Need for good adult catechesis program

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Cavaille-Coll

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I am starting an adult catechesis program in my parish, but I’m not sure which programs are available, apart from the Catechism of the Catholic Church itself. Could anyone recommend some theologically-orthodox programs that I could investigate? Thanks!
 
perhaps you should reach out to your diocesan director of catechesis who can give you training, resources, and guidance on any diocesan programs that are availble.
 
Several parishes in my area are going through these bible studies. I think they are fantastic! It involves a facilitator, workbook with bible reading assignments and questions to answer, and watching a DVD of Jeff Cavins commenting on that weeks study. The group has discussion each week, as the homework questions are answered and commented on. We meet for two hours a week, and its popularity has grown so much that there are several classes at different times (daytime, evening) to accommodate different parishioners.

So far I have taken the one on Genesis to Acts, (24 weeks); Acts of the Apostles (20 weeks); & James (10 weeks).

I know of someone in South Florida, and another friend in Long Island, NY taking the same studies and they liked them very much.
 
Cavaille-Coll said:
I am starting an adult catechesis program in my parish, but I’m not sure which programs are available, apart from the Catechism of the Catholic Church itself. Could anyone recommend some theologically-orthodox programs that I could investigate? Thanks!
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I second the motion to go to your Diocese, get training, and use the programs that they provide for you. You are not required to try to come up with something all by yourself. 🙂
 
I would love to see what some of the real suggestions are that answer the OPs question.

It’s nice to say “go to the diocese”. But often there’s not much there. I know that in our diocese, they worked on an adult Confirmation program, are next tackling upper elementary, then going after either adolescents and teens or the Sacrament years. It will be years before we see a program for “regular” adult Catechesis come out of the diocese.

In the mean time, the “marching orders” are to make sure we are offering Religious Ed to parents and not just to school age children. 🤷

If your diocese doesn’t have something you can use, make sure whatever you use gets your pastor’s blessing.
 
Two topics that come to mind for being very useful are:
  1. The life of Jesus Christ.
  2. Simple apologetics, especially the sacraments.
The first could be studied using Fulton Sheen’s Life of Christ.
The second is something that could easily be worked up. There are so many good websites:

www.theworkofgod.org/library/apologtc/r_haddad/course/contents.htm
www.info/apologeticsprotestantism/wbible.htm
www.biblechristiansociety.com/home.php
www.davidmacd.com/catholic/mary_in_the-bible.htm
www.chnetwork.org/journals/justification/justify_8.htm
//justingridveritasluxmea.blogspot.com/2011/04/why-i-am-catholic-and-not-orthodox.html
www.philvaz.com/apologetics/apolog.htm
//blackieschurchmilitant-apocalypsis.blogspot.com/
www.catholic-convert.com/category/apologetics/
www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/most/getwork.cfm?worknum=216
www.catholicapologetics.info/apologetics/protestantism/wbible.htm
www.catholiceducation.org/articles/sexuality/se0217.htm
www.scripturecatholic.com/oral_tradition.html#tradition-I
www.ovrlnd.com/Apologetics/101contradictions.html
www.biblechristiansociety.com/apologetics/two_minute
www.twopaths.com/faq_OldTestamentLaw.htm
 
fred_conty said:
Two topics that come to mind for being very useful are:
  1. The life of Jesus Christ.
  2. Simple apologetics, especially the sacraments.
The first could be studied using Fulton Sheen’s Life of Christ.
The second is something that could easily be worked up. There are so many good websites:

www.theworkofgod.org/library/apologtc/r_haddad/course/contents.htm
www.info/apologeticsprotestantism/wbible.htm
www.biblechristiansociety.com/home.php
www.davidmacd.com/catholic/mary_in_the-bible.htm
www.chnetwork.org/journals/justification/justify_8.htm
//justingridveritasluxmea.blogspot.com/2011/04/why-i-am-catholic-and-not-orthodox.html
www.philvaz.com/apologetics/apolog.htm
//blackieschurchmilitant-apocalypsis.blogspot.com/
www.catholic-convert.com/category/apologetics/
www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/most/getwork.cfm?worknum=216
www.catholicapologetics.info/apologetics/protestantism/wbible.htm
www.catholiceducation.org/articles/sexuality/se0217.htm
www.scripturecatholic.com/oral_tradition.html#tradition-I
www.ovrlnd.com/Apologetics/101contradictions.html
www.biblechristiansociety.com/apologetics/two_minute
www.twopaths.com/faq_OldTestamentLaw.htm
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Nice list of resources that someone could use to develop a program from scratch. But I think the OP was asking for programs that are available already for adult catechesis. At least that’s what I inferred from the question.
 
