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Archives At Celebrate Christ - Day Two for Parish Religious Educators
Engaging in a hope-filled future

Oct. 28, 2015

By Marika Donders
Diocesan director of evangelization

Lake Placid - I left the house early on a chilly October Saturday morning to participate in the second day of Celebrate Christ, a semi-annual event in Lake Placid hosted by the Diocesan Department of Education. The first day is for Catholic School educators, the second day for those who work in parish Faith Formation.

Walking into the Crowne Plaza for the conference, I was struck by the warmth generated by the excitement of catechists reconnecting with colleagues from around the diocese. If nothing else were to occur at this conference other than celebrating our catechists and giving them the opportunity to share and network, the conference would have been a success. But so much more happened.

Day starts with Mass
The day started with a celebration of Mass by Bishop LaValley. In his homily, he connected the role of the catechist with the ongoing envisioning process. The catechists have a pivotal role in strengthening the faith formation in families as they continue their own lifelong faith formation.

The Bishop reminded us that personal witness makes for an effective catechist. We have to "walk the talk" and he pointed to the example of Pope Francis. He pointed out in a particular way that the Holy Father pays attention to and NOTICES people, especially those on the margins, and then he DOES something about it. He touches them, blesses them, and builds a homeless shelter in the Vatican.

This intentionality in noticing people is something we need to teach, so that we should not remain indifferent to our neighbors in need. We cannot do this on our own. It flows from a personal relationship with Jesus and what God has done for us. We are Christ Fed, Christ Led and hope-filled and this hope must overflow to our neighbor.

Sharing the Life of Faith Award
At the conclusion of Mass, the “Sharing the Light of Faith Award" was given to a surprised St. Joseph Sister Diane Marie Ulsamer for her ongoing efforts in faith formation of those with intellectual disabilities in  Watertown.

Then Catechetical Leader Certificates were awarded to those who had completed the requirements, and Growth in Faith Certificates which were handed out to Catechists who had completed 21 and 51 hours of continuing education.

Vision and strategies
The day continued with two presentations by Mr. John Roberto who spoke on Vision and Strategies for 21st Century Faith Formation. The  president of LifeLong Faith Associates, based in Naugatuck, Connecticut, Mr. Roberto spoke to the catechists about engaging in a hope-filled future even as we encounter four major challenges in our time.

The first challenge, he said,  is diversity in American society, especially in Generational identities. Most parishes now have five generations in their midst from the Building Generation born before the 1960s, to the boomers, to the Gen-X-ers to the Millennials and now the iGeneration.

The parish of today is like a big Thanksgiving Day dinner with all the generations present, he said. The diversity also includes changes in family structures with massive changes in marriage patterns from previous generations.
Digital technologies is a second challenge which will necessitate a reshaping of faith formation. With the availability of mobile technologies, we cannot expect that we continue to deliver faith formation content the same way that we have been since the beginnings of CCD in the 16th Century, Mr. Robert said.

Religious affiliations
The third challenge proposed by Mr. Roberto is the changes in religious affiliation, belief and practices of Americans.

This includes the rise of those who claim no religious affiliations which does not mean that they have not faith. Many of us are familiar with spiritual but not religious phenomenon.

The fourth challenge is that faith in the past relied on an intergenerationality at home. Faith was passed down from generation to generation, often from grandparents to grandchildren. The sense of Domestic Church has practically disappeared.

As an example, Mr. Roberto spoke of his grandmother's home, where "the walls were Catholic, the air you breathed was Catholic." These days, he said. the Church and faith get a smaller and smaller slice of people's lives.

Room for hope
But we should have hope, Mr. Roberto said. These challenges simply mean that our faith ecosystem has changed and we need to use our imagination to expand how we deliver faith formation content by expanding the Church to meet people where they are.

We need to move from a provider centered model of faith formation, where we expect everyone to come to the church for classes and workshops and move to a person centered model, where we reach people where they are.
Faith formation is to be thought of as a journey, a holistic process that includes head, heart and hands, building on personal relationships.

Digital learning
Following lunch, the second part of Mr. Roberto’s presentation focused on the digitally enabled faith formation deliveries. This is not to replace traditional catechesis in the parish, he said but rather to expand it to those who can't or won't come to our parish campuses. It means that we will have to invite more people to use their gifts, but technology can assist in reconnecting the generations and home lives to church life, Mr. Roberto said.
Just as the printing press led the Church to change faith formation to be presented through catechisms and books, our modern digital communication technologies allow us to move beyond the classroom education and extend and deepen people's experience and participation in Church events to the home and daily life beyond the Church walls.

Mr. Roberto reminded the group that changes like this will not happen overnight, and will not happen without involvement of many people willing to share their gifts and talents, but we can begin to take small steps to build a new ecosystem in which the faith can be integrated in the life of the family to help build up the domestic Church once again.

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