Lay leadership and adult faith formation in our churches

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Father Deacon Sabatino gave a fantastic talk on lay leadership and adult education. It was full of Biblical references and quotes from the church fathers. I included some highlights below, but all my notes are at the link.
Deacon Sabatino Roberto Carnazzo’s Talk at Encounter 2012 West

Matthew 28:18: And Jesus came and said to them, all authority in heaven and earth have been given to me.
• He could have asked for anything at this point. The risen Lord appearing before His disciples! And what does he ask of them?
Matthew 28:19: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.
• He invited them at that moment to become leaders.

Lay Leadership
• is not a band-aid that Vatican II has applied to a sick church
• is not an answer to the vocations crisis
• is not saying parish councils can hire and fire
• What is it and why do we do it?

1 Cor 4:15:* For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.*
• Why be followers of Paul not Christ?
Gal 2:20:* it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me*
1 Cor 4:17: For this reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son…
• Just as Christ showed Paul and Paul showed Timothy, Paul now sends Timothy to show others
• A good father rejoices in the fact that his son has grown up and become what he intended him to be.

What exactly is man’s goal according to God’s plan?
• What is last in execution is always first of intention. Man was made the crown jewel of God’s creation, but the story doesn’t end with man’s creation. There was a 7th day.
• When God rested on the 7th day, he blessed creation and sanctified it. He made creation holy.
• Man was made in the image and likeness of the one who blessed and sanctified creation.
• Man has a vocation to now bless and sanctify creation in God’s image and likeness.
• We have to go out into the world and lead others to God.
• In this way, creation is divinized.

It is our job to go out into the world to make it more like Him.
• Moses was shining when he came down from the mountain so they no longer saw Moses, but saw God when they looked on him.

The fall was so destructive because the one who was to have dominion did not bring things to order, but to disorder.

What’s stopping us from acting as disciples?

Clergy are plagued by the “Me First” Syndrome
• Are we, clergy, treating our churches as St. Paul would tell us “as our spouses for whom we’d lay down our lives” or are we treating them as concubines?
• A test for clergy in order to answer the above question can be found in Colossians 1:24ff: Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake…
• Do you rejoice in suffering for the sake of the church or do you just complain?

Laity are plagued by the “My Real Estate” Syndrome
• That’s my job.
• We’ve never done it that way before.

We must give to others what God has given to us.
• Paul rejoiced that his son Timothy could do what Paul did.

Stop pointing the finger at others and take responsibility.
• Is your parish a geriatric ward or a growing family?
• Most of our parishes have 30-100 people on Sunday. Laity: you know who you stand next to. If you know the person you stand next to wasn’t at church, did you go knock on their door or give them a call?
• Clergy: if you know your parishioners are going to the Latin Church or to a Protestant Church, go stand in front of the doors of that church and wait for them and invite them back.
• Pray with them, eat with them, live with them, and then they’ll die with you.
  1. Pray
    o We better put Jesus back in the center of our churches—domestic and liturgical!
    o The average American has a TV in the center of the family room and spends 2.7 hours watching it each day.
    o If you don’t have an icon of Christ, go right now and get one, get a nail, and hang it up. Not in some obscure place, but right in the middle of the living room. Better yet, get a lampada and a censor to go with it. Now!
  2. Fast
    o Don’t wait for the Church to tell you to fast.
    o Obligation was left behind in Judaism. Fasting is an opportunity.
    o Sin causes us to focus on ourselves while fasting focuses on others.
  3. Tithe
    o Do not be one who stretches out his hand to receive but withdraws it in giving. Give a ransom for your sins if you have it to give. Do not hesitate to give, nor give in a grumbling manner, for you know who is the good Paymaster who rewards? –Didache
    o I know times are tough. I hear you say you can’t afford to tithe. You can’t afford not to. That goes for the clergy as well. Yes, it is hard. Do it and God will supply what you need.
  4. Education
    o You cannot give what you do not have.
    o You cannot teach what you do not know.
Adult Formation
o He used to teach children’s Sunday School. His assessment: What he did in 1hr of Sunday School was unraveled the rest of the week because of the family life and culture.
o We need to reach the parents so they’re continuing the work through the week.
o Our current adult programs are culturally oriented, not intellectually oriented
o We fill our churches for festivals, but not for Bible studies.
o Play to your strengths! We are culturally rich! If that’s all you have, get up and in the middle of BINGO and preach for 5 minutes, then let the people go back to their games.
o Our parishes are geographically spread out, yes. But we have other Eastern Catholic parishes nearby. We have to work together!
o Adult education is expensive. His program has an annual budget of a quarter million.
o As Bp. Nicholas (Samra) has said: “How much do we spend to spread the Gospel?”
o Secularism is bankrupt. We have the answer they’re hungry for. Lift up your eyes and see that the fields are ripe for the harvest.
 