I wonder if the Marian Catechist program might be what you are looking for. It was developed by Father Hardon, and directed by Cardinal Burke after Father Hardon passed away.
Here is the web address followed by an excerpt from the homepage that you might find informative:

mariancatechist.com/

If you are interested in service to the Catholic Church through the teaching of the Faith, please consider joining the Marian Catechist Apostolate. The heart of the Marian Catechist Apostolate is to fulfill Christ’s directive to proclaim the Gospel to all nations, so that in knowing God, all might love Him; that in loving Him, all might serve Him; that in serving Him, all souls might be saved. To this end, the purpose of the Marian Catechist Apostolate is twofold:
Code: 
To cultivate love of the Holy Eucharist, devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and unswerving loyalty to the Holy Father and the Magisterium (the teaching authority) of the Catholic Church.
To prepare members to share the gift of Christ’s truth and love, as found in its fullness in the teachings and practice of the Catholic Church, through the Apostolate of Catechesis.
The mission of the Apostolate is to form and nurture catechists for the teaching and sharing of the Catholic Faith. Marian Catechists must be heroic souls whose spiritual and doctrinal formation equips them for active participation in the new evangelization of America. Understanding that the foundation of all true and effective catechesis is a vibrant spiritual life, the spiritual formation of each Marian Catechist is vitally important; our efforts to share the Faith will be futile unless our lives attest to its beauty and richness. We become authentic witnesses to Our Lord Jesus Christ through a holiness of life and a life of prayer that develops and is nurtured slowly over time.

May God bless you and those whom you serve. Amen.
 
Cavaille-Coll said:
I am starting an adult catechesis program in my parish, but I’m not sure which programs are available, apart from the Catechism of the Catholic Church itself. Could anyone recommend some theologically-orthodox programs that I could investigate? Thanks!
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catholic self study courses

Catechism of St. Pius X
basilica.org/pages/ebooks…20Pius%20X.pdf

Catechism of St. Thomas Aquinas:
catholicprimer.org/aquina…echism/toc.htm

Cathechism Vatican.va
vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM

Catholicism 101
catholic.net/index.php?option…aching%20Q%26A

catholicrefreshercourse.com/

Look them over and see if they would be of help.
 
Our parish is looking into ChristLife, but I won’t be going to the workshops until the end of August, which may be too late for you. I’ll be blogging about it after I go.
 
Last Fall our parish used Father Barrons’s Catholicism Series from www.wordonfire.org

It was a positive overview of the Catholic Faith that created a lot of interest among our parishioners.
 
Most of the adult “out-of-the-box” programs that are out there are DVD based as of late. As someone else mentioned, there’s Fr. Barron’s “Catholicism” series. That’s a great resource. I’ve heard a few complaints about the accompanying study guide, but nothing that would make it terrible to use. He has a sequel study coming out shortly called “Catholicism: The New Evangelization”. It’s probably a safe bet that it will also be good.

In my mind, Ascension Press is at the forefront in this realm. They have the Great Adventure Bible studies (of which there are many). They have a study on Church History. They have a Catechism series (the first two pillars are available, the other two are forthcoming). They’ve got Marriage prep stuff. And everytime I turn around they have something else coming out. It would take a parish many years to go through all of what they have available.

Actually, though, Catholic Word would be where I’d recommend looking first. They are a “publisher group” which includes Ascension Press, Fr. Barron’s “Word on Fire” and over 30 other Catholic publishers of varying sizes. It’s a great go-to destination when looking for these types of resources. Between Catholic Word, Ignatius Press, and Our Sunday Visitor, you’ll pretty much come across 75% of the present-day Catholic resources that are worth using.

We don’t want to forget the USCCB, though. 🙂 They’ve made great strides in recent years in producing great resources of their own. The USCCB’s United State Catholic Catechism for Adults lends itself very well to parish group study.
 
Joe_5859 said:
Actually, though, Catholic Word would be where I’d recommend looking first. They are a “publisher group” which includes Ascension Press, Fr. Barron’s “Word on Fire” and over 30 other Catholic publishers of varying sizes. It’s a great go-to destination when looking for these types of resources. Between Catholic Word, Ignatius Press, and Our Sunday Visitor, you’ll pretty much come across 75% of the present-day Catholic resources that are worth using.

We don’t want to forget the USCCB, though. 🙂 They’ve made great strides in recent years in producing great resources of their own. The USCCB’s United State Catholic Catechism for Adults lends itself very well to parish group study.
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Amen, Joe! Both of those resources are great, and the USCCB really is making some genuine advances, as you said. I concur with previous comments, too, about checking out the Diocese first because that gives you a broader “home base” for faith-sharing right where you are. One more place you might look is over on the Little Rock site. I’m using the Little Rock Catholic Study Bible and am really enjoying it. They have a variety of courses at a variety of levels, and they have DIY training to back you up. Nice package and the prices are reasonable; check it out at littlerockscripture.org/en/Studies.aspx 👍
 
Cavaille-Coll said:
I am starting an adult catechesis program in my parish, but I’m not sure which programs are available, apart from the Catechism of the Catholic Church itself. Could anyone recommend some theologically-orthodox programs that I could investigate? Thanks!
Click to expand...
Contact the Archdiocese of Chicago about their Theology on Tap program at Holy Name cathedral.

There are DVD series on various aspects of the faith.

Catholics who are interested in learning more can attend their parish’s RCIA meetings (unless this is not permitted).
 
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