Reviews of www.formed.org

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I came across a new website (new to me) that seems to offer some quality Catholic content and resources - www.formed.org

I’m considering giving the website a try, but am wondering if anyone here has used the site and what are your opinions of the site? Is it true to its offerings? What are the benefits and the drawbacks.

Thanks in advance for your reviews!

Peace,
Hunting
 
I was able to join free via my parish. It has some good content although not as much as I thought it would based on the description in our bulletin. It has added some since I joined so I’m guessing it will continue to add additional content. I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve watched or listened to so far.
 
Gordon_Sims said:
I was able to join free via my parish. It has some good content although not as much as I thought it would based on the description in our bulletin. It has added some since I joined so I’m guessing it will continue to add additional content. I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve watched or listened to so far.
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It’s a continuously growing platform.
  • Symbolon (which launched the program host by Dr. Edward Sri) has 20 episodes
  • Beloved (a series on the Sacarment of Holy Matrimony) has 12 episodes
  • Reborn (a series on Baptism) has 3 episodes plus 3 bonus lectures in the parish edition
  • Divine Mercy: The Second Greatest Story Ever Told (a 10 episode series on the God’s - Mercy for us, hosted by Fr Michael Gaitley, MIC) will launch this Sunday, on Divine Mercy Sunday.
  • Lectio: Peter is a 10 episode “Bible Study” series, hosted by Dr Tim Gray, focusing on a hdate Bibical and Historical role St Peter played in Salvation History
  • Lectio: Eucharist is a 10 episode “Bible Study” from Genius to Revelation focused on the foreshadowing and explicit mentioning of the Eucharist, hosted by Dr Brant Pitre
    Lectio: Prayer is a 10 episode study on Lectio Divina, using scripture as prayer, hosted by Dr Tim Gray
  • Footprints of God - a multi episode series hosted by Steve Ray
  • Catholicism - the landmark 10 episode series hosted by Bishop Robert Barron (then Father Barron)
  • movies like Mary of Nazareth, St Rita, etc
  • two programs from the Courage Apostolate
  • two programs with Fr Robert Spitizer
  • YDisciple - a multi series, multi episode program designed for Teens, includes the Called Series for vocations, confirmation videos, theology of the body, etc
  • 33 Days to Morning Glory, by Fr Michael Gaitley MIC, videos and eBooks
  • Consoling the Heart of Jesus, by Fr Michael Gaitley MIC, videos and eBooks
  • The ‘One Thing’ Is Three; by Fr Michael Gaitley MIC; videos and eBooks
  • The Bible and the Virgin Mary, 12 episode series based on Dr Scott Hahn’s book Hail Holy Queen.
  • Opening the Word - the 156 episode series on all the Sunday readings at Mass
Plus future programs are in the works, including
  • Forgiven (a series on Confession)
  • Lectio: Evangelization, and 10 episode Bible Study on the Acts of the Apostles, hosted by Dr Mary Healy.
  • and a program that will eventually be based on the youth Catachsim
Tons of groups want to join… and many will join as copyright permissions are granted

God Bless!
 
It’s basically a Catholic Netflix. For as long as you subscribe, you get access to streaming all the content. They carry multi-part programs, movies, audio talks, and even ebooks.

You can see everything they offer without having to log in. Lots of resources from Ignatius Press, Lighthouse Catholic Media, the Augustine Institute, and Bishop Barron’s Word on Fire apostolate.

They did just launch last August, and I think that, over time, it will become more and more valuable. The number of offerings is already increasing, and I expect it to continue. I’m really hoping they eventually partner with Ascension Press and bring all of their video programs to the platform. That, along with more kid’s programing, would make it just about perfect. Mobile apps would be nice, too.

The parish fee is $140 a month, and that gives unlimited access to everyone in the parish. I’ve been told that also includes non-Catholics who live in the geographical boundaries of the participating parish. That means, the parish can put the Formed website and parish code on a flyer and go door to door inviting people to learn more about Catholicism.

I think it has lots of potential to reach people that otherwise would not be reached. That’s part of why I’d really like to see them add apps and kid’s programing. Non-catechized parents might not make the effort to create an account and log onto a website to watch Catholic programming. But every parent wants to find shows that their kids can safely watch. They will create an account for that. And while they are doing that, if they come across some intriguing Catholic programs for adults, so much the better. 🙂

I think it’s well worth it. If you don’t think so, you can always unsubscribe and you’ll only be out $10. 🙂
 
our parish has made it possible for us to join.
I just haven’t checked it out yet.
 
I joined this through my parish several months ago.

“Through my parish” : means that somebody? dropped flyers around the church with a church code for this website.

I joined, the content available was limited but thought I’d come back later and see what they had later.

3 months later or so, I put in my login/password and it never logs me in. Accepts my password and doesnt complain, then returns me to the main page where the login prompt is in the upper right hand corner.

I was able to reset my password, but no difference.

Something fishy?

Overall, it seems like a hustle for personal subscriptions.
 
RB2 said:
I joined this through my parish several months ago.

“Through my parish” : means that somebody? dropped flyers around the church with a church code for this website.

I joined, the content available was limited but thought I’d come back later and see what they had later.

3 months later or so, I put in my login/password and it never logs me in. Accepts my password and doesnt complain, then returns me to the main page where the login prompt is in the upper right hand corner.

I was able to reset my password, but no difference.

Something fishy?

Overall, it seems like a hustle for personal subscriptions.
Click to expand...
They are definitely not trying to hustle people. If you are having trouble logging in, try contacting them. I had issues at first, too, but it was just a technical kink that got worked out fairly soon.
 
RB2 said:
I joined this through my parish several months ago.

“Through my parish” : means that somebody? dropped flyers around the church with a church code for this website.

I joined, the content available was limited but thought I’d come back later and see what they had later.

3 months later or so, I put in my login/password and it never logs me in. Accepts my password and doesnt complain, then returns me to the main page where the login prompt is in the upper right hand corner.

I was able to reset my password, but no difference.

Something fishy?

Overall, it seems like a hustle for personal subscriptions.
Click to expand...
Through your parish means that someone most likely paid for a parish wide subscription, or they were just providing info for individual subscriptions.

If you are having issues, go to their support page and contact their parish care team: formed.org/contact-us/#/contact-us

Sometimes when parishes sign up, the parish screws up their tax id, which causes an issue. I know of two or three parishes in my area this happened to.

Plus, I also know of someone who registered with a typo in his email address, he had an extra m in the .com part of his email address, so each time he tried to log in with yahoo.com it failed because he was in there as yahoo.comm

It’s still a new platform, so minor bugs can happen; but the program is 100% legit, as it was created by a partnership consisting of the Augustine Institute (a Catholic graduate school), Lighthouse Catholic Media, and the Ignatus Press.

Please call their support team, you will glad that you did.

BTW - in regards to personal subscriptions, it’s not a hustle and they are NOT promoting them. The goal is parish subscriptions. Parish Consultants who “sell” FORMED.org are only compensated when they sell Parish subscriptions, not individual subscriptions. People with individual subscriptions can quickly switch to the parish subscription if the parish purchases, and stop paying. Plus the FORMED.org team will often tell parishes that buy the parish subscription when they realized that the parish has several individual subscribers. For example, one parish could not afford it, but had 14 people who wanted an individual subscription. So instead of 14 individual subscriptions, the Parish Consultant convinced the parish and those people to give the parish their money unread each month and purchase a parish subscription with it.

All of the founding FORMED.org organizations are non-profit Catholic Apostolates, dedicated to the New Evangelization. Making money isn’t the goal, yes, they need to break even, but the goal is saving souls.

God Bless
 
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