Oct. 28, 2015 By Marika Donders 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 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 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 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. Religious affiliations 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 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. Digital learning 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. |