meet with the person to get reports on what’s going on - so in a busy parish he is meeting with dozens of people.

He also gives individual spiritual direction, marriage preparation, funeral arrangements, preparation for baptism, school Masses, classroom visits, participates in various projects around their Diocese (Legion of Mary, Ecumenical committees, Youth Ministry … ) and other things according to their talents and interests. He also has monthly meetings he needs to attend, such as Finance Council, Parish Council, Zone meetings, Liturgy Committees, and the like, that require his direct presence.

They also spend several hours a day praying and reading to prepare for their daily Masses and other liturgies - these don’t just fall from the sky fully-formed; there are a lot of details to look after, such as making sure the wine and hosts are ordered, and that qualified volunteers are available to serve in the various ministries. (A lot of these details are taken care of by office staff, but he still needs to supervise the staff and make sure everything is being done in an orderly way.)

This is in addition to the day to day administration of the parish.

Their schedules are quite tightly packed, and one major crisis can throw them off for a week, so if you aren’t hearing from your priest, just give a call to the office to find out what his availability is.

Letters were sent out asking for parishioners to volunteer. That was two months ago and, although some of us have called to ask where they plan on using us, nothing has happened.

Keep on asking until something happens. If the priest became distracted for some reason, then he may simply need to be reminded that people are waiting for instructions, and can’t do anything without an actual assignment.

 

[kkollwitz]

“By the way - did you read the article cited in the OP?”

I forgot who asked me this, but yes, I’ve read it a few times, and posted some comments at that site.

 

[aicirt]

The priest is responsible for everything that happens in the parish. If he puts a volunteer in charge of something, he still has to supervise the volunteer and meet with the person to get reports on what’s going on - so in a busy parish he is meeting with dozens of people.

He also gives individual spiritual direction, marriage preparation, funeral arrangements, preparation for baptism, school Masses, classroom visits, participates in various projects around their Diocese (Legion of Mary, Ecumenical committees, Youth Ministry … ) and other things according to their talents and interests. He also has monthly meetings he needs to attend, such as Finance Council, Parish Council, Zone meetings, Liturgy Committees, and the like, that require his direct presence.

They also spend several hours a day praying and reading to prepare for their daily Masses and other liturgies - these don’t just fall from the sky fully-formed; there are a lot of details to look after, such as making sure the wine and hosts are ordered, and that qualified volunteers are available to serve in the various ministries. (A lot of these details are taken care of by office staff, but he still needs to supervise the staff and make sure everything is being done in an orderly way.)

This is in addition to the day to day administration of the parish.

Their schedules are quite tightly packed, and one major crisis can throw them off for a week, so if you aren’t hearing from your priest, just give a call to the office to find out what his availability is.

Keep on asking until something happens. If the priest became distracted for some reason, then he may simply need to be reminded that people are waiting for instructions, and can’t do anything without an actual assignment.

I volunteered at another parish. In the last two weeks, they’ve been in contact with me three times by phone and twice by e-mail. I’ll be volunteering there. Nothing from original parish.

The above parish has few if any marriages as it is in a seasonal area with 98% retired folk. Baptisms are also few. Funerals…not many but more than the other two. No school Masses (no school) and, therefore, no classroom visits.

Daily Mass rotates among three or four priests. Confessions are heard by one priest for two hours on Saturday.

There appears to be a rather large staff of Extraordinary Eucharistic Ministers who go out to the sick also.