Does your Parish have Whole Family Catechesis?

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Does your parish utilize Whole Family Catechesis as part of your parish religious education? If so, please post your thoughts about the program, how it works, etc… Our parish is looking into the possibility of Whole Family Catechesis and I would like some feedback from other parishes using that type of program. Thanks.
 
Our former DRE tried but no one was interested. Sometimes they have family activities- at Advent and Lent- but nothing ongoing. We homeschool so we’ve always had family catechesis 🙂 I wonder if the parents don’t feel competent. I come from a poorly catechized generation. What I know, I learned on my own. —KCT
 
Sounds like a program designed to include parents in the education. This would be great, but it seems like the parents that most need it would not come. I’ve got a student who wants confirmation but does not accept the Church’s teaching on abortion. I’ll do my best, but when the student’s parents are dissenters, it makes it tough.

Scott
 
Hello! This is my first visit here, but I had to respond to this. I’m from the Midwest, but my husband and I are living in Ottawa, Ontario for a couple years as he studies canon law here. We found a great Catholic parish that has what seems to be a wonderful family catechesis program called “Family Formation.” Since we are only expecting our first child in May, we aren’t a part of the program yet, but I’ve heard good things about it, and they are hoping to start another section of the program next year to accomodate all the people who are interested in it. They got the format from Saint Paul’s Parish in Ham Lake, Minnesota.

From what I understand about the format of the program, parents and children meet at the church once a month. There are leaders for the parents and the children, and at each session, a similar theme is presented to both groups separately (children learn at their own level, and parents are given more in-depth information from their leaders). They are also given a packet to take home with them and asked to commit to completing those activities as a family.

Here is the link for the St. Mary’s (our parish) website. At the top of the page, put your curser over “Ministries,” and then under that column, click on “Family Formation.” The details and testimonies are described there, and there is also a link to St. Paul’s Parish (Ham Lake, MN) website.

I used to be a Director of Religious Education and Youth Minister, and I understand the importance of whole family catechesis. If the parents aren’t on board, getting the kids on board with the learning about the faith is that much more difficult. I don’t know what exactly makes this program so successful, but there is something great going on there. In my parishes back home, it seems it would have been difficult to get people involved since often times families are set in their ways and hesitate to try something new.

I hope this information helps you!
 
Oops, I forgot to include the link I promised! Here is the link for St. Mary’s Parish in Ottawa. Follow the directions on my last post for finding family formation here at in the MN parish.

stmarysottawa.ca/index.htm
 
We have a yearly family retreat in our parish. Unfortunately, it is only in Spanish right now. Not enough interest for an English one.

God bless
 
A program which brought parents in once a month and charged them with the primary responsibility of catechizing their children was a HUGE flop at a neighboring parish. They didn’t try it for a second year.
 
There is a parish close by that has an intergenerational catechism program called Generations of Faith. They have had a lot of success with it and many other parishes are trying to incorporate it into their programs as well. I went to a talk on this and I have to say, it made a lot of sense to me. I teach 6th grade RE and I wish we had something like this in place. I think the success of such programs depends on your parish, your pastor, and the people who are organizing the program. It is definitely worth looking into, in my opinion.
 
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mercygate:
A program which brought parents in once a month and charged them with the primary responsibility of catechizing their children was a HUGE flop at a neighboring parish. They didn’t try it for a second year.
Click to expand...
How sad. —KCT
 
Our parish is also considering converting to Community Catechesis, because there is such a dirth of understanding of the faith among the parents of our parish. As has been said here, if the parents don’t even know if, let alone live it, how can we expect the children to incorporate what they’re learning in RE into their lives.

I found 2 books (actually they had more, I just bought the two intro books) at a Catechetical Conference that looked easy to read and a simple overview of what needs to be done. This came up the day after Father, the DRE and I were talking about how we can see the difference in the kids based upon whether the parent is living or understands the faith and the need to look into Community Catechesis, so I was thrilled to get the resources.

Father’s looking at the books and the DRE knows she’s in line next, as long as he likes what he sees.

What can anyone here say about pitholes to avoid and things that really help. Our DRE is planning on simply dictating, “This it the program, you must do it, tough!” She tends to take a strong approach to the things she does. Right now, our program has been growing with the younger kids, but we’re extremely small, even with that. Our entire Parish Hall is the basement of the Rectory (3 classrooms with moveable partition walls, one entry room classroom, a kitchen, a DRE office and a teacher prep room. Not a lot of space for kids while parents are also in their “class”.

Also, we have a parish similar to what CatholicCanada describes encountering at the home parish. People in this parish don’t tend to get involved. And it’s not just Church things they don’t get involved in. They’ve got the kids scheduled up the wazoo with dance, soccer, ski team, etc, but the parents are non-joiners and somewhat poor volunteers unless it’s to be on a committee to complain about how the teachers are doing their job (I’m not a teacher). Actually, the parents do a lot to improve the public schools with committees to pass bonds (which always go through here), but AYSO and Girl Scouts have a real tough time getting volunteers. Boy Scouts, when it’s time for the dads to step up, dies out for want of participation.

I’m a little concerned about the response, but still think that parents are meant to be the primary teachers, so we need to reach the parents. I began learning about the faith when I started sending my daughter to RE. Once I was open enough to want to know as an adult what the Church teaches, I fell in love with all it has to offer and this is seen in the deep faith my daughter is developing. It would be great to have the other parents also recognize the incredible gift we’ve been given.

God Bless,

CARose
 
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