I was finally able to start an adult faith formation group in our community. This activity feeds off the great formation material from groups that originate outside of our diocese. I have found if you try to work with the local diocese, you will be stalled and thwarted by the entrenched members under the banner reading “spirit of vatican ii.”

You have to reach outside and bring great material into the community. Get involved with www.mileschristi.org.

Opus Dei is great too. Anything except the local diocese.
 
😃

Deacon Sabatino talked about how the goal of a leader is to be able to train another then step out of the way and allow the ones he trained to pass it on.

That was followed by Fr. Ed Cimbala who, in the next talk, discussed how those who’ve gone before can do this by laying a strong foundation and supporting the gifts and passions of those in the next generation in order to pass it on. I’m getting those notes typed up now.

Did you read the deacon’s notes? Do you think it would have made your job of starting adult faith formation programs easier if those you were working with had the same attitude as him?
 
Samuel63 said:
Anything except the local diocese.
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This seems exactly wrong, somehow. I don’t for a moment deny that we have to enrich our own parishes with what the whole Church and her whole Tradition have delivered to us, of Scripture and of wisdom in confessing and proclaiming and practicing the faith.

But I hope you were just carried away with words and didn’t really mean “Anything except the local diocese.”

Doesn’t that sort of spirit deny the grace of God operating through ordinary (ordained, traditional) means? Certainly we may need to seek out extraordinary means to enrich and stimulate the parish, but from St. Peter to St. Clement onward, has it not been the unity of the faithful with their own bishop that has been the very hallmark and foundation of Catholic unity?
 
pgepps said:
This seems exactly wrong, somehow. I don’t for a moment deny that we have to enrich our own parishes with what the whole Church and her whole Tradition have delivered to us, of Scripture and of wisdom in confessing and proclaiming and practicing the faith.

But I hope you were just carried away with words and didn’t really mean “Anything except the local diocese.”

Doesn’t that sort of spirit deny the grace of God operating through ordinary (ordained, traditional) means? Certainly we may need to seek out extraordinary means to enrich and stimulate the parish, but from St. Peter to St. Clement onward, has it not been the unity of the faithful with their own bishop that has been the very hallmark and foundation of Catholic unity?
Click to expand...
Obedience and prayer for the local ordinary should be a cornerstone of any formation program, in my humble opinion.
 
CDB1718 said:
You are very lucky! The deacon who gave this talk is their executive director. He was convicting! There are videos of him on their website and you can get a taste for his great passion for faith formation.
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he’ll be speaking this coming sunday, instituteofcatholicculture.org/swords-serpents-a-study-of-salvation-history/ hope to get over to St. Leo’s to hear him.if one go’s to the link,there will be a video file so that you can watch the first lecture.they have multi- week lectures on topics.you really want to read up on the topic prior to attending so you are up to speed.
 
This particular diocese where I am located is rather lukewarm. I am aware that other areas are doing much better and am very glad. Can the Holy Spirit work through the Ordinary? Yes for sure. Does the local ordinary have freedom to dissent? Yes, for sure.
 
My bishop is also in Chicago. I am blessed by his leadership and guidance.

Educating yourself and receiving your formation can be difficult when those around you are not well-catechized. When setting up a program of instruction for others, it still should go through the pastors and local ordinary. Catechesis and formation is the Lord’s work and He will make the way if we are faithful to Him.

We’re blessed by the internet’s ability to bring us solid catechesis like Father Deacon Sabatino’s talks. We all have room for improvement. April, please report back after tomorrow!
 
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