Adult Faith Formation

“…at the heart of catechesis we find, in essence, a Person, the Person of Jesus of Nazareth…who suffered and died for us and who now, after rising, is living with us forever.”  Pope John Paul II, in Catechesi Tradendae

Faith Formation is more than education:  “Faith Formation” rightly understood involves our experience, our understanding, our prayer, our relationships, our actions, our whole selves: our faith is formed as we live in relationship with God and neighbor.  God is the source of our life, our faith, our growth.  “Faith Formation” in the Parish context usually refers to those deliberately planned events and programs outside of worship that enable participants to encounter, know, and love God, especially through sources of the living Word of God – so that their lives will be changed and so that they are able to live ever more authentically as disciples of Christ in and for the world.  

The National Directory for Catecheis words the three main goals of Adult Faith Formation this way [same three goals articulated in GDC, ACCC, & all major Catholic catechical documents nationally and internationally]:

  1. It invites and enables adults “to acquire an attitude of conversion to the Lord.”  This attitude views the Christian life as a gradual transformation in Christ, in which the Christian takes on the mind of Christ, trusts in the Father’s love, accepts the Spirit’s guidance in searching out and obeying God’s will, and seeks holiness of life within the Church.  It fosters a baptismal spirituality in which the Christian’s faith  in Jesus is continuously deepened through participation in the sacraments, the works of charity and justice, and the prayer life of the Church.
  2. It helps them to make “a consicious and firm decision to live the gift and choice of faith through membership in the Christian community.”  It fosters active participation in the Church as she is realized in families, small faith-based communities, parishes, dioceses, and the communion of saints.  It helps adults to develop a deeper sense of their cooperation with the Holy Spirit for the mission of the Church in the world and for her internal life as well.
  3. It helps them to become “more willing and able to be a Christian disciple in the world.”  It enables adult disciples to accept their rightfu place in the Church’s mission to evangelize, to hear the cry for justice, to promote unity among Christians, and to bear witness to the salvation won by Jesus Christ for all.

CURRENT & UPCOMING PROGRAMS:

 

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