Has your parish used FORMED? Reviews? Worth the price?

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Dear Fellow Catholics,

Due to a previous administrator not being very good at his job, it turns out that our parish has had access to formed.org for two years, without hardly anyone realizing it. Now that we are up for renewal, our new pastor wants to learn more about the program before committing to the rather expensive annual fee.

There is a (closed) thread here on this topic, but none of the answers were from disinterested users, except for one parishioner who had used it for a week. We would like to hear from parishioners who have used formed.org for a couple of years, or for at least a year.

Has the program been useful to your parish (and if so, how)? Did all of the content meet with your approval? Have many people or ministries have taken advantage of the program? Have you noticed positive changes – or at least positive reactions – in your parish?

Thank you in advance for your response(s),

Laura
 
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My parish has had a subscription for about two years. Our RCIA team uses it extensively as well as a few of the adult eduction classes. We’ve also got a Bible study going based on one of their programs. The response of everyone in RCIA has been positive so far and It’s been a fantastic resource for me.

We have the parish code on the front page of the weekly bulletin. Father also will include insights from some of the programs in his homilies. It seems that has encouraged many parishioners to utilize it.
 
I’m not familiar with it though it is associated with Lighthouse Media which I like. Chances are a lot of what it contains is available elsewhere online, though to have it all in one totally Catholic centered place may be worth the expense as long as it’s utilized.
 
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I have only used it a few times, but have heard several positive remarks about it.
 
It is an excellent resource. I use it extensively both personally and in my ministry as a high school youth director. I don’t think we have that many parishioners who use it regularly, but those that do love it. I constantly encourage people to utilize it though.
 
My parish promotes it to the parishioners. The content is excellent. It is an invaluable resource.
 
Our parish uses it extensively. Many of our parishioners access it outside of the context of CCD and RCIA. This is trackable and verifiable.
 
I used a video series on Formed to provide alternatives to RCIA readings for a candidate who had difficulty reading.

The only issue I have sen, as you have, is that parishes pay for Formed and then don’t advertise/use it.
 
I agree. It must be promoted. According to their “terms of service” agreement, the parish access code may be shared with anyone within the geographical boundaries of your parish. We actively encourage our users to share with Catholics and non-Catholics alike. Then the power of this tool really grows.
 
Our parish has it and we love it. Ocassionally a series of homilies will cover a certain theme and we will be encouraged to watch a series that expands even more on that theme such as Lectio Divina or The Real Presence.

My kids love the Brother Francis videos, but we had bought a lot of those DVDs before we knew it was on Formed.

Sometimes small groups, RCIA, marriage enrichment groups or baptism prep use materials from Formed.
 
Presence is very well done. The Forgiven series is powerful as well.
 
Our parish advertised that we would be able to use it to earn certification to become catechists. Never happened, so lost interest in something that was not practical.
 
Whether or not it is “worth the price” is going to depend on how you utilize it and what you hope to gain from it.

Before I arrived at my parish, the parish had a Formed subscription, but didn’t advertise it. I think the previous DRE just wanted to use it for adult faith formation classes, but didn’t want people not to show up because they could just watch the videos at home. I changed that and started advertising it.

I think it’s great. It started out as a joint venture between Augustine Institute, Lighthouse Media, and Ignatius Press. But Lighthouse Media has now more or less been incorporated into the Augustine Institute. Most of the videos are available on DVD from Augustine, but would otherwise be unavailable online.

Our priests use Beloved in marriage prep. I use Symbolon as a way for RCIA candidates and catechumen to catch up on classes they missed. Here and there, we do some of the other programs for adults, and then people can catch up at home when they miss a week (which is inevitable).

Whoever is administrator can log in and see who from the parish has registered. So you can monitor how much it is being used. If it seems like it’s not being used enough to warrant the purchase price, you can always unsubscribe. And if those who have been using it are upset, you will have data to justify the decision. Or maybe it will motivate them to spread the word and keep it going. 🙂

One approach to covering the cost is to find a dozen or so parishioners who are on board with it to commit to donating an extra $10 per month. Just sell it to them as them paying for a Catholic Netflix that they get to share with the entire parish. It’s a great deal and a great tool.
 
I’ve been administrator for 3 years.

We are getting ready to do our first big Parish Wide study. It has been used by approx 1/3 of our parish households so far.

I love it!

ETA: It has made our Baptism Prep so great. Parents/godparents watch the videos on their own then schedule a meeting at a time convenient for them. No childcare hassles, no waiting for next month/quarter’s class. PLUS the prep is excellent.
 
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That is still on the “road map” from the people who bring FORMED to parishes. Some of the bells and whistles take time to develop.
 
I love Formed! I’ve watched movies about Saint Rita, Saint Padre Pio, Saint Anthony, etc. The most recent thing I saw was a really good documentary about how the lives of Saint Faustina, Saint JP II, and Saint Maximillian Kolbe all had a theme of Divine Mercy and they lived within something like 15 miles of each other.

My children have watched all the Brother Francis episodes and many other cartoons.

I cancelled Netflix a few moths ago over their increasingly immoral programming, so this fits my Saturday night movie night needs quite nicely.

I only hope that they come out with a Roku app soon because we don’t have a smart TV. If anyone knows how to watch Formed on Roku, please send me a private message, thanks 🙂
 
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I am on the road a lot for my job. Some of the talks are awesome to listen to and learn more about the faith and makes my commute more enjoyable.
 
We have it in our parish also. I plan to use parts of it in youth group. I really like it.
 
Ann_Stanton said:
Our parish advertised that we would be able to use it to earn certification to become catechists. Never happened, so lost interest in something that was not practical.
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This is still in development because currently each diocese currently does its own thing.

I believe the Augustine Institute has a beta of this for a few select dioceses, but will only currently offer it to dioceses that are part of the Beta test
 
You can stream FORMED on Roku with the following app on your iPhone, iPad, Android phone or Android tablet.

https://video-tv-cast.com

The free version works, but I would recommend buying it.

This company also has versions that work on Smart TVs, Fire Sticks, Chomocast, etc

God Bless
 
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