Adult Faith Formation Program
What is Faith Formation? What is Catechesis?
Quite early on, the name catechesis was given to the totality of the Church’s efforts to make disciples, to help men believe that Jesus is the Son of God so tat believing they might have life in his name, and to educate and instruct them in this life, thus building up the body of Christ” (Catechism of the Catholic Church no. 4)
“Catechesis is an education in the faith of children, young people and adults which includes especially the teaching of Christian doctrine imparted, generally speaking, in an organic and systematic way, with a view to initiating the hearers into the fullness of Christian life” (John Paul II, Catechesi Tradendae, 18).
We went to CCD or Catholic school as children! Why do adults need catechesis?
“Adults are not safe from temptations to doubt or to abandon their faith, especially as a result of their unbelieving surroundings. This means that catechesis must often concern itself not only with nourishing and teaching the faith, but also with arousing it unceasingly with the help of grace, with opening the heart with converting, and with preparing total adherence to Jesus Christ on the part of those who are stil on the threshold of faith” (CT 19).
“[Adult catechesis] is the principal form of catechesis, because it is addressed to persons who have the greatest responsibilities and the capacity to live the Christian message in its fully developed form. The Christian community cannot carry out a permanent catechesis without the direct and skilled participation of adults, whether as receivers or as promoters of catechetical activity. The world, in which the young are called to live and to give witness to the faith which catechesis seeks to deepen and strengthen, is governed by adults. The faith of these adults too should continually be enlightened, stimulated and renewed, so that it may pervade the temporal realities in their charge. Thus, for catechesis to be effective, it must be permanent, and it would be quite useless if it stopped short at the threshold of maturity, since catechesis, admittedly under another form, proves no less necessary for adults” (CT 43).
Does our parish offer adult catechesis?
Yes! Every two weeks our Adult Faith Formation Program meets on Thursdays evenings at 7:30 p.m. in the Bradican Room to discuss matters of Faith and the Catholic life.
Topics covered so far include: “Why Do Catholics Do That?” a two-part lecture series on the “smells and bells” of Catholicism, and “How to Study Sacred Scriptures: An Introduction to Reading the Word of God in the Heart of the Church,” a four-part lecture series on how to read the Bible according to the living tradition of the Church and in accord with her Magisterium.
In the upcoming weeks we’ll focus on Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclicals, Deus caritas est and Spe Salri, and then commence a systematic study of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Check the parish bulleting for the next Adult Faith Formation Program date.
More information about our adult catechesis program may be found on the Religious Education bulletin board in the vestibule of the church